Chapter 2

Here it might seem as if we had outstepped the boundaries of chemistry, and had to do with phenomena purely vital. But recent research indicated that this was not the case, and pointed to the conclusion that the microscopist must again give way to the chemist, and that it was by chemical rather than biological investigation that the causes of diseases would be discovered, and the power of removing them obtained. For we learned that the symptoms of infective diseases were no more due to the microbes which constituted the infection than alcoholic intoxication was produced by the yeast cell, but that these symptoms were due to the presence of definite chemical compounds, the result of the life of these microscopic organisms. So it was to the action of these poisonous substances formed during the life of the organism, rather than to that of the organism itself, that the special characteristics of the disease were to be traced, for it had been shown that the disease could be communicated by such poisons in the entire absence of living organisms.

Had time permitted, he would have wished to have illustrated the dependence of industrial success upon original investigation, and to have pointed out the prodigious strides which chemical industry in this country had made during the fifty years of her Majesty's reign. As it was, he must be content to remark how much our modern life, both in its artistic and useful aspects, owed to chemistry, and therefore how essential a knowledge of the principles of the science was to all who had the industrial progress of the country at heart. The country was now beginning to see that if she was to maintain her commercial and industrial supremacy, the education of her people from top to bottom must be carried out on new lines. The question how this could be most safely and surely accomplished was one of transcendent national importance, and the statesman who solved this educational problem would earn the gratitude of generations yet to come.

In welcoming the unprecedentedly large number of foreign men of science who had on this occasion honored the British Association by their presence, he hoped that that meeting might be the commencement of an international scientific organization, the only means nowadays existing of establishing that fraternity among nations from which politics appeared to remove them further and further, by absorbing human powers and human work, and directing them to purposes of destruction. It would indeed be well if Great Britain, which had hitherto taken the lead in so many things that are great and good, should now direct her attention to the furthering of international organizations of a scientific nature. A more appropriate occasion than the present meeting could perhaps hardly be found for the inauguration of such a movement. But whether this hope were realized or not, they all united in that one great object, the search after truth for its own sake, and they all, therefore, might join in re-echoing the words of Lessing: "The worth of man lies not in the truth which he possesses, or believes that he possesses, but in the honest endeavor which he puts forth to secure that truth; for not by the possession of truth, but by the search after it, are the faculties of man enlarged, and in this alone consists his ever-growing perfection. Possession fosters content, indolence, and pride. If God should hold in his right hand all truth, and in his left hand the ever-active desire to seek truth, though with the condition of perpetual error, I would humbly ask for the contents of the left hand, saying, 'Father, give me this; pure truth is only for thee.'"

At the close of his address a vote of thanks was passed to the president, on the motion of the Mayor of Manchester, seconded by Professor Asa Gray, of Harvard College. The president mentioned that the number of members is already larger than at any previous annual meeting, namely, 3,568, including eighty foreigners.

* * * * *

THE CRIMSON LINE OF PHOSPHORESCENT ALUMINA.

Crookes has presented to the Royal Society a paper on the color emitted by pure alumina when submitted to the electric discharge _in vacuo_, in answer to the statements of De Boisbaudran. In 1879 he had stated that "next to the diamond, alumina, in the form of ruby, is perhaps the most strikingly phosphorescent stone I have examined. It glows with a rich, full red; and a remarkable feature is that it is of little consequence what degree of color the earth or stone possesses naturally, the color of the phosphorescence is nearly the same in all cases; chemically precipitated amorphous alumina, rubies of a pale reddish yellow, and gems of the prized 'pigeon's blood' color glowing alike in the vacuum." These results, as well as the spectra obtained, he stated further, corroborated Becquerel's observations. In consequence of the opposite results obtained by De Boisbaudran, Crookes has now re-examined this question with a view to clear up the mystery. On examining a specimen of alumina prepared from tolerably pure aluminum sulphate, shown by the ordinary tests to be free from chromium, the bright crimson line, to which the red phosphorescent light is due, was brightly visible in its spectrum. The aluminum sulphate was then, in separate portions, purified by various processes especially adapted to separate from it any chromium that might be present; the best of these being that given by Wohler, solution in excess of potassium hydrate and precipitation of the alumina by a current of chlorine. The alumina filtered off, ignited, and tested in a radiant matter tube gave as good a crimson line spectrum as did that from the original sulphate.

