Evening star., 1921-10-09
Hamilton Young Castner.

rA,I o. discovery. in the history OF
iN American chemistry IL more
rk"N brilliant than that made by
tnS:, Hamilton Young Castner. by
saeans of which the silver metal.
s4uminum,. was made sufficiently cheap
festake the place OF the scarcer and
then less expensive metal. tin.
a,Castner. was born In Brooklyn. N. T.
aad- studied chemistry under Chandler
haHe Columbia University School of
Mines on completing his course he
ESTABLISHED himself as An analytical
Chemist in the. downtown district OF
NV York city. His first commercial
ansiySis was that of = fertilizer. He
had. made three. determinations OF the
SXnstituents and they agreed exactly
but in order to verify his results he
sabmitteds a portion of his sample to
the, ,best chemist In the city. whose
returns were not within the limits OF
Cashiers ffgufes. We met at luncheon
and stner was in doubt as to what
to- do, but I reassured him and said;
EITHER you are a competent chemist
or YOU are not. If you are. you should
stand, by your results, and II you are
not correct, give up your business.
He followed my advice and his client
turned over to him lucrative prac-
tices because of his results were cor
rect. A But Castner was not content
for he e%w6uld succeed. and great sue
cesstwas his ambition. He turned his
attention to the perfecting of a con-
tinubus process for the manufacture
of carbon or bone black. He succeeded
in hventtng a new method. Wnich
yielded a product at lower price than
previously obtained. but the CONNER
cial conditions were such that the
was discarded.
Then he tackled the problem OF
cheaper. aluminium. He at once recog-
ni1ed that the road to success was
by a method of producing cheaper
sodium, for that element offered the
best m eans- that would. take the 'oxy-
gen, from. alumina. leaving the de-
sired metal behind in all its silver
beauty. Again Castner was success
full, bat tickle fortune failed to smile
on. him.. for Hall, with hts electro
lyt1c method won the field.
the. pfice of metallic aluminium from
ten dollars a pound to less than dol
1xr, for the same amount. Sir Freo-
efick A. Abel. said in an address pc
YOre the British Association IN loSV'
safhe success which has eliminated IN
tH9 Admirable Castner" process con
RfftuteS one of the most interesting
@ recent illustrations Of the progress
mAde In teehnological chemistry upon
the happy blending of chemistry with
nse6hanical science through the iaoors
Of the chemical engineers; THIS hisnsiss was
high praise from a British scientist
to "a young and unknown American
chemist, He then devoted hts atten-
tidn. to the manufacture of sodium
peroxide, and that compound soon re-
placed barium peroxide as bleaching
AGENT. Thus turning failure into sue
cess, he achieved high reputation as a
chemist, but not satisfied. for he
wapted something bigger. and he In
vented the Castner cell. which made
posAibie a perfect process for the
manufacture of caustic soda. and the
great soda industry was at his mercy
Castner was clever. able. persistent.
and saw principles. He was not
great chemist He was something
be tter. He possessed that combina :
ton Of qualities that made him
genius. and. Gifted with an attractive
person atty. he succeeded. He died
In 1AeSsaf the early age OF forty.