San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-04-26
DYNAMITE.
whatItIs and How II Is Made.
New York Tribune.

New York Tribune
nvuamite is nitro-glycerine with
- enough of the silica added to con-
~ 4 into powder that can be
s,ss,~dled with comparative safety. No
~ attained apatent for his discovery,
u va in order to evade it, various man
a %oturers have substituted other
Instances for the infusorial silica,
aS This accounts for the variety of
Sa for what is essentially the same
hing: such as Jubiter powder, rend
s .o etc. Among the substitutes are
S,~npowder, mica rnd magnesia. The
S;tmar powder company mixed sugar
Nth the glycerine before nitrating it,
and thus obtained a mixture of nitro
snoar and nitro glycerine, which was
o oaI ginkodine. This, mixed with
an absorbant, gave powder possess
inc all the explosive powerof dynamite.
One of the most recent improvements
If it is an improvement-in this
class is an explosive gleatine or gum,
which is made by dissolving soluble
cotton in nitro glycerine and add
mo a small percentage of champion.
By nitrating carbolic acid,picric acid
is made, which byitself is not par
icularly explosive, but combining
i with potash or baryta, most explo-
sive products result; but they have
not proved successful competitors of
the nitro glycerine preparations. A
totally different class of explosives
are those in which the illuminate of
mercury is used. The illuminate
is chiefly used in percussion caps.
Heads ofharpoons were once filed with
itand killed whales by it's explosion in
stead of stabbing them to death.
Il lis so dangerous to handle, however,
that it is hardly available for any pur-
pose except percussion caps. Then
there are some substances which are
too dangerous to handle at all, such
as LIQUID chloride of nitrogen and the
solid iodide of nitrogen; they do not
explode by combustion but by disso-
cation. There are hundreds of differ
emit explosive preparations. Take
any mbustible substance and mix
it with something rich in. oxygen, and
you have an explosive; or take any
vegetable substance which admits of
being nitrated, and make nitro COM
pound by mixing it with sulphuric
and nitric acids, and you have ter
rble explosive. 1t is the extreme
simplicity of making dynamite which
adds to the danger of the desperate
men across the water. It will be
very difficult for England to CONTROL
its manufacture. 1t can only be
done by regulating the sale of the
agents as the sale Of poison is regu
lated, or by taking in hand the ex
elusive right to manufacture all ex-
plosives. The agents are generally
50 harmless in themselves that their
sale could hardly be regulated. If
you can get oil of vitriol and saltpeter
you can make nitric acid. Nitric
acid itself is used by builders, salt
peter for curing meat, glycerine is
simple and harmless substance when
left alone, oil of vitriol must be had
for manufacturers; and so it is that to
restrict these would be very difficult.
No great chemical skill is necessary to
the manufacture of enough dynamite
to blow up all the government houses
in Europe. It must be made in small
quantities, and the whole process
consists in the mixing Of sulphuric
and nitric acids and adding glycerine
slowly when the acids are agitated,
and the vessels in which the mixture
is made is kept cool byssice water.
The chief danger comes from. the
necessity of having it thoroughly
washed to get the acid out of it after
ward, OF it is liable to undergo spon-
taneous decomposition. There is no
need of sending any one of the agents
to England, for they are as easily
made there as here.