The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-09 00:00:00

Christmas Lectures at the Royal Institution.

On Saturday Dr. Frankland concluded his short
course of lectures "On the Chemistry of Coal." Hav-
ing in the preceding lectures considered the origin
and elementary constituents of coal, how coal was
put together by nature, and how it is taken asunder
for the production of heat and light, the concluding
lecture was devoted to the explanation of the manner
in which the products of combustion are converted
into valuable materials for brilliant illumination and
for dyeing. In the first place, however, Dr. Frank.
land exhibited the action of Lerroir's gas engine, the
principle of which he explained in a previous lecture.
The gas that supplies the institution was conveyed
to the engine by an elastic tube, and after the fly-
wheel had been started, the engine, which was equal
to 1 horse-power, continued working with greater or
less speed, according to the quantity of gas supplied.
The engine is entirely self-acting, for the mechanism
openr the valves to admit the gas and air into the
cylinder, and makes connection with the electrical
apparatus that explodes the mixture. Having
shown this novel practical application of the explo-
sive force of coal gas, Dr. Frankland proceeded
to explain the manner in which paraffin oil and
paraffin candles are extracted from coal tar, and the
beautiful colours called magenta and mauve are pro-
duced from that disagreeable-looking and offensively
odorous substance.. The accumulation of the tar in
gasworks was formerly a great nuisance, as there
was no known available mode of making use of it,
but it is now considered so valuable that coal is often
distilled at a low heat for the purpose of producing
it, the gas being thrown away. From coal tar che-
mists have separated no fewer than 50 compounds,
of which 3 have been rendered principally useful for
dyeing, viz., benzole, phenylic alcohol, and analine.
For the production of colours benzole must be con-
verted into analine, which change is effected by heating
it first with nitric acid, and then with acetic acid and
scraps of iron. The colour mauve is produced by
heating analine with bichromate of potass and sulphu-
ric acid ; and magenta is obtained by heating analine
with arsenic acid ; blue and violet are produced by
heating magenta with analine.! Dr. Frankland pro-
duced a trayful of glasses, in which were placed
small invisible particles of differently prepared sub-
stances from coal tar, and on pouring into the dif-
ferent glasses phenylic alcohol they were filled with
fluids of various colours, all poured from the same
bottle. The following was given as a brief statistical
statement of the quantity of dye obtainable from
coal—Thirty hundredweights of coal yield 3601 b. of
tar, which furnish 181 b. of naphtha, containing 61b.
of benzole, and the latter yields 51b. of analine,
which produce 11b. of magenta. One pound of ma-
genta will dye 6501 b. of silk, or 9001 b. of wool, the
latter quantity being the average produce of 160
sheep. Dr. Frankland showed the process of dyeing
cotton, silk, and wool different colours, and he ex-
hibited several other experiments to illustrate the
remarkable properties of the substances extracted
from what had, until recently, been considered
waste products in the manufacture of gas. At the
conclusion of the lecture he was loudly applauded.
The attendance during every lecture of the course
was more numerous than usual, and, though the
lectures were professedly addressed to a juvenile
audience, the majority of those present were well
advanced in life.

EXTRAORDINARY AFFAlR.—Captain Thomas S.
Bunker, of the 88th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, last
September, through the'Rev. J. W. Bushing, who, by the
way, received pay for the part he took in the transaction,
managed to have his son, who had died in the service, cre-
dited on the quota of Parke county, as a substitute for a
drafted man, named Calvin Moore. It appears that the
son, Charles Bunker, had entered the service as a substi-
tute early_in the-war, and by good conduct had been
nprioie-
moted to the rank of second lieutenant, which ruslitio
held until his death, which took place
-enlisted his dead
father then, only two months later, throughe
of the regiment to which he belonged,
rand local bounty,
las tthe chaplain
son as a substitute, receiving
part of which he The will of Count
WILLS AND BEQuEsTs.---e in de
has just been proved London, the
Vigney, of France,
d of property in En
aceho.rdilanngy thehas telenftormosflatuhdi
• died possessed gland, the
s
he
testator having gave his accomplice.—Cincinnati Cincinnati Gazette.
d Madame Louise Laehand, wife of M. Chas.
esteemed friend
d Lachand, residing in Paris, whom he has ap-
pointedAlexan er
universal legatee, with directions to out his
executrix,
will,
beingt
al andhaiall
wishes. To t
his real and personal estate. His literary property and
works will revert, and are bequeathed, from father to son ;
his estate of Maine Giraud is to be divided between her son
(the testator's godson) and her daughter. The will of ;the
Right Hon. Thomas Erskine, P.C., formerly of Fir Grove,
Eversley, Hants, but late of Little Green, Sussex, was
proved in the London Court under 25,0001. personalty in
the United Kingdom. The executors appointed are the
relict and the eldest son, Mr. Henry Trail Erskine. The
testator has bequeathed to his wife the whole of his per-
sonal estate. He was formerly chief judge of the Court
of Review, and was afterwards transferred to the Court
of Common Pleas, which he resigned in 1845, and died, in
November last, at the age of seventy-six. The will of
Thomas Rammell, of Sturry-court, near Canterbury,
VMS proved in London wider 25,0001. personalty, ,the
executors being the relict, George Rammell, the son, and
Robert Lake, the brother-in-law. The testator has left to
his wife his real estate, lands, farms, and personal estate,
which at her decease is to be divided amongst their chil-
dren as she by will may appoint. The late Mrs. Hodgson,
wife of the Rev. T. D. Hodgson, M.A., of East Woodhay,
Hants, has bequeathed legacies of 5001. to the Societies for
Promoting Christian Knowledge, and the Propagation of
the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The late Mr. Ambrose Lan-
fear, of Hungerford, Berks, has bequeathed to the Religion!
Tract Society, the London City Missions, the Brig an
h.d
Foreign Bible Society, and the London Missionary S:aciT
50/. each; and to the Sunday School Society, _Du _
dolt
the Ragged f3chool Union, 254 onli.—lllustra ea 14/1
News. ..1.•• •