American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1917-06-12

What was it? Then it came to him
out Of the forgotten chemistry in his
s~ubconsciOus mind-"sulphuric acid
He had ninety jars Of It under his
feet. He had lead and copper piping
In his scrap heap forward. He had
two electric fans used for ventilation
on the surface and a blower fixed in
the air pipe. but available on a pinch.
all four wired and ready, with a $500
ampere hour battery 10 drive them.
LII three hours be had constructed
from the back of his coat a cone
shaped funnel that stretched around
the wire guard OF a fan wheel and
this he fitted on 70 the end Of a length
Of lead pipe. the other end Of which
was all but immersed in the acid OF a
battery jar in tie hold. With the fan
buzzing and blowing into this funnel
and a stream of air rutiing the sur
face Of the acid he yet went on con-
irving, and with another fan, IN
screwed from It's shelf and rewired 10
a new location. be caught this dried
air as It rose and drove it aft yer the
motor.
The air was again very bad His
head was aching, and he needed no
clear recollection Of the forgotten sci
ence TO know that the dominant irri-
tant was the carbonic acid gas from
his lungs. This boat was not equipped
with the apparatus for purifying air
that be had read Of in plans. and all
the chemistry that would come 10 him
was the old, familiar classroom test
for carbonic acid gas or carbon diox-
ide. This testing reagent was lime
water. but the chemical term for it
was beyond him.
Again as he slept htfully, with inter
walls Of half waking thought, chemical
terms. long forgotten and bearing no
seeming relation TO llmewater, ran
jumblingly through his head-potassi-
UNI chlorate. manganese diOxide, chic
rioe Of sodium. c~hlorhydric acid. These
persisted through the tumble and re-
NAMED when he wakened.
But what mad they TO do with lime
water? Nothing that he could remem-
Der. Chloride Of sodium was common
salt. he knew. and he had plenty OF it
dissolved in water-more than he
wanted. %Chlohydric acid-hydrOchlo-
ric aII-muriatic acl4-an acid con
tanning no oxygen. the one gas that he
needed 50 badly, formed of hydrogen
and chloric-chioride, chlorine gas
! Good so far. Chlorine-also a consdt
uent OF the salt in his bilge water
But what Of It? II VAS oxygen that
he wanted. Potassium chlorate-chlo
rate Of potassium. This contained
chlorine. Manganese diOXide contain
ed oxygen. But what did it mean
. | Why should these elements and com
pounds come 10 his mind? He haC
something Of blind faith in the rele
vancy Of thought, but he wanted Il
know only OF limewater. with which
he could catch the carbon dioXide Il
the air and free the oxygen. This las
: thought was an advance. but he coul'
go no further in this direction. HI
mind returned TO chlorhydric acid, {
hydrogen. TO chlorine.
, How were they made? They wer
, all therein this sea water. His wax
. ing thought Of sulphuric acid as a dry
Ing agent meant something. sulphur
: acid. one Of the most powerful chen
/ ical reagents. the most powerful ele'
trolyte 90 electro - electrolysis- HUI
= rah.'
I He bounded to his feet. he had 1
Electrolysis Of water yielded oxyge
A and hydrogen. But why had mang'
= nese dioxide and potassium ehlorat
4 so persisted in his mind: And LIME
d water-what had that Il do with b
Z problem. now solved by electrolysisf
v Slowly the memory Of school da
e lessons learned 10y rote filtered up frol
= the past-of the test tube manufal
i tuied OF oxygen by the union Of thes
Z chemicals in the presence Of hea
: And limewater. with its affinity Il
r. carbon dioxide? There was no lin
on board. hence no limewater. b
d there was water-too much. WhsI