Food Oil Is Derived From Seed of Grape

1919

Newly Discovered By-product May Rival Olive Oil.

From the grape, source of wine now under a ban extra dry, is being derived a new food oil. It is pressed from the seeds which formerly were discarded. This recently discovered by-product has been tested by scientists who say that it is edible and nutritious and may become a rival of olive and cotton-seed oils for cooking and for salad dressing. The news has given comfort to growers of the vine in California, Ohio and New York State, as the preparation of the oil on a large scale may increase the profits from grape juice. Even after the oil has been pressed out the residue of the seeds is found to be of value as a feed for animals.

Dr. J. H. Shrader, who is connected with the bureau of plant industry, United States Department of Agriculture, has investigated the commercial utilization of grape seed. In a paper read before the division of industrial chemists and chemical engineers of the American Chemical Society, he suggested that all waste of this character from the vineyards and canneries be assembled at a center, so that there would be enough tonnage to make its fabrication profitable.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 9.

The Deadly Grape Seed

1896

The grape seed, having been relieved of the charge of causing appendicitis, seems to have taken a new tack and is trying to do its mischievous work in another fashion.

An official of a New Jersey county is in a critical condition from the effects, it is said, of a grape seed. He ate some grapes and took great care not to swallow the seeds, but by some accident managed to inhale one, which lodged in the upper portion of his lungs. Himself a physician, he realized the necessity for care and rest, and supposed he had given the seed ample time to become encysted, which however was not the case.

There are a number of cases on record where small articles of various sorts have been drawn into the lungs with the breath. In several instances irritation had begun that ended in death. Sometimes, though, the article becomes coated with exudations from the surrounding surface and is gradually covered up, forming a lump that one may carry through the remainder of life without serious injury. Postmortem examinations have disclosed several of these cysts which had nothing to do with the death of the subject. — New York Ledger.

Shooting Skies For Rain

1910

Uncle Sam Has Lost Faith in Rain-Making Schemes, but Italians Are Still Sanguine

Washington. — Recently when fire was sweeping over the mountains of the west, leaving death and destruction in its wake, the despairing people appealed to the war department to bombard the skies and bring a much-needed rain. For obvious reasons their request was refused. Uncle Sam, a few years ago, spent large sums of money experimenting along this line, sending up bombs and firing cannon at the skies to produce rain by artificial means. It was no use, for clouds refused to "leak" in satisfaction of man's tiny tickling. Since then the government has been without faith in any scheme for rain-making.

It is now held that the reason why rain usually followed the great battles of history is because whenever possible the commanders moved their armies and began battles when the weather was fair. Rain falls on an average of one day in three, so it is no amazing matter that the clouds should spill their contents about the time one of those famous slaughters would be over with.

Of course, the great men of science know that it is useless for man, with his puny implements, to undertake to bring about those stupendous changes in nature necessary to produce the phenomenon of rain. It would be necessary to lower the temperature of a vast area of the heavens, or saturate such a region with moisture to obtain results, and our means of accomplishment are too limited.

Though our government has lost faith in rain-making, however, the Italians seem to be quite confident that in one way, at least, bombarding the clouds is productive of good results. In all the vineyards of that sunny land there may be seen curious funnel-shaped guns pointing to the sky. Hail storms form one of the chief dangers to the grape crop in that country, and the Italians believe that the firing of these guns prevents such destructive visitations by dissipating the clouds which give them birth.