A repetition of this purifying process gave no change in the result. Four possible explanations are offered of the phenomena observed: "(1) The crimson line is due to alumina, but it is capable of being suppressed by an accompanying earth which concentrates toward one end of the fractionations; (2) the crimson line is not due to alumina, but is due to the presence of an accompanying earth concentrating toward the other end of the fractionations; (3) the crimson line belongs to alumina, but its full development requires certain precautions to be observed in the time and intensity of ignition, degree of exhaustion, or its absolute freedom from alkaline and other bodies carried down by precipitated alumina and difficult to remove by washing; experience not having yet shown which of these precautions are essential to the full development of the crimson line and which are unessential; and (4) the earth alumina is a compound molecule, one of its constituent molecules giving the crimson line. According to this hypothesis, alumina would be analogous to yttria."--_Nature._

* * * * *

CARBONIC ACID IN THE AIR.

By THOMAS C. VAN NUYS and BENJAMIN F. ADAMS, JR.

During the month of April, 1886, we made eighteen estimations of carbonic acid in the air, employing Van Nuys' apparatus,[1] recently described in this journal. These estimations were made in the University Park, one-half mile from the town of Bloomington. The park is hilly, thinly shaded, and higher than the surrounding country. The formation is sub-carboniferous and altitude 228 meters. There are no lowlands or swamps near. The estimations were made at 10 A.M.

[Footnote 1: See SCI. AM. SUPPLEMENT No. 577.]

The air was obtained one-half meter from the ground and about 100 meters from any of the university buildings. The number of volumes of carbonic acid is calculated at zero C. and normal pressure 760 mm.

+----------+--------------+------------------------ | | Vols. CO_{2} | Date. | Bar. | in 100,000 | State of Weather. | Pressure | Vols. Air. | --------+----------+--------------+------------------------ April 2 | 743.5 | 28.86 | Cloudy, snow on ground. " 5 | 743.5 | 28.97 | " " " " " 6 | 735 | 28.61 | Snowing. " 7 | 744.5 | 28.63 | Clear, snow on ground. " 8 | 748 | 27.59 | " thawing. " 9 | 747.5 | 28.10 | " " " 12 | 744 | 28.04 | Cloudy. " 13 | 744 | 28.10 | Clear. " 14 | 743.5 | 28.98 | " " 15 | 750.5 | 28.17 | Raining. " 19 | 748 | 28.09 | Clear. " 20 | 746 | 27.72 | " " 21 | 746 | 28.16 | " " 22 | 741.5 | 27.92 | " " 23 | 740 | 28.12 | " " 24 | 738.5 | 28.15 | " " 25 | 738.5 | 27.46 | " " 28 | 738 | 27.34 | " --------+----------+--------------+------------------------

The average number of volumes of carbonic acid in 100,000 volumes of air is 28.16, the maximum number is 28.98, and the minimum 27.34. These results agree with estimations made within the last ten or fifteen years. Reiset[2] made a great number of estimations from September 9, 1872, to August 20, 1873, the average of which is 29.42. Six years later[3] he made many estimations from June to November, the average of which is 29.78. The average of Schultze's[4] estimations is 29 2. The results of estimations of carbonic acid in the air, made under the supervision of Munz and Aubin[5] in October, November, and December, 1882, at the stations where observations were made of the transit of Venus by astronomers sent out by the French government, yield the average, for all stations north of the equator to latitude 29° 54' in Florida, 28.2 volumes carbonic acid in 100,000 volumes air, and for all stations south of the equator 27.1 volumes. The average of Claesson's[6] estimations is 27.9 volumes, his maximum number is 32.7, and his minimum is 23.7. It is apparent, from the results of estimations of carbonic acid of the air of various parts of the globe, by the employment of apparatus with which errors are avoided, that the quantity of carbonic acid is subject to slight variation, and not, as stated in nearly all text books of science, from 4 to 6 volumes in 10,000 volumes of air; and it is further apparent that the law of Schloesing[7] holds good. By this law the carbonic acid of an atmosphere in contact with water containing calcium or magnesium carbonate in solution is dissolved according to the tension of the carbonic acid; that is, by an increased quantity its tension increases, and more would pass in solution in the form of bicarbonates. On the other hand, by diminishing the quantity of carbonic acid in the atmosphere, some of the bicarbonates would decompose and carbonic acid pass into the atmosphere.

[Footnote 2: Comptes Rendus, 88, 1007.] [Footnote 3: Comptes Rendus, 90, 1144.] [Footnote 4: Chem. Centralblatt, 1872 and 1875.] [Footnote 5: Comptes Rendus, 96, 1793.] [Footnote 6: Berichte der deutsch chem. Gesellschaft, 9, 174.] [Footnote 7: Comptes Rendus, 74, 1552, and 75, 70.]

Schloesing's law has been verified by R. Engel[8].

[Footnote 8: Comptes Rendus, 101, 949.]

