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IJAGAZITIE 'SECTION TO
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PORTLAND, - OltEGONr SUNDAY - MORNING NOVEMBER t 1906
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INVAL1
AIM 13 IDtVli M-.ki L'y
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1 i'
CIENTISTS are now" celebrating ; M
A semicentennial of the "fomanca of, 1
rijr o cotf tar has been )ermed.&'JilJim
Henry Perkin, who wrested the secret c
t'u industrial ' ppsf Utilities from the ugly by
product of thaas works, was recently entcr
tained atsrfubtlee banquet in New York.
Be" fore Perkin ' discovered the fact that .
wonderful dyeing material could be extracted
from coal tar, that substance was connde
worthless, useless, and was thrown away
deed, the disposition of the nauseoutf lack-
liquid was a serious problem to thebanufac -
turers of illumtnatmr ras.
This once-uselest and waUfd product has
leen transformed by thejlchemy of science,'
into a mine of rtcheSjvrom it come medi-.
cines to soothe us vigour P" beautiful coU '
ors, as varied as the rainhpw, to satisfy our,
aesthetic tastetf perfumes as delicate as from
d tarden oowji a twettening process wUh
which sugar cannotecomparedandeven
powerful explosives that threaten to revolu-
tiontxe warfare or oanisn u aitogetneryr
Throughout the world 120,000.
employed in manufacturing valuable products
from what was once, thrown away as waste.,
(The coaUar products of Germny alone sell:
for Mo.000.000 a year. Jvtong these are
turn ziOOO dyes.
. No fewer than sixty at fereni substances
have been discovered intoal tar, and more art
being brought to ingot. every jear.lt ts said
that with 'a certain Jiass of dyestufs, combined
with materials nam known,ioo,ooo,ooo chem
ical bodies maybe built by the expert in syn
thetic chemistry. , ; (
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AXUTAOTDBE o ootl-tsr product ia
amoDft the most, remarkable of recent
iiulnitriai' m)loTnnentM : the boaineM ia
iiroe in the historr of eommeroc u
That st reriUble sold mine should hnre been
found eocealed in a f actorr waste that waa ex
oeedinaiy tronbleaome and di oult to divpvse of
te disooTerinar the jewel in the ugly head of
theOfoad or a realisation of one of the extrarasant
. dreams of the Arabian Nights. ...
... Hundreds of articles now used in the arts and
In medicine hare their origin in the blaok fluid
which formerly was only a source of annoyance
to those who produced illuminating gas..
In 185fl William H. Perkin, then a youth of 13 ,
yeara, was assistant to Dr. A. W. Hofmann, .a dis
tingulihed German scientist,, who waa head of the
Boyal College of - Chemistry' in - London. The -
- chief made an Easter risit to his native land, ler
ing young rerkin in charge of the laboratory. ,
, Quinine at that, time was, Tery expensive ow
. ing to the soarcity. of the Ptmrian bark -from
which it was obtained, and the young Englishman '
was making experiments to determine whether he ;
ould secure, a substitute from coal-tar aniline.
- Success did .not attend hie efforts, howerer,
but while working thus alone in the laboratory,
mixing, testing and experimenting, he accidentally .'
obtained a dirty, black, unpromising precipitate.
"T-r-What-fed-m to tast-its-dreing Dualities he
has probably forgotten, but he found that, after
purifying and dissolving it, the stuff possessed the
property of dyeing wool and silk a beautiful violet
like color, which was namejf mauve. -
This discovery turnedfhe young Englishman's
investigations into anotbr channel, and when Dr.
Hofmann returned frrtn his vacation be found
A
Hofmann returned frtffn his vacation be found . I ' IV 1 ' Hr - -J '? 'v 'ffKJ,M VfhUt II
" J . . ..." '
eajrHarrow in
3 , - wafe turning out
luj." 1 fiie rreat anili:
. v.i . ' aT-
or Id Vi4tom, an inaustry
tf anoe and Biui n. eapeoiaily.
.!. v inglyprofitable.rX?- ' ' , '
'ii2Jl 4 rtjOombinations hav-.been ' worked
i .YSdyeCtogeeritl mP??L.
r WwbleWbes. The chemical name for aniline
,Wr vn. for rnAanca. ia- "aibenrvlmetamidotetra-
enyl - oaibinol - aurulpucmate.
looking aso-violet ia even longer. ,
Perkin made nother great step forward in
68 when he begaA producing the valuable artin-
madder, or Tury-red, on a large acale. De-
that the artificiaXubatano waa merely a Ubo
ouriosity and itk cost waa ao great as to be
biUve.
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rasvy
profti
. .. . OIOAWTIC 1.ctomss - ;-..... .'
Inh aame way he laid the foundation- oc fbm
1 artificial perfume industry; Early in the seventiea,
having accumulated a fortune, he retired from
business and has since devoted himself to acient0
research. . ' '
. ' He had started the world, however, upon new
line of industry. German scientists took up e
possibility of coal-tar products and have developed
the gold mine persistently and effectively. " - T
Today five of the principal coal-tar product
'factories of Germany are valued at $23,000,00.
Their output goea to all parts of the world.-At
one of these 4500 men are - employed, - inolqdi&c
1200 skilled artisans, 600 clerks. 175 engineers 'and
145 graduated chemists. The firm owns 1200 Ge-
' man patents and 1400 others throughout 'the- re
mainder of Europe and in.the, United Stat.'. . . . ;
, . One. English, dye factory, employs 4000 woe
ers,.inclnding. 80 .reseu ch. chemiats.1. ThM.xBV
plea indicate what an enormous business has sprung "
.from a once-worthless material. .';
' In.'.the manufacture of coal gasr the coal, usw '
ally. canneltiis heated. in, lsrge.iron .tubes .oirsp
torts and is decomposed into four leading classes ,
of substance coal gas, ammonia and .water,' eoal t
tar and cokel vIn proportion,. coal gas forma 22.25
- pr cent,; ammonia and.water; 9.25; coal-tar, 8.50,
and coke, 60 per cent. .
- ' SCENTS FOR SOAPS
. Benaene ia one of the important substaneet
found in coal tar,i having been diacovered by Ml
. chael Faradfey in 1825. It is now used in great
quantities for tho production of aniline and also
- a powerful perfume called essenoe of mirbane, or
artificial oil of bitter almonds. ,
: No less than 150 tons of this perfume is used
-annually in Europe for scenting soaps snd othef
-totret artielest-The usef alBees e-f- benzene- in -clean'
ing goods is known in every household. .
. Another substance' found in coal tar is naph
thalene, from which, some. of the most leautiiu!
colors come, ranging from a buttercup yellow te
reds, pinks, greens and scarlets. Naphthalene ia
highly prised by .naturalists for preserving moths,
.butterflies andf other insects. ,
t- - . From the substance known'aa anthrdcetiB tt:s,
popular-color Turkey red is obtained .Since the
time when this wss first known it had been re
duced from the roots of the rnadr plant, lnr; 'y
cultivated in Russia, Turkey and 1 ranee.
-Alir.arin, a the cobring principle of rns! -
-is called, has tho property of forming vjiriom t.
ferent hues -with different cfuinii HU. A t'" -calico,
printed with several chemical snd j i- -(CO.NJ'INIKD
OS I.N8II E I'AC.-)