The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1874-07-23
How a Great Discovery Was Made.

IVA. Ol6uuc OOllHS, a CCACUAutCu kCAOAA
chemist, communicates to Les Mondes
are made. To M. Collas is due the honor
of first recognizing nitro-benzol, or, us it
is better known, essence OF mirbane,
yellowish oil derived from coal tar, hav-
ing very sweet taste and an odor
strongly resembling that OF bitter al
monds, which latter popularity has led
to its extended use in perfumery. In
telling the story of how he found this
substance, he says that, during the year
1S4S, he was engaged in researches with
a view of utilizing industrially the guam
titles of light oil which, having no en-
ployment, and hence very small value,
filled up the cisterns in gas-houses. 1t
was at that time worth about one cent a
pound. After vainly endeavoring to
solve the problem for some time, M. Col
las was about to relinquish the task
when it occurred to him to treat the oil
in the same manner as gun cotton, that
is, with a mixture of monohydrated nj.
trio acid and sulphuric acid. AFTER the
operation, the acids being separated by
water" he says, was astonished to
find at the bottom of my vessel yellow
button. The oil, at first lighter than the
water, had become heavier, and hence
sunk. I touched it with my finger and
rubbed it on my hand, when the strong
characteristic odor became at once fOrci-
bly, apparent. l had found an essence
which, at the cheapest, could replace q
substance in great demand, and which
was worth, instead of five centimes Zone
cent?, fifty francs (ten dollars), q pound
This discovery of mirbane was, how.
ever, only the prelude of the greater one
subsequently made, of the magnificent
colors which could be derived from the
aniline obtained by its deoxidation by
means of nascent hydrogen evolved from
iron filings and acetic acid. In 1851
Perkin obtained from aniline the beau
tiful violet color known as mauve, ani
since then the dyes thus derived have
been produced to such an extent tina
their value to industry is almost beyond
calculation. The little button of mir
bane, however, in the modest laboratory
of Partisan apothecary, was the germ
from which the whole grand series
sprang.
There seems to he kind of fatality
about great discoveries which bring
them forth in its own time. Men stumbl,
across valuable ideas and learn importan
truths too soon, which ie dead durin,
their lifetime, only to be appreciated b.
the world after their death. The history
of arts and sciences abounds in examples
Faraday, in 1926, found benzol in tn
tarry residues Of gas-works, but tina
illustrious chemist obtained neither fam
nor profit for his discovery, which wOul'
doubtless have remained buried in tn
archives of the British Royal Institution
until the attention of the scientific AM
industrial world was drawn to the chem
ical properties of the substance almos
forty years later. Again, it often happen
that discoveries escape those who are, b,
accident, placed in the very position t
seize upon them. NJ. Col1as cites, q
evidence of this, the case Of Frencl
chemist who, in 1876, made yellow dy
for silk by the action Of nitric acid o
coal oil. The peculiar odor of the mil
bane which he must have produce
escaped him, and he failed to recogniz
the new substance which he had OF
misunderstanding Anserican.