The results of estimations of bases and carbonic acid in the water of the English Channel lead Schloesing[9] to conclude that the carbonic acid combined with normal carbonates, forming bicarbonates, dissolved in the water of the globe is ten times greater in quantity than that of the atmosphere, and on account of this available carbonic acid, if the atmosphere should be deprived of some of its carbonic acid, the loss would soon be supplied.

[Footnote 9: Comptes Rendus, 90, 1410.]

As, in nearly all of the methods which were employed for estimating carbonic acid in the air, provision is not made for the exclusion of air not measured containing carbonic acid from the alkaline fluid before titrating or weighing, the results are generally too high and show a far greater variation than is found by more exact methods. For example, Gilm[10] found from 36 to 48 volumes; Levy's[11] average is 34 volumes; De Luna's[12] 50 volumes; and Fodor's,[13] 38.9 volumes. Admitting that the quantity of carbonic acid in the air is subject to variation, yet the results of Reiset's and Schultze's estimations go to prove that the variation is within narrow limits.

[Footnote 10: Sitzungsher. d. Wien. Akad. d. Wissenschaften, 34, 257.] [Footnote 11: Ann. d. l'Observ. d. Mountsouris, 1878 and 1879.] [Footnote 12: Estudios quimicos sobre el aire atmosferico, Madrid, 1860.] [Footnote 13: Hygien. Untersuch., 1, 10.]

Indiana University Chemical Laboratory, Bloomington, Indiana. --_Amer. Chem. Journal._

* * * * *

ANALYSIS OF KOLA NUT.

Alkaloids or crystallizable principles:

Per Cent. Caffeine. 2.710 Theobromine. 0.084 Bitter principle. 0.018 Total alkaloids. ----- 2.812 Fatty matters: Saponifiable fat or oil. 0.734 Essential oil. 0.081 Total oils. ----- 0.815 Resinoid matter (_sol. in abs. alcohol_) 1.012

Sugar: Glucose (_reduces alkaline cuprammonium_). 3.312 Sucrose? (_red. alk. cupram. after inversion_)[1]. 0.602 Total sugars. ----- 3.914

Starch, gum, etc.: Gum (_soluble in H2O at 90° F_.). 4.876 Starch. 28.990 Amidinous matter (_coloring with iodine_). 2.130 Total gum and fecula. ----- 35.999 Albuminoid matters. 8.642 Red and other coloring matters. 3.670 Kolatannic acids. 1.204

Mineral matter: Potassa. 1.415 Chlorine. 0.702 Phosphoric acid. 0.371 Other salts, etc. 2.330 Total ash. ----- 4.818 Moisture. 9.722 Ligneous matter and loss. 27.395 ------- 100.000

[Footnote 1: Inverted by boiling with a 2.5 per cent. solution of citric acid for ten minutes.]

Both the French and German governments are introducing it into their military dietaries, and in England several large contract orders cannot yet be filled, owing to insufficiency of supply, while a well-known cocoa manufacturing firm has taken up the preparation of kola chocolate upon a commercial scale.--_W. Lascelles-Scott, in Jour. Soc. Arts._

* * * * *

CHAPIN WROUGHT IRON.

By W.H. SEARLES, Chairman of the Committee, Civil Engineers' Club of Cleveland, O.

Notwithstanding the wonderful development of our steel industries in the last decade, the improvements in the modes of manufacture, and the undoubted strength of the metal under certain circumstances, nevertheless we find that steel has not altogether met the requirements of engineers as a structural material. Although its breaking strain and elastic limit are higher than those of wrought iron, the latter metal is frequently preferred and selected for tensile members, even when steel is used under compression in the same structure. The Niagara cantilever bridge is a notable instance of this practice. When steel is used in tension its working strains are not allowed to be over fifty per cent. above those adopted for wrought iron.

The reasons for the suspicion with which steel is regarded are well understood. Not only is there a lack of uniformity in the product, but apparently the same steel will manifest very different results under slight provocation. Steel is very sensitive, not only to slight changes in chemical composition, but also to mechanical treatment, such as straightening, bending, punching, planing, heating, etc. Initial strains may be developed by any of these processes that would seriously affect the efficiency of the metal in service.

Among the steels, those that are softer are more serviceable and reliable than the harder ones, especially whereever shocks and concussions or rapidly alternating strains are to be endured. In other words, the more nearly steel resembles good wrought iron, the more certain it is to render lasting service when used within appropriate limits of strain. Indeed, a wrought iron of fine quality is better calculated to endure fatigue than any steel. This is particularly noticeable in steam hammer pistons, propeller shafts, and railroad axles. A better quality of wrought iron, therefore, has long been a desideratum, and it appears now that it has at last been found.

