Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-12
ALUMINIUM AND COLOR BLINDNESS.

-George h. Clapp, manager OF the Fltts-
burg Reduction Company, delivered an IN
teresting lecture before the students at the
Western University yesterday afternoon,
his subject being, "The Manufacture OF
Aluminium" When the gentleman was in
troduced by Chancellor Holland as grad
nate of the University the audience honored
him with an enthusiastic greeting peculiar
to college assemblies.
In a few predatory remarks Mr.. Clapp took
occasion to say that the subject of his lee
ture, while comparatively new metal, had
been subjected to much false representa-
tion and very little truth. Taking first the
name he said it was called aluminium" and
"aluminium'-both were correct. Aluminium
was the name used by the French. Sir
Humphrey Davy was the first to give
name to the metallic basis OF alumina, his
suggestion being ''alumium, but it was OBJ
jected to, and a few years later his sugges-
tion of aluminium" was adopted.
1.-THE first attempt to isolate aluminium
was made in 1850 by NJ. Baron, a professor OF
chemistry in Paris who announced his be-
lief that the base of alum was of a metallic
nature, but his attempt to isolate it proved
failure, and he left no record of the
methods he pursued. In 1907 Sir Humphrey
Davy began experimenting on the reduction
of alumina by means OF electricity, but did
not succeed in separating it. as he electro
lyzed a compound OF alumina wit caustic
alkali and both metals were necessarily set
free If the compound were decomposed at
oil. Two years later Davy discovered that
alumina can be decompOsed, while fluid, in
the electric arc and its metal allOyed with
iron. By repeated experiments he later
established that fused alumina eau be de-
composed in the electric arc and that
alumina can be decomposed by potassium
in the presence OF iron, though he failed to
isolate the metal.
The discovery of the chloride of alumni
mum in 1924 led to the solution of the prob
lem. In 1927 Wohler, the German chemist,
by melting potassium and aluminium chic
ride in a platinum crucible produced q gray
metallic powder which proved to be alumni
mum, but he could not combine it into q
metal. He learned, however, many of its
chemical properties. Henry st. Clair De-
vile, in 1S54 solved the problem by the dis
covery that sodium, use1 instead of potas-
SUM, and the mass treated in an earthen
retort would perform satisfactory 1educ-
tion for aluminium.
The next step was to cheaper sodium, and
Deville in four years reduced its price from
$lOO to 81 per pound and by repeated expert
mental effort he reduced the price of alumni.
mum to sI2 a pound. 1t remained at that
figure un til 1872 a period OF % years. Subse-
quent discoveries tending to cheaper the
materials used in its composition reduced
the price OF aluminium to 10 shillfngS
pound two years ago. but the electric proc
esSes now used in manufacturing the metal
are rapidly displacing the sodium process.
Mr.. Clapp then proceeded to give a de-
tailed explanation of the electrolytic
processes at present used for the manu-
facture of aluminium, using technical terms
that an ordinary reader would follow with
great difficulty. One of these, patented by
Charles NJ. Hall, of Oberlin, o., he said was
the only one in use in this country, the pat
ents being owned by the Pittsburg Reduc-
tion Company, who, in addition to their
works at Kensington, Pa. have plant at
Patricroft, Lancashire county, England.
The Pittsburg plant has, since it began in
1888, manufactured 100000 pounds of alum
inum- An expenditure of p electrical horse
power per hour is required to make one
pound of the metal. 1t costs 20 cents per
pound to make it, and there is no prospect,
not to say possibility, of the cost being re-
duced to any appreciable extent. On this
feature of the subject Mr.. Clapp said:
I'VE have all heard of the wonderful state
ments of new and cheap processes that
present price to 8, 6, 8 or Is cents per pound.
One ambitious fraud has even gone so far as
to state that by his process it could be made
for $50 per ton. Several of these alleged in
ventors have succeeded in organizing large
companies, with other peoples money, and
have issued glowin: prospectuses in which
they claim more virtues for this much
abused metal than have ever been claimed
by the most enthusiastic patent medicine
fakir that ever worked q country fair. but
thanks to the newspapers most Of these
processes have been exposed. A great many
people still believe that aluminium is or can
be made from clay, in spite Of all that has
been written to the contrary. All clay does
contain alumina, in fact about per cent OF
the earth's surface is alumina, but only two
minerals are being used in its manufacture
cryolite and bauxite."
Colonel T. p Roberts read before the
Academy of Science and Art last night an
interesting paper entitled, GA Theory Re-
garding the Cause and Durability Of Color
Blindness" Considerable interest was mani
tested in the subject and among the learned
gentlemen forming the audience were a
number of oculists, opticians and represent
ative railroad men. The lecture was illus
trated with numerous colored plates and
diagrams and was followed by experiments
with optical instruments.
In opening Colonel Roberts stated that
his attention had been directed to the SUBJ
ject at college. where two of his classmates
had been afflicted with color blindness. His
theory was the result of pefusal Of one of
Tyndall's works and was only offered as a
plausible basis for argument on the vexed
question of color blindness, in the hope that
experts might give the subject further at
tention.
"Up to the present time,"he said, mo
generally accepted theory Is to the cause of
u, Is
ally believed that it is incurable. The theory
which receives the most support in account
ing for the phenomenon is that there are three
base colors of the spectrum, viz, red, green
and violet which have corresponding fila
ments in the optic nerve, which convey
these colors independently to the brain, and
and if one of these filaments become papa
lyzed the col color r. it represents cannot be CON
is that the disease results from paralysis Of
parts of the tissue work of the retina,
though no examination of color blind eye,
before or after death, has ever revealed evil
dence of diseased structure in the visual
organ. The vision or the color blind is as
distinct as those of normal eyesight."
The fundamental feature of Colonel
Roberts theory is that the defect is caused
by some irregularity of the composition of
the ocular fluids, either of the aqueous or of
the vitreous humor. He said an excess of
hydrogen in the fluids named might have
the effect of absorbing the red rays, or by
changing the index OF refraction, light rays
of that particular color might focus them
selves on some part Of the retina outside the
or deficiency of any element, such as hydro
gen or sodium,in the ocular fluid, was the
cause of the complaint. there was reason to
hope for cure by abstinence from such
articles Of food as sugar, alcohol, starch
products or vegetables, as they developed
an excess of hydrogen in the blood, and con-
sequently in all the bodily fluids.
When the speaker had concluded. DR..
Keller, Prof. Very and Dr. Allen combatted
his theory, DIR. Allen relating case at pres
ent under his care in which a man had be-
come blind in the left half of both eyes and
then totally blind, but was now gradually
recovering his sight, though there had been
no impairment Of the color visual sense ex-
cept in the central line of vision.
Prof. Brashear, in supporting the main
idea of Colonel Roberts theory, declared
that color blindness was not so important to
railroad men as was enormously supposed
61rr il,rcao Il nn,ald