FORMALIZE

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 267, 13 July 1906, Page 2

FORMALIZE

(TO THE EDITOR.) Sir, Your Oparau correspondent (usually so very accurate and punctual) in the issue of July 7th makes use of the above word, saying that “ one tablespoonful to half gallon of water makes a good specific.” Now, if your communicant means “ formaldehyde,” quite so, but unfortunately this is a gas, and a gas is difficult to hold in a table (or any kind of spoon), but can be made in several ways, as for ex -tuple—by leading a mixture of vapour of methyl-alcohol, and air over a platinum spiral, when dissolved iu water it is a most powerful disinfectI ant. The process sounds very like a still, and I fear to manufacture, or even to possess the instruments, etc., for sc doing in New Zealand, would cause the vigilant eyes of our Police and Customs Departments to open extra wide, and want explanations. However, the point at issue is of universal importance, and to find a successful enemy to combat the potato blight is a consumation devoutly io be wished, considering the fact that perhaps the largest .and most important seed potato growers in the world (Messrs Sutton and Sons, of Reading, England) wrote a correspondent m Kawhia recently and said, that al though they had experimented for many years to exterminate the pest, no Royal remedy had been discovered, and conclude that the best and most hardy sorts of potatoes are liable to attack after a few season’s growth. “ Formalin,” for a'l I know may be » name given to a mixture containing formic acid (a fluid obtained from certain ants, which they emit by irritation ; by infusing the ants in boiling water; and artificially by manufacture, by heating oxalic acid and glycerine—the oxalic acid separates into carbon oxide and formic acid. It ia also found in certain plants, such as the common nettle, aud will blister and cause great pain if allowed to drop on the skin. Hoping some little good may emanate from above if only to awaken tho lethegy in this important matter and foreboaring further trespass on your valuable space.—Yours, etc., NESCIO.