The Dillon tribune., 1886-12-03

| their game of hide and seek.
| While the theory of Schonbcin was still
agtating the chemical world, a host OF
analogous compounds made their appear
ance. Thompson in England made an
explosion from sugar and about the same
time Ascagne Sobrero, an Italian student
in the laboratory of Pelouze. a distinguished
chemist Of Paris, announced among other
similar compounds, the discovery Of Nitro
glycerine. Nitro.g lycerine differed from
the other compounds in being made from
liquid and in being liquid itself. So
brero must have been startled, when in his
first experiments he developed its extraor-
binary powers as an explosive. There is
| nothing in the records to show that he ap-
ciated the importance Of his discovery.
Many years were to elapse before it should
become Of practical use. 1t was not the
province Of the chemists to develop its use
full powers as the servant Of man. These
slept for nearly two decades. During this
period beyond an occasional scientific ex.
pertinent, nothing was done with it and
very little was heard Of it. The noise it
made In the world was not such as to en-.
courage practical men to take hold of it.
Occasionally venturesome student would
wreck laboratory, and one or two noted
chemists lost their lives, in manufacturing
It. During the Cri,nean War, there was a
rumor that nitro.g lycerine had been used
in the torpedoes placed to defend the for.
tress Of Cronstadt and the entrance to st.
Petersburg. The allied fleet was kept at
bay, whether through fear Of the torpedoes
or by other considerations mattered little
to Russia. The torpedoes were managed
and built by Prot. jacob, assisted by a
Swede named Nobel. After the war No
bel returned 10 Stockholm, and establish
ing himself upon small island near the
town, devoted himself in conjunction with
two Of his sons to the perfection Of his tor
pedoes and the manufacture Of various
deadly compounds. 1t was here that one
Of his youngest sons was killed BY an ex
plosion. And soon afterwards the elder
Nobel died. Another son, Alfred Nobel,
a mining engineer who had been playing
the part Of travelling agent for the firm and
trying to introduce their products into the
mines, undeterred by the fate Of his broth.
er, now took hold Of the factory and began
the manufacture Of nitro.glycerine on a
large scale. It must be remembered that
the chemists had made nitro glycerine by
the ounce. Nobel proposed to make it by
the ton and he succeeded, but even then
his task was but begun. Nitro.glycerine,
though dangerous, is not susceptible to the
ordinary means Of bringing about an ex.
plosion. 1t requires a peculiar shock to
cause perfect defamation, and it was not
until Nobel had devised the illuminate
capsule, that it was placed above the plane
Of an experimental agent. He established
another factory near Hamburg and
began the shipment Of nitro-glycerine un.
der the name of glonoin oil to various
parts of the world. This was about 1864.
The oil was put up in glass bottle. and
several of these were tightly packed with
sawdust or porous earth in wooden case.
Hardly had the firm fairly launched their
business, when reports Of terrible disasters
reached them. In hotel in Greenwich
street, New York, case was found emit.
ting fumes and was thrown out on the side
walk, when it exploded, breaking up tine
pavement and smashing all the windows
in the neighborhood. The steamer "Eu.
ropean" lying at Aspinwall, in unloading
freight, allowed one of the cases to slip
from the sings and fall back into the hold
where number Of others formed part OF
the cargo. The result was a frightful ex.
plosion which destroyed the steamer and
the wharf and killed or injured MORALLY
nearly fifty people. At Wells, Fargo &
Co.'s Express Office in San Francisco a
case was found fuming and soon afterwards
exploded, des,royinga quarter of million
dollars worth of property. At Ridgefeld
New Jersey; Sydney, Australia; in Wales
and at the Stockholm factory, disasters fol
lowed each other in quick succession
The Nobel firm finally issued instruction,
to their agents ackno wledging that the at
tempt to make liquid nitro.glycerinc an ar
) ticle Of commerce had failed, and directed
them to introduce to their customers as a
substitute their new safety powder or dy
Mantle.
The story goes that the discovery O
dynamite was accidental. To pack tn,
glass bottle of nitro.glyccrine, Nobel usee
a LIGHT norous earth found in Hanoxer a M