HAVE A JUJUBE?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 65, 3 August 1912, Page 2

HAVE A JUJUBE?

MADE OF SEAWEED. The ocean is proving itself to be a vast store containing the raw materials for j all sorts of food and various manufactories. Valuable medicines have for some time been made from seaweed, and now some enterprising people have found that by boiling particular varieties of .marine I plants they can produce a substance which, wlun pressed and polished, is quite transparent, and a perfect substitute for glass. This substance is called "Algin," and it contains a hitherto unknown, and what is expected to be a very valuable acid. So far, it has been used a "sizing" for fabrics, and as a stiffening agent, in the latter respect it is regarded vs far superior to starch. "Algin acid" has also been employed for thickening puddings and soups, and as a substitute for "sweet" gum, in the manufacture of jellies and jujubes. It seems curious that experiments on seaweed have not previously been made, for after all it is reasonable to expect sea plants to be as valuable as those which grow on the earth. If fish can be used for the benefit of mankind, why not marine vegetables? The uses of seaweed are daily becoming more and more recognised. Tn Norway it is utilised on an extensive scale by the fishermen as a source of iodine. Their method for extracting the drug is at present very wasteful. The seaweed is placed in large troughs of stone, and left there to dry in the sun. The stuff is then set fire to, and reduced to a black, sticky mass. It is then formed into enkes of convenient size and sent to the factories for the purpose of extracting the iodine.

The manufacture of products from seaweed will undoubtedly be a great industry of the future. Recent experiments have proved that 100 tons of sun-dried seaweed will yield 110 fewer than twenty tons of salts of various kinds, such as sodium, magnesium and salts of potash. Salts of potash, of course, are largely used for manuring purposes, and experts declare that very soon farmers will be able to obtain all they want of this indispensable material from seaweed.