Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-01-19

ly used for kilnng dogs and cats, contains
about a drop Of the pure acid to aquarter
| Of pint of water. Pure prussic acid no
chemist dare keep. He might as we'll
compress ton of dynamite into single
cartridge, supposjng such package to be
possible, and then leave the deadly parcel
| lying Loose upon his table.
Cyanide Of potassium is not, like prus-
sic acid, Volatile. It is white powder,
rather resembling flour or chalk. It's,
however, so poisonous that mere pinch
sprinkled over al open wound or sore,
will cause almost instantaneous death
that a fragment almost imperceptible to
the 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 Fischer to discover some means
Of rendering cyanide of potassium harm
less. We can do this with gunpowder--
although the analogy is not strictly exact,
the means employed with gunpowder be-
ing mechanical, while those for which
Professor Fischer sought were chemical
We know what happens if a light is ap
| piled to a keg OF gunpow er. If however,
we mix the powder with four or five times
its bulk OF sawdust. a torch may he ap-
| piled to it with impunity. The mechan-
zeal resistance Of the sawdust makes it
J impossible for the explosion to at once
spread to the whole mass, and the conse-
quence is that a sort of sputter ensues,
like that of a sqib or blue light. Profes-
sor Fischer's idea was that, if cyanide Of
potassium were thoroughly mixed with
sal ammoniac, it would be as harmless as
gunpowder mixed with sawdust, but
would still remain equally available for
all those purposes OF photography for
which it is at present absolutely indis-
penslble.
In the course Of his researches Mr.. Fisch-
cher made a mixture Of which in his own
mind he felt assured that it would meet
the conditions Of his problem. He con-
pounded the cyanide with some other
substance, and tncn, turning to his lab.
oratory assistant, said:
"Sclence has now so far advanced as
to be even able to reader harmless so dan
gerous an agent as cyanide of potassium
With these words he tasted the mix
ture, and was almost in an instant seized
with the most violent and cxcruc iatine
agonies. He at once implored his assist
ant to send for medical aid. Cyanogen,
however, whether as prussic acid or eva
hide o. potassium, kills almost instan-
taneously. In a few seconds Professor
Fischer was beyond help. We are told
that there is no possible reason to sup
pose that a deliberate suicide had oeep
planned and carried OUT under the mask
Of reason TO believe that the Professor
has net the fate which bete}i only too
many Of the early chemists and their
predecessors, the alchemists
We know cow what will happen to any
experimentaIst if he dips b,otting paper
in nitric acid, washes it, dries it, and then
lncautiously treads upon it. What hap
pened to the man who is believed for
his record persisted with him-to have
first discovered illuminate Of silver is a
matter of scientific record. That he was
engaged in researches upon the fulmir-
ates OF the higher metals, was we'll known.
How 1t precisely came about that he dis
appeared as he did will remain a matter
of conjecture. There came one day q puff,
slight shock, and a. smart noise as If
some one inflated a paper bag and then
burst it between his hands. Of the
Professor himself, of his laboratory, of
his apparatus, and of much else within
a radius Of some yards, not a vestige Or
trace was left.
So it used to be with the nlchemists
the heritors of the hidden wisdom Of
Bohne, and Roger Bacon, and Albertus
Magnus. They were always blowing
themselves up, or asphyxiating them
selves which some noxious vapor. For
man who knows nothing, or next to
aothing, OF chemistry, it is very danger
GUS game indeed, to mix together couple
OF substances Of which he knows nothinp.
and then bray them in a mortar. Com
mon sulphur is harmless stuff enough. so
IS charcoal, so is inter; but let an igno
rant man mix the three and apply light
to them, and the result will astonish him.
When Of old an aIchemsst was reduced
to fragments in this fashion, our ancestor.
had an easy explanation. He was q
magician, they used to say, and the devil
had come suddenly and had carried him
on. There was time, between the DAYS
OF Roger Bacon and those of Davv, Black
and Cavendish, when the foul fend was
thus always carrying off alcheroists. We
know now how it happened. if man
goes into the chemical LABORATORY and
takes up big oeaker and pours into it
the contents Of the first two bottles that
are ready TO his hand, the probabilities
that he viii be reduced to atoms on the
spot are sufficiently serious to call for his
careful consideration.
Apart from the sad fact that young
man with a bright and brilliant future
before him should be thus suddenly cut
OIL the death of Professor Fischer has
another moral. Observation-Disclosures
Mr.: Lowe my have to say in praise of
civil engineering the science of the
world and of the future. The bridge which
takes the engineer years upon years to con-
struct the chemist can in SO many six
tie1hs of a second reduce to atoms.
Chemistry has given the balloon lit has
put IN our hands gunpowder, nitro. glvcel-
Inc, dynamite, and above all, illuminate
OF gold-an explosive so terr1ble that if
an ounce OF it be left in stoppered bottle
Its grains falling among themselves by
thelr own weight, will create CONFUSION
sufficient to lay all London in ruins. It
has given us poisons so subtle that-were
we to employ such means of warfare-we
could sail in balloon over the camp of
the enemy and drop upon it she'll, the
bursting OF which would kill every human
being within mile of it's range.
Then, too, chemistry has given US dis
intectants. To the chemist we owe
carbolic acid, chloride of lime and per-
manganate Of potash. Chemists have
taught us to disinfect our sewers and
drains, to ventilate our houses, to burn
gas instead of oil, and to light our streets
with what ia mora noworf,l tho, ,.1a-