El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-12-07
Bly,
Rene Bache

nish, is now. manufactured from naph-
thalene, It is. as you are aware. indis-
which is the basis OF nearly an dives.
was formerly Of enormous Importance
commercially, and was grown on vast
scale In Asia and Europe But its col
Oring principle, aliZarin, has been OBJ
tanned from coal tar, and the artificial
product has driven the natural article
out of the market
Salicylic acid, which is so largely
used as a preservatiye. as well as in
the treatment OF govt and rheumatism
was formerly derived from the winter
green plant and from certain varieties
OF WILLOWS 1t was very costly. But
now IL is produced BY the tOn-the
real stuff. I mean-frOTn carbOlic acid.
and is cheap.
Attempts have been made to produce
qulmne by art1fice, but without sue
cess thus far. Similar experiments
nave had for their object the synthesis
OF otner valuable alkalOids Of plants
such as morphine ana atrOpin-the lat
Ter pelng an active principle Of the
deadly night-shade success in these
efforts is of no value practically so
long as the aIkalOids cannot be made
more cheaply than they can be got
from the plants themselves.
coal tar, a byproduct of iuuminat-
rs StS making, contains a large num-
per OF peculiar compounds called nv
urOcdFDOns, which serve in the labors-
Ssor9 as convenient organic substances
LOT the application Of chemical pro-
ceSses. Many Of them are transDar rent
white fluids. Among them NAV h. -7er-
SLoned Denzene and naphthalene The
Ialter' as 1 have said. is the sole in
gred1ent Of moth balls. From benZoI
Is made aniline, which Yields many Of
ene most gorgeous colors used in the
Being so complex an organic com
pound. coal tar furnishes an adnnira HE
Dase Tor the application Of chemical
mO1Iee(5f ~ -. - urocarPons, by various
LIOneeyInsS OF the Laboratory are
transformed in all sorts Of ways From
mem are manufactured many valuable
lleulC4nes, particularly antipyretics-
that IS TO say, anti-cever remedies.
How Saccharin Was Discovered.
Sacchariu-a substance reclzona5 IN
be 1000 times as sweet as sugar-fs
IeflNed from coal tar. The story of
ITS dlscoYerey IS rather interesting.
Just about 80 years ago a young
German student named Fahlberg was
WORKING at Johns HOPKINS university
IN Baltimore, for the degree of doctor
OF philosophy The branch of research
IN Whlch ne was engaged being chem
1stry. the head of that department set
4Or MN a sPeclal TASK, which consisted
IN the SIudyInS out OF certain prob
lens connected with coal tar products
Inc particular products concerned were
terest.
"Fahlberg was living at the time IN
modest boarding house But trouble
presently arose between himself and
Ine Iandiady because he constantly de-
clared that the food served on her table
was sweetened to an unbearable ex-
tent.
''The upshot Of the matter was the
discovery by Fahlberg that the sweet
ening came from Something he was
handing daily in the laboratory at
Johns Hopkins. This finally proved 70
be new product which he had acci-
dentaly isolated from coal tar. Very
minute quantities OF II remaining on
the students hands when he went to
meals had rendered every morsel of
food that he touched unpleasantly
sweet.
Fahlberg, however. made no apology
or explanation to his landlady Ne
said nothing about his find to the folks
at JOINS Hopkins. Keeping his secret
to himself he took the first steamer
Tor Germany after getting his degree
and there took out a patent on what
IS Known today as saccharin. It is said
10 have yielded him a fortune
Rene Bache