The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-13
MAGIC OF CHEMISTRY.
WONDERS REVEALED TO THE
WORLD OF SCIENCE.

Life and MISUNDERSTANDING
Awaiting Lucky Inventors-wOn-
ders Performed by Chemistry.
From the Philadelphia Times.
II is commonly said that more fortunes
are awaiting the inventor in the electrical
field than in any other known. occupation,
and that the youth of our land can do
nothing better than to study practical
electricity in some of its numerous
branches; but if electricity stands pre-em-
inent to-day in the field of human endea-
vor. practical chemistry follows it as
close second. AS the basis of nearly all
| sciences, chemistry holds the key TO half
the useful discoveries and inventions of
| the age, and the man who becomes an eX~
pert in this field is on the road to fame
| and success. Like all other lines of work,
chemistry has become divided and sub
| divided into many branches. and it is i'm
| possible to pursue all of them without los
ing much of the practical results that are
| sure to accumulate to the man who makes
| a speciality of one or more. The theoretical
! chemist who labors for the love OF science
and humanity may sacrifice everything to
his pet hobby, but the man who expects to
reap substantial rewards in return for his
study and experiments must be content to
|
At the patent office at Washington there
are several thousand practical examples of
the value of chemistry to the human race
and there are rows upon rows of tiny bot
| ties which are the symbols of fortunes to
| some poor inventors. Patent medicines
with real virtues in them prepared foods
| and drinks of marvellous curative pr1ncl-
pies, colognes and haNorl sa. GnJractS tna'
| and oils of such variety that the nina
| becomes beWildered and chemical COM
! pounds of every description, decorate the
| shelves of this wonderful museum OF hu-
''' But where there has been one. fortune
| made in chemical discoveries there are
| two more waiting the lucky inventor. In
| the lines of perfumery, the chemist mas
| made marvellous advances In the past ten
| wears The various scents OIL the mowers
| can he produced in the laboratory easier
| and much cheaper than in the flower DIS
| tillery, where ten thousand blossoms are
| required to make ten pounds OF oil. Halt
| the colognes put on the market TO-DAY
| never had a flower petal to perfume them.
They are the results OF the cunning ar
| of the chemist, who may take the dead
| carcass of horse, the putrescent mass
Of decomposition in The boneyard and elab-
| crate an odor from Ii that Will initiate the
! sweetest aroma of the rose or mignon-
| cite The whole subject OF pertumefy mas
| been revolutioniZed by the chemist IL
| has been found that the most common
| articles possess odors in dormant con
dition and all the perfumer has to do IS
| to release the aroma ana then pottle II
| up The ordinary coal tar mas produced
| several of the finest orders we have the
most noted of which is artificial musk
The ethereal oils produce the perIum-
ery of the world, and while they are more
sensibly manifest in the flowers and fruits,
they are to be found in nature all about
US. The plant extracts them from the soIl
from the dirt and decomposed 'manures
of the garden, and by secret process
Of nature converts them into the sensible
odors that charm us. me chemlst
Searches for these perfumes in the oldest
things imaginable and, strangeSt or all,
he finds them. One of the greatest dlS-
coveries that the chemist can make in TINS
line is a cheap way of producing the cele-
brated altar of roses. If this can be pro-
duced artifcially, one Of the most dell
cate and fragrant perfumes in the world
will be cheapened, and somebody will
realize a vast fortune. Already the lead
ing chemists have elaborated perfume
| that approaches the altar of roses, and
they employ nothing but the elements that
| are found in nature around. Others have
| closely initiated the perfume by extracting
the ethereal oil from the lemon, grass
and geraniums, and with slight modihca-
tions the pure altar of roses made in the
| chemists laboratory will be placed upon
| the market There is at present a feverish
race between score of the leading chem
lists to see who will reach the goal first.
Many minds are working toward the same
| end and il is not unlikely that the dis
covery will be made by more than one at
about the same time;
| Our expensive fruit SyrupS are rarely
made of the pure fruits. 1t hardly pays
any longer to crush a ton of juicy fruits
in order to extract a few gallons of syrup,
when the chemist can take a few ethereal
oils from common plants and weeds and
produce a mixture at one-third the cost,
| and which none but an expert can dis
| tinguish from the genuine The lover of
soda water an ice cream is deceived every
time he INDUCES an his favorite refresh
| ment. The cakes and confectionery are
| likewise favored with syrups and oils that
have never been extracted from either
fruits or plants. There is little loss in
IL lie md IN
chemical compounds may be injurious TO
the system and unhealthfuls but the ma
iority are pure and free from all disagree
able ingredients. 1t is consequently just
as well not to inquire too closely into
what we are eating. The, vanilla eX-
tract, which has been used extensively
in the past few years, Is not made from
the vanilla bean, for it can be produced
SO much cheaper by the chemist than .he
genuine article is crowded out. 1t is sid
that the inventor of the new Vanalline has
made nalf million dollars from his dis
it in the near future. Another chemist
who realized big fortune was the dis
coverer of the oil of bitter almonds. which
Is now employed I'm the, confectionery
shops of the whole world All of the
other oils are artifcally manufactured in
the chemists shop, and he does not nesi-
tate at anything under the sun.
Coal tar has proved one Of the great
bases for synthetical work. and what a
long list of useful articles the chemists
have produced from it! In 1858 the first
dye was made from coal tar, the analine
violet of Perkins, but since then color af-
ter color has been made from il until a
most gigantic industry mas been built up.
The discovery of coal tar alizarine actually
threatened the very existence of the great
madden fields of Europe. The dyes that
have been elaborated from coal tar are,
however, only a small part of the pro-
ducts extracted from this material. In
medicine we have antipyrine. phenacetine
and other important, latter-day drugs that
owe their very existence to the chemists
who first experimental with coal tar
Every year new discoveries are made. UNI
Nh IL seems as IL the coal tar products
would have no limit. and that by com
bining and recombining them a whole
pharmacopoeia could be compiled from
them
istry has added greatly to the sum total
I | Of knowledge in the past quarter of a
century The mere mention of them is
! | sufficient to give one a good idea of the
z tremendous strides that have been made
In 1850 Robert Bunsen discovered rubi-
dunn and caesium; IN 1862 Crookes discov-
cred thauium; in 1863 BEECH and Richter
indium; IN 1876, Bolsbaudran. gallium; IN
| ISIS Marignac ytterbium; IN 1878, Bots
; baudran. samaritan: 1879. Nelson, saen-
, dunn. and Cleve. thullium; in 1885. Wells
| nraeoOdVunft1To. N