Several years since, a pneumatic process of manufacturing wrought iron was invented and patented by Dr. Chapin, and an experimental plant was erected near Chicago. Enough was done to demonstrate, first, that an iron of unprecedentedly good qualities was attainable from common pig; and second, that the cost of its manufacture would not exceed that of Bessemer steel. Nevertheless, owing to lack of funds properly to push the invention against the jealous opposition which it encountered, the enterprise came to a halt until quite recently, when its merits found a champion in Gustav Lindenthal, C.E., member of this club, who is now the general manager of the Chapin Pneumatic Iron Co., and under whose direction this new quality of iron will soon be put upon the market.

The process of manufacture is briefly as follows: The pig metal, after being melted in a cupola and tapped into a discharging ladle, is delivered into a Bessemer converter, in which the metal is largely relieved of its silicon, sulphur, carbon, etc., by the ordinary pneumatic process. At the end of the blow the converter is turned down and its contents discharged into a traveling ladle, and quickly delivered to machines called ballers, which are rotary reverberatory furnaces, each revolving on a horizontal axis. In the baller the iron is very soon made into a ball without manual aid. It is then lifted out by means of a suspended fork and carried to a Winslow squeezer, where the ball is reduced to a roll twelve inches in diameter. Thence it is taken to a furnace for a wash heat, and finally to the muck train.

No reagents are employed, as in steel making or ordinary iron puddling. The high heat of the metal is sufficient to preserve its fluidity during its transit from the converter to the baller; and the cinder from the blow is kept in the ladle.

The baller is a bulging cylinder having hollow trunnions through which the flame passes. The cylinder is lined with fire brick, and this in turn is covered with a suitable refractory iron ore, from eight to ten inches thick, grouted with pulverized iron ore, forming a bottom, as in the common puddling furnace. The phosphorus of the iron, which cannot be eliminated in the intense heat of the converter, is, however, reduced to a minimum in the baller at a much lower temperature and on the basic lining. The process wastes the lining very slightly indeed. As many as sixty heats have been taken off in succession without giving the lining any attention. The absence of any reagent leaves the iron simply pure and homogeneous to a degree never realized in muck bars made by the old puddling process. Thus the expense of a reheating and rerolling to refine the iron is obviated. It was such iron as here results that Bessemer, in his early experiments, was seeking to obtain when he was diverted from his purpose by his splendid discoveries in the art of making steel. So effective is the new process, that even from the poorest grades of pig may be obtained economically an iron equal in quality to the refined irons made from the best pig by the ordinary process of puddling.

Numerous tests of the Chapin irons have been made by competent and disinterested parties, and the results published. The samples here noted were cut and piled only once from the muck bar.

Sample A was made from No. 3 mill cinder pig.

Sample B was made from No. 4 mill pig and No. 3 Bessemer pig, half and half.

Sample C was made from No. 3 Bessemer pig, with the following results:

Sample. A B C Tensile strength per sq. in. 56,000 60,772 64,377 Elastic limit. 34,000 .... 36,000 Extension, per cent. 11.8 .... 17.0 Reduction of area, per cent. 65.0 16.0 33.0

The tensile strength of these irons made by ordinary puddling would be about 38,000, 40,000, and 42,000 respectively, or the gain of the iron in tensile strength by the Chapin process is about fifty per cent. Not only so, but these irons made in this manner from inferior pig show a higher elastic limit and breaking strain than are commonly specified for refined iron of best quality. The usual specifications are for refined iron: Tensile strength, 50,000; elongation, 15 per cent.; elastic limit, 26,000; reduction, 25 cent.

Thus the limits of the Chapin iron are from 12 to 20 per cent. above those of refined iron, and not far below those of structural steel, while there is a saving of some four dollars per ton in the price of the pig iron from which it can be made. When made from the best pig metal its breaking and elastic limits will probably reach 70,000 and 40,000 pounds respectively. If so, it will be a safer material than steel under the same working strains, owing to its greater resilience.

Such results are very interesting in both a mechanical and economical point of view. Engineers will hail with delight the accession to the list of available building materials of a wrought iron at once fine, fibrous, homogeneous, ductile, easily weldable, not subject to injury by the ordinary processes of shaping, punching, etc., and having a tensile strength and elastic limit nearly equal to any steel that could safely be used in the same situation.

A plant for the manufacture of Chapin iron is now in course of erection at Bethlehem, Pa., and there is every reason to believe that the excellent results attained in Chicago will be more than reached in the new works.--_Proceed. Jour. Asso. of Eng. Societies_.

* * * * *

CELLULOID.