Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1874-07-24
How a Great Discovery Was Made.

M. Claude Collas, a celebrated French
chemist, communicates to les Mondcs
an interesting paper on how discoveries
are made. To NJ. Collas Is due the honor
of first recognizing nitro-benzol, or, as 1t
is better known, essence of mirbanc, u
yellowish oil derived from coal tar, hav.
ing very sweet taste and an odor
strongly resembling that of bitter al
monds, which latter peculiarly has led
to its extended use in perfumery. In
telling the story of how he found this
substance, he says that, during the year
194S, he was engaged in researches with
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 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 a yellow
button. The oil, at first lighter than the
water, had become heavier, and hence
sunk. / touched it with my finger and
rubbed it on my hand, when the strong
characteristic odor became at once forci-
bly, apparent. | had found an essence
which, at the cheapest, could replace a
substance in great demand, and which
was worth, instead of five centimes lone
cent?, fifty francs (ten dollars, pound.
This discovery of mirbane was, how
ever, only the prelude of the greater one,
| CIT M w of m
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 1856
PerlIin obtained from aniline the beau.
! tiful violet color known as mauve, and
since then the dyes thus derived have
| been produced to such an extent that
| 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 be kind of fatality
about great discoveries which brings
them forth in its own time. Men stumble
across valuable ideas and learn important
truths too soon, which lie dead during
their lifetime, only to be appreciated by
the world after their death. The history
of arts and sciences abounds in examples
Faraday, in 1925, found benzol in thu
tarry residues of gas-works, but tha
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 ant
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 L
seize upon them. M. Collas cites o
evidence of this, the case of Frenc
chemist who, in 1916, 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
tained.-Scientifc american.