New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1879-02-12

like q Queen or in plain linen, she will
treat her as such, and never Judge by
appearance.
DANGERS OF CHEMISTRY.
The Terrible Possibilities or Combi-
nations Of Harmless Chemical Inc
| grcdients The Power Over Nature
| aud Human Life Which Chemistry
Gives.
A MOST unfortunate accident which
has occurred at Prague recalls, in
many of its details and circumstances,
the quaint traditions that were once
prevalent in regard to the medieval al
chemists. Prof. Fischer, of the Prague
Gymnasium, young man only twenty
five years of age, and of the highest
eminence in his profession that of
chemistry-has come to an untimely
end under the most melancholy circum-
stances. No one needs to be told that
cyanide of potassium, drug largely
used in photographs, is q poison Of
the most deadly CT, .r..ctcr. Its active
ingredient is prus~c acid. Prussic
acid in its pure, or as chemists would
term it, "anhydro !, form, is SUBJ
stance too DANCE, us to be kept, or
even manufacture If glass cap.
sule containing :, ,ine-glass full of
pure prussic aci, ~ere broken in the
pit of a theater, I !. among the audi
ence who were nea, It the doors might
escape, but the great majority would
be killed on tho spot. Tho prussic
acid ordinarily sold. and occasionally
used for killing dogs and cats, contains
but drop of the pure acid to q quarter
of pint of water. Pure prussic acid
no chemist dare keep. He might a.
we'll compress to1of dynamite into q
single cartridge, supposing such pack
age to be possible, and then leave the
deadly package lying loose on the
table.
Cyanide of potassium is not like
prussic acid, volatile. 1t is q 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 frag-
ment almost imperceptible to the eye
will, if swallowed, prove equally fatal;
and that its mere smell has before now
produced instant death. It was, it
seems, the ambition of Prof. Fischer to
discover some means Of rendering cyan
ide Of potassium harmless. We can
do this with gunpowder- although the
analogy is not strictly exact-the means
employed with gunpowder being me-
chanical, while those for which Prot.
Fischer sought were chemical. We
know what happens if a light is ap-
piled to key of gunpowdcr. If, how
ever, we mix the powder with four or
five times its bulk of sawdust, q torch
may be applied to it with immunity.
The mechanical resistance of the saw
dust makes it impossible for the ex-
plosion to at once spread to the whole
mass, and the consequence is that q
sort of splutter ensnes, like that of
squib or blue light. Prof. Fischer's
idea was that, if cyanide of potassium
were thoroughly mixed with sal am.
moniac, it would be as harmless as
gunpowder mixed with sawdust, but
would still remain equally available
for those purposes of photography for
which it is at present absolutely indis-
pensable.
=" course Of his researches MIR.
Fischer male mixture, of which in
lis own mind lie felt assured that it
would meet the conditions of his prob
lem. He compounded the cyanide
with some other substance, and then,
turning to his laboratory assistant,
said:
"Science has now so far advanced as
to be ever able to render harmless so
dangerous an agent as cyanide of potas-
SUM"
|. With these words he tasted the mix
ture, and was almost in an instant
seized with the most violent and excru-
ciating .agonies. He at once implored
his assistant to send for medical aid.
Cyanogen, however, whether as prussic
acid or cyanide of potassium, kills al
most instan:aneously. In few seconds
Prof. Fischer was beyond help. We
are told that there is no possible reason
to suppose that q deliberate suicide had
been planned and carried out under the
mask of experiment. On the contrary,
there is every reason to believe that the
professor has met the fate which befeu
only too many of the early chemists,
and their predecessors, the alchemists.
s. 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 perishes with
him-to have first discovered illuminate
of silver is matter of scientific record.
That he was engaged in researches
upon tho Eliminates, and more espe-
cially upon the Eliminates Of the higher
metals, was we'll known. How it pre-
cisely came about that he disappeared
as he did will remain matter Of con-
lecture. There came one day puff, .
slight shock, and a sharp noise, as If
some one inflated y paper bag and then
burst it between his hands. Of the
professor himself, of his laboratory, Of
his apparatus, and of much less within
9 radius Of some yards. not vestige or
trace was left. @
So il used to be with the alchemists-
the heritors Of the hidden wisdom Of
Bonnie, and Roger Bacon and Albertus
Magnus They were always blowing
themselves up, or asphyxiating them
selves with some noxions vapor. For
man who knows nothing, or. next to
nothing. of chemistry, it is avery dam
gerous game, indeed, to mix together
. couple Of substances Of which he.
knows nothing, and then bray them in
q mortar. Common sulphur IS harm.
less stuff enough, so is charcoal, 50 IS
inter; but let an ignorant man mix the
three and apply q light to them, and
the result will much astonish him.
When Of old an alchemist was re-
f@snnn 10 $,an So