The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-12-12
THE DANGERS on CHEMIsrRY.

!. THE DANGERS OF CHEMISTRY.
: Prof. Fiseherss Fatal Experimerf-Th
4 Fate of Sundry Early Alchemisti,--Dan
gers of Trifiing With Natures Secrets.
From the London Observer
A most unfortunate accident which
has occurred at Prague recalls, In N an
of its details and circumstances, thu
quaint traditions that were once preva
! lent in regard to the medieval alche
mists. Professor Fischer, of the Pragu,
Gymnasium, young man only % year.
of age and of the highest eminence il
his PROFESSIONALISM of chenistry-ha,
come to an untimely end under the
most melancholy circumstances. Nc
!, one needs to be told that cyanide Of
potassium, drug largely used in pho
Biography, is poison of the most dead
ly character. Its active ingredient is
prussic acid. Prussic acid In It's pure,
or, as chemists would term it, "anhy-
drous" form, Is q substance too danger
Gus TO be kept or even manufactured.
If glass capsule containing wine-
glassful of pure prussic acid were bro
ken in the pit of a theater, those among
the audience who were nearest the
doors might escape, but the great ma
jority would be killed on the spot. The
prussic acid ordinarily sold and occa-
sionally used for killing dogs and cats
contains about a drop of the pure acid
to quarter of pint of water. Pure
prussic acid no chemist dare keep. He
might as well compress ton of dyna-
mite into single cartridge, supposing
such package to be possible, and then
leave the deadly parcel lying loose on
the table.
Cyanide of potassium is not, like
prussic acid, volatile. 1t is white
/ powder, rather resembling -four or
chalk. 1t is, however, so poisonous
that mere pinch of it, sprinkled over
an open wound or sore, will cause al
most instantaneous death; that a frag-
ment almost imperceptible to the eye,
will, If swallowed, prove equally fatal;
and that its mere smell has before now
produced immediate death. 1t was, it
seems, the ambition of Professor Fisch-
er to discover some means of rendering
cyanide of potassium harmless. We
n do this with gunpowder-although
the analogy is not strictly exact--the
means employed with gunpowder being
mechanical, while those for which Pro-
fessor Fischer sought were chemical.
We know what happens ii light is ap
piled to keg of gunpowder. If, how
ever, we mix the powder with four or
FIVE times its bulk of sawdust, a torch
may be applied to itwith impunity. The
mechanical resistance of the sawdust
makes it impossible for the explosion to
at once spread to the whole mass, and
the consequence is that sort of splut-
ter ensues, like that of a squib or blue.
light. Professor Fischer's idea was
that, if cyanide of potassium were thor
oughly mixed with sal ammoniac, it
would be as harmless as gunpowder
mixed with sawdust, but would still re-
main equally available for all those pur-
poses of photography for which it is at
present absolutely indispensable.
In the course of his researches Mr..
Fischer made mixture of which in his
own mind he felt assured that it would
meet the conditions of his problem. He
compounded the cyanide with some
other substance, and then, turning to
Ills dSoloJduO,
" Science has now so far advanced as
to be even able to render harmless so
dangerous an agent as cyanide of po-
tassium."
With these words he tasted the mix |
ture, and was almost in an instant seiz- |
ed with the most violent and excruciat-
ing agonies. He at once implored his |
assistant to send for medical aid. Cyan
ogen, however, whether as prussic |
acid or cyanide of potassium, kills al
most instantaneously. In a few sec
onds Prof. Fischer was beyond help. |
We are told that there is no possible |
reason to suppose that deliberate sui
eide had been planned and carried out |
under the mask of experiment. On the |
contrary, there is every reason to be- |
believe that the Professor has met the
fate which befell only too many of the
early chemists and their predecessors,
the alchemists.
We know now what will happen to |
any experimentalist if he dips blotting- |
paper in nitric-acid, washes it, dries it, |
and then incautiously treads upon it.
What happened to the man who is be
lieved-for his record persisted with him
to have discovered illuminate of silver |
il matter of scientific record. That |
he was engaged in researches upon the |
and more especially upon
the Eliminates of the higher metals,
was well known. How it precisely
came about that he disappeared as he
did will remain a matter of conjecture.
There came one day a puff, slight
shock, and slight noise as if some one |
inflated paper-bag and then burst it
between his hands. Of the Professor
himself, of his laboratory, of his appa-
ratus, and of much less within radius
of some yards, not a vestige or trace
was left.
So it used to be with the alchemists-
the heritors of the hidden wisdom of
Bohne, and Roger Bacon and Albertus
Magnus. They were always blowing
up, or asphyxiating them
selves with some noxious vapor. For a
man who knows nothing, or next to
of chemistry, it is very dan
gerous game indeed to mix together
couple of substances of which he knows
nothing, and then bray them in a NOR
tar. ! Common sulphur is harmless
stuff enough, so is charcoal, so is inter;
but let an ignorant man mix the three
and apply light to them, and the re-
suit will much astonish him.
When of old an alchemist was re-
duced to fragments in this fashion our
ancestors had an easy explanation. He
was a magician, they used to say, and
the devil had come suddenly and had
carried him off. There was time, be-
tween the days of Roger Bacon and
those of Davy, Black and Cavendish,
when the foul fiend was thus always car
rying off alchemists. We know not
how it happened. If man goes into a
chemical laboratory and takes up big
beaker and pours into it the contents Of
the first two bottles that are ready at his
hand, the probabilities tat he will be
reduced to atoms on the spot are suf-
iciently serious to call for his careful
Apart from the sad fact that young
man with a bright and brilliant future