5}). The
_Chemiker Zeitung_, xxi., p. 163, contains a further paper by Muehlhaeusen
on the explosive nitro-jute. After purifying the jute-fibre by boiling it
with a 1 per cent. solution of sodium carbonate, and washing with water,
he treated 1 part of the purified jute with 15 parts of nitro-sulphuric
acid, and obtained the following results with different proportions of
nitric to sulphuric acids:--

Yield Ignition Nitrogen.
per cent. Point.
Experiment I.-- 1. HNO_{3} 1. H_{2}SO_{4} 129.5 170 deg. C. 11.96%
" II. " 2. " 132.2 167 deg. C. 12.15%
" III. " 3. " 135.8 169 deg. C. 11.91%

An experiment made with fine carded jute and the same mixture of acids as
in No. II. gave 145.4 per cent. nitro-jute, which ignited at 192 deg. C., and
contained 12 per cent. nitrogen. This explosive is not at present
manufactured upon the large scale, and Messrs Cross and Bevan are of
opinion that there is no very obvious advantage in the use of lignified
textile fibre as raw materials for explosive nitrates, seeing that a large
number of raw materials containing cellulose (chiefly as cotton) can be
obtained at a cheaper rate, and yield also 150 to 170 per cent. of
explosive material when nitrated, and are in many ways superior to the
products obtained hitherto from jute.

~Nitro-mannite~ is formed by the action of nitric acid on mannite, a
hex-acid alcohol closely related to sugar. It occurs abundantly in manna,
which is the partly dried sap of the manna-ash (_Fraxinus ornus_). It is
formed in the lactic acid fermentation of sugar, and by the action of
nascent hydrogen on glucose and cellulose, or on invert sugar. Its formula
is C_{6}H_{8}(OH)_{6} and that of nitro-mannite C_{6}H_{8}(NO_{3})_{6}.
Mannite crystallises in needles or rhombic prisms, which are soluble in
water and alcohol, and have a sweet taste. Nitro-mannite forms white
needle-shaped crystals, insoluble in water, but soluble in ether or
alcohol. When rapidly heated, they ignite at about 374 deg. F., and explode at
about 590 deg. F. It is more susceptible to friction and percussion than
nitro-glycerine, and unless pure it is liable to spontaneous
decomposition. It is considered as the nitric ether of the hexatomic
alcohol mannite. It is formed by the action of a mixture of nitric and
sulphuric acids upon man