The Carlisle independent., 1917-08-30

in guarding valuable processes as are manufae- turers. For example, the Chinese government is the owner of the secret of making vermon red, which is held by many experts to be the most beautiful shade of red in the world. No has ever been able to produ ce a like vermillion
 The Turkish government, it appears, possesses similar secret process of inaying precious met als in the hardest steel. The work is done per fectly and defes all stte mpts at reproduction.
 In 1913 it was anilounced that distinguished chemist of the imperial technical school of Mos COW had solved the problem of making artificial rubber, and that he could sell the new product at about 30 cents q pound. Yet the price of rubber remains pretty much the same, if not more. The reason may be found by examining the patent office records. In the last decade many hundreds of patents for artificial rubber have been taken out. Substitutes have been made from petroleum. from coal tar. turpentine peat, from ntrated lin- seed oil and by treating cereals with phyalin.
 The latter invention created q considerable sen sation so long ago 1906. yet judging by the constantly increasing demand for the natural product it has had little effect upon the real rub Der market.
 The chemist. working in his laboratory, can take any substance and analyze it. that is, break it up into its original constituents and tell you what they and how much of each element the substance in question is composed of; but when it comes to building up the original sub stance out of its prime constituents he is at sea- for the most part. By dint of long and patient experiments perhaps by pure chance he may succeed in reproducing some few natural products but that Is as far as he go
 Indigo blue took many years to synthetize A German chemist accomplished 1t at last but the curious discovery made that If blended with the natural product made from the indigo plant the color obtained both more durable and brighter than that made by either dye alone. So artificial indigo has not yet ruined the indigo planter.
 Gutta Percha Becomes Searcer.
 Artificial eamphor has also been produced It Is now made from pine-tree turpentine But the chemist has not yet succeeded in synthetixing gutta percha. This commodity yearly becomes scarcer. Enormous quantities required for va- rious purposes. notably the covering of submar rne cables and the making of golf balls fortune awaits the man who can make artificial gutta percha at price that will permit it to compete with the juice of the Dichopis gutta.
 Cork is another substance of everyday use that to defy the inventor The only substitute for cork is paper treated with parnffin wax But such cork could not be used for bottle of wine So far nothing has been art!hcially made to con- pete with the bark of the cork oak.
 At Delhi in India, stands aS ancient iron mon urnen: which, though exposa4 to all weathers, rusts decays Yet it has no protective covering. Here is a secret which would be simply invaluable to the world which has been discovered by Indian artificer of old and most unfor- tunately lost. At a meeting of steel and iron men in London. the chairman said that they could face the future with complacency if they could rediscover the secret. To shipowners alone 1t would mean a yearly saving of millions Rus. fs the great enemy of the steel ship and she has constantly go Into. dock to have her hull coated | .Wifh m antiecFfostve solution.