Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-10-26
CurlOsitfes Of Coal.

San Francisco Chronicle
Does any one expect a practical
chemist ever to stop to think of all
the substances which we get from pit
coal and the almost mconceivable
variety of their uses? Everybody is
familiar with those Of them that are
n daily use, such as gas, illuminat-
ing oils, coke and parafine, but ofthe
greater part few persons know even
the names, science advances sOrapid-
" and its nomenclature is so extern
sive and so abstruse. 1t is no Won
der that merchants and manufacture
ers take advantage of this ignorance
to f0ist upon the public articles Of
food, of drink, or for the toilet that,
if they are not always dangerous to
the health, have not in them a parti-
Gle Of substances which they pretend
to contain. Though pit coal has
been known for some hundreds Of
years, the discovery OF its numberless
products is confined to the present
century. Illuminating gas was IN
known a hundred years ago. Petrole-
UNI has been in use only about 40
years, and it is scarcely more than so
since some one discovered that stone
coal was inhammable. Nearly all
the other products derived from soft
| coal have been discovered and ap-
/ piled in the interests of science or of
/ fraud within the last TWENTY-FIVE
| years. The first thought IN regard
! to coal is that it is made to give heat
/ or warmth; the next that one Of its
! principal uses is to illuminate. But
| there are obtained from it the means
/ producing over four hundred cOlOrs,
or shades Of color, among The chief Of
/ which are saffron, violet blue and
/ indigo. There are also obtained a
! great variety Of perfumes cinnamon,
! bitter almonds, queen Ofthe meadows,
/ Glove, Wintergreen, anise, camphOF,
! thymOl Ga new French OdOr), vani-
line and heiOtrOphine. Some of these
are used for havOring. Among the
explosive agents whose discovery has
been caused by the war spirit OF the
last years in Europe are two called
dinitrO benzine, or bellite, and picrates.
| To medicine coal has given hypnOne,
saicylic acid, napthOl, phenOl, and
antipyrine. Benzine and naphthaline
are powerful insecticides There have
been found init ammOaiacal salts use
ful as fertilizer, tannin, sacchar-
meta substitute for sugar, the favor
Of currants, raspberry, and pepper,
pyrOgalic acid and hydrOquinOne
used in photography, and various
substances familiar or unfamiliar,
such as tar, rOsin, asyhaltum, lubri-
eating oils, Varnish, and the bitter
taste Of beer. By means Of some of
these we can have wine without the
juice Of the grape, beer without malt,
preserves without either fruit
or sugar, perfumes without
flowers, and cOlOring matters with
out vegetable or animal substances
! from which they have been hitherto
chiefly derived.
What is to be the end of all this?
Are our coal beds not only to warm
and illuminate, but to feed and
! quench the thirst Of pOsterity? We
know they are the Iuxuriant vegeta-
ton Of primal epOchs stored and
compressed in a way that has made
them highly cOnYenientfOrt transport
and daily use. They are natures
savings laid up for rainy day for
her children, the human race, and it
| is probably because they are cOmpOs-
ed Of the trees, the plants, the roots,
the fruits and the flowers Of the an
Gent world that they now so largely
supply the place Of our forests.
Mains fields and Gardens