The Press., 1917-02-01
MAGIC OF LIQUID
SulphuriC Acid Plays a Big Part
 In Our Daily Life.
ITS LOSS WOULD BE TRAGIC.

ITS LOSS WOULD BE TRAGIC.
 gs Could Hardly Live Without the
 Help of This Wonderful Agent of
 Science That Makes Possible Many
 of Our Arts and Industries.
 When you get up in the morning and
 urn on the water for your bath you
 SC nickel plated faucet which re
 uired suIphurie acid in it's manufac-
 ure Your tub, if it he enameled.
 las met Suphuric acid before it be-
 anne what it k. and if It is an old
 ashiOned one of tim, plated on sheet
 topper. it ucvtled even more sulphuric
 cid before tr touk it's place in civiIiZa-
 ion us a bathtub.
 The water iu which you bathe has probably been treated with Sulphate of
 copper to clear it of algae. The towel
 with which you dry yourself has met sulphuric acid before you bought it. md the soaprhaEer possibly found 1t lecessary t0 use some in the prepara
 jon of your soap,
 The bristles of your hairbrush have been treated with it. The back of
 Tour hairbrush as we'll as your comb,
 { both be of celluloid. could not be produced without 1t. Your razor be
 lore 1t reached it's present high estate
 aas very likely been pickled In sul- bhuric acid after it was annealed.
 As you put on your underwear, says
 writer In Commerce and Finance.
 lou may recall that the bIeacher and
 he dyer used sulphuric acid on the
 bread before it was knit or woven br upon the fabric afteFward.
 As you button up your outer gur- Enents you may be reminded also that sulphuric acid was needed in securing the wool in making the dye and i'm the process of dyeing the cloth. The button maker needed some be fore your buttons were complete. The tanner needed some in making the Heather for your shoes. and 1t is also used to produce shoe polish. The cuSh- ion upon which you may rest your pi0us knees in your devotiOns has met sulphuric acid in one way or another more than once before it reached its present dignity.
 At breakfast your cup and saucer may have come into being without the aid of sulphuric acid. but only prOvid- ed they are plain white without deco rative gilt. To produce the constitu- 1 ents 0r aqua regia. which dissolved l the gold, suIphuric acid is used The | silver of which your spoon, knife and 1 fork are made may come from sul- 1 phunC acid works which has first burn ed the ore. while if they are silver | plated they were plated in a sulphuric ! acid bath
 The farmer who raised the wheat of | which your rolls are made probably i used acid phosphate on his land to | encourage the wheat to grow. Acid | phosphate k phosphate rock and sul, | phuric acid
 The paper maker needed some sul. | phonated auiliue blue to tint your | morning paper even if he used no | sulphite pulp, and 1t would be a rare i ink that is innocent of the touch of | sulphuric acid at some point in It's | history
 If you eat buckwheat cakes with | sirup the sirup needed 1t. and as for | your artificial light. if you get up early | enough to need it. you would be driven | back to candles if 1t were not for this | product. 1t Is needed in the refining | of kerosene and gasoline. and as for | your electric light brought to you by | of electricity through copper | wires. where would the electric indus | try be without copper? And where | would the copper industry be without the electrolytic process of refining. which requires enormous quantities of sulphuric acid2 It would be para lyzed
 We have heard of the embarrass ment of industry by the lack of Ger man dyes, but this is u mere bagatelle compared with the general breakup that would follow d dearth of sulphur Ic acid We can neither go to war and have Smokeless powder, nor can we live tn peace without 1t. Wher- ever you Ro in civilization you cannot get out or it's path.
 You may never see it, you may not know it's qualities and it's very remark 1hle chemical personality, and you had better not touch it, but almost invaria- bly, it has been around before you.
 All of this will explain but frac- .ion of the aH pervasive usefulness of 'ulphuric acid in the arts of what We ,all civilization. And its use is con 'tantIy growing along with the devel- ,pment of chemical industry and the leieuce of agriculture.