The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1879-02-06

man who knows nothing, or next to
nothing, of chemistry, it Is very dam
serous game, indeed, 10 mix together a
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 mix the three and ap-
ply light to them, and the result will
much astonish him.
When Of old an alchemist was redue-
ed to fragments in this fashion, our an
cestors had an easy explanation. lie
was magician, they used to say. and
the devil had come suddenly aud carried
him of. There was a time between
the days of Roger Bacon aud those of
Davy, Black and Cavendish, when the
foul fiend was thus always carrying off
alchemists We know not how it hap
pened. If a 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 that he will be reduced
to atoms on the spot are sufficiently Sc
rious to call for his careful considera-
ton.
Apart from the sad fact that young
man with bright and brilliant future
before him should be thus suddenly cut
of, the death of Prof. Fischer. has an
other moral Observation-Disclosures Mr..
Lowe may have to say in praise of civil
engineering-is the science of the world
and of the future. The bridge which
takes the engineer years upon years to
construct, the chemist can, in so many
sixtieths of second, reduce to atoms
Chemistry has given US the balloon;
it has put in our hands gunpowder, nj
troglycerine, dynamite, and, above all,
illuminate Of gold, an explosive SO terri
bic that if an ounce of it be left in a
stoppered bottle its grains falling among
themselves by their own weight will
create a CONFUSION sufficient to lay all
London in ruins. 1t has given Us poi
sons 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 shell, the bursting
of which would kill every human being
within mile of its range.
Then, too, chemistry has given US dis
infectants. To the chemist we owe car
bolic acid, chloride of lime, and perman-
genate 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
is more powerful than even gas itself
the electric light. 1t IS to chemistry,
indeed, that we owe almost all the COM
forts of everyday life
But. on the other hand, the possible
tiles OF chemistry are almost too terri
bic to be contemplated. As the science
at present stands, any student can, if he
has access to a well-storcd laboratory.
carry away in pill box sufficient to lay
London in ruins, or to poison the whole
community Of its inhabitants. The che
mist can, as every schoolboy knows, con-
vert water into ice in the center of ared-
hot crucibe. lie can construct shell
the size Of a cricket-ball which will ex-
plode the moment it touches the water
and oyerwhelm in flames hostile feet
Indeed, the chemist reduces the world
to its original and primal elements. For
him, even more than for the engineer,
nothing is impossible. He can more
easily destroy than construct. He can
take life, but he cannot give it. He
can level the city with the plain, but he
cannot build it again. He can create
prussic acid. but he is ignorant Of its
antidote. He is like the fisherman who
rashly opened the vessel sealed with the
ring Of Suheman Ben Daoud The for
ces at his control are beyond his COM
mand; the powers he can evoke he can
not lay. it is the old story of Cornelius
Agrippa those who trife with natures
secrets do so at their peril