The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1915-07-24
MAGIC COAL TAR.
Once Despised, II Is Now a Source
of LimitIess Products.
SPANS THE WORLD OF COLOR.
n y;sIds Almost Every Shade or Hue
and 10 Used In Practically Every In
dustry--In Medicine and Surgery
AI,o. n Has Worked Wonders.

Among the almost iimitless NUMBER
OF natural products OF this country
coal tar stands well In the lead La the
variety OF uses to which It may be sp-
piled. Evil smelling. It 10 the rough
material from which many valuable
substances have been obtained after
years OF persistence by science and In
dustry.
These substances include a wide
range of colors, various burning and
lubricating oils, asphalt for pavements'
Photographic developers and great
number OF medicines, havors and per-
fumes. Coal tar is used In practically
every manufacturing process where
dyes are needed, In making cloths
silks. dress materials, colored papers
and even coIored articles of food.
About a century ago coal tar was
considered almost n waste product, ana
no one had thought IL worth while TO
experiment with 1t. At that time gas
was being introduced as new light
and Frederick Accum, who wrote one
OF the first books on gas lighting. sug-
gested the boiling OF the tar in a still
and the, condensation and collection OF
the volatile products. The experiment
was made. and the process yielded two
oils One was heavy and the other
light. Ii was soon found that the
heavy could be satisfactorily used as
nreseryative for wood that had TO be
fixed underground or submerged In
water and was used extensively In pre-
serving piers and wharfs.
Further experiments with the lighter
oil we're made by a Scotch chemist,
| Macintosh, who used It In waterproof
ing the clothing which still bears his
name. II also Is used as a solvent In
yarnish making and as coal naphtha
for lighting. Experiments with naph-
tina disclosed rich treasury OF colors
which for centuries had been locked up
Ia coal and It's refuse-tar Benzine
was extracted from naphtha and this
In turn produced the different shades
OF violet. green, blue and yellow. Later
another chemist made the commercial
manufacture OF benzine possible. lie
was experimenting on the artificial pro
duction OF quinine. and. using base
known as aniline. obtained the coIoring
matter called mauve.
This laid the foundation for the coal
tar color industry which has develop
ed until today almost every color and
shade OF color Is derived from aniline
AnxlIne had been obtained previously
! from the indigo plant anil" The dis
covery OF mauve created large de
mand FOR the artificial aniiine base
and gave unexpected value to benzine
| II Yielded aniiine by being treated witt
nitric acid and with the borings OF cas-
iron powdered into dust Having done
It's work I'm the aniline still. the dus
was used by the gas maker to cleanse
bis coal gas from sulphur. and then !
! passed to the manufacturing chemist
/, who burned the sulphur out OF IL am
produced sulphuric acid-a cycle OF op
erations whose beginning and end wa
the utilization or waste.
This method OF producing color wa
responsible for the desolate madde
fields OF France and Holland and 10
| the loss to the Hindus OF their lon
! cherished indigo cultivation. Anthiu
Gene. one OF the heavier oils OF Goa
! tar, caused the fall OF the madde
: growing industry The madden pre-
J, duced violets. reds. blacks. puppies an
Z dark browns. Anthracene WAS sol
very cheaply FOR lubricating purpose
: until certain chemists heated II wit
i zinc filngs and produced alizarlH. an
J. then the secret OF the madden plan
was discovered
. In this way chemistry displaced ayr
d culture. one pound OF alixarin havln
the coloring power OF ninety pounds q
madden. aud the lubricating oil sold 4
tribe as waste became vnluabl
!, coioring matter worth $500 = tot
IL thereby creating vast industry.
/. In medicine and surgery coal tar b.
a worked wonders. Saccharln. many hui
70. dred times the swectepIpg power {
!, sugar. Is used by diabetic patient
m CarbolIc ncid IL separated from the o
.. OF coal tar by successive distIllation
~ and Ia surgical operations n spray I
germ killing carboIic acid Is use'
Qninoiine. antlpyrine and other fev'
assuagers are made from coal tar, an
various antlscptics and food preserv
- tives also are obtained from II.
NJ Vanilla havoring for cooking, Will,
formerly was prepared from ben
No can now be obtained from the vanill
"a OF the gas works. and even this van
,a lin can be made into n heliotrope pc
40 fume by adding OIL OF almonds. viii
the latter can be produced by treatiI
benzine with an acid Huge guam
ties OF this oil are used In the makiI
OF scented SOAPS. As n matter OF ~
.. there IL scarcely department ~ u
ne into which the products OF coal tar
not enter New York Times
Always on the Go.
!" THAT man never seems 10 stay lol
"a 49, ana rfara What L. ha dnlr