Speaker 1: Section twenty one of the Science History of the Universe,
Speaker 1: Volume four. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Warren Cotty Gurnee, Illinois,
Speaker 1: The Science History of the Universe, Volume four, edited by
Speaker 1: Francis Rolt Wheeler. Chemistry, Chapter sixteen The development of applied chemistry.
Speaker 1: Analytical chemistry, that division of chemistry which treats of the
Speaker 1: methods of ascertaining the chemical composition of substances and mixtures,
Speaker 1: both as to kind, qualitative analysis and quantity. Quantitative analysis
Speaker 1: has been an indispensable aid to all branches of chemistry,
Speaker 1: pure and applied during their modern development, and has itself
Speaker 1: undergone considerable elaboration and perfection. In particular, analytical methods, both
Speaker 1: qualitative and quantitative have been and are being continuously improved.
Speaker 1: The services of Boyle, Hoffmann, Margroff, Shiel and Bergmann in
Speaker 1: qualitative analysis have been mentioned, and it will be remembered
Speaker 1: that Bergmann was the first to publish a system of
Speaker 1: qualitative analysis in the wet way. He laid a firm
Speaker 1: foundation for the methodical employment of reagents, and the methods
Speaker 1: of qualitative analysis now in use have been developed from
Speaker 1: his analytical course of procedure. Wilhelm august Lapidaeius and Johann
Speaker 1: Gottling contributed materially to the systematic arrangement of the analytical
Speaker 1: methods in use during the first decade. The former published
Speaker 1: in eighteen oh one his han Buch des chemishan analyssi
Speaker 1: der minel corpur and the latter his practiche on leitong
Speaker 1: surprofundant on serlegenden Kem in eighteen o two. Other works
Speaker 1: followed these, and analytical methods became known and improved. Qualitative
Speaker 1: analysis in the dryway has been perfected by the use
Speaker 1: of the blowpipe, an instrument which was originally employed for
Speaker 1: soldering metals and which was first employed for testing minerals
Speaker 1: by Kronstett and Engstrom. Bergmann and Gonn studied thoroughly the
Speaker 1: deportment of various substances and reagents under the flame of
Speaker 1: the blowpipe, and their treatise on this important branch of
Speaker 1: chemical analysis was published in seventeen seventy nine. Bersilius, Hausmann
Speaker 1: and Wallaston later became interested in this field, and Bersilius
Speaker 1: who was notably instrumental in introducing the blowpipe into chemistry,
Speaker 1: published a treatise on the application of this instrument in
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty. More recently, the art of dry assay docimacy
Speaker 1: was considerably advanced by the important flame reactions of Bunsen.
Speaker 1: His treatise Flahmen Reaction in was published in eighteen eighty.
Speaker 1: After the preparatory investigations of Bergmann, Kloprath, van Queline and Preust,
Speaker 1: it was Bresilius who worked out new methods of quantitative analysis,
Speaker 1: thereby promoting the systematic development of this branch. He had
Speaker 1: shown great ingenuity and inspired his pupils, more especially Heinrich
Speaker 1: Rose and Friedrich Foeller with like powers. Rose and Vohler
Speaker 1: extended the observations of Persilius and made analytical methods generally
Speaker 1: known by the publication of their treatises. The han buchder
Speaker 1: analytician Kemi of the former first appeared in eighteen twenty
Speaker 1: nine and passed through six German editions and three French editions,
Speaker 1: while the Practica Umbungen in der chemission Analyzy of Voler,
Speaker 1: which was published in eighteen fifty three, was translated into
Speaker 1: Russian French and English. The chief exponent and great master
Speaker 1: of analytical chemistry, however, was c Remigius Frescinius eighteen eighteen
Speaker 1: to eighteen ninety seven, who for over half a century
Speaker 1: devoted his life and labors to its extension. He collated
Speaker 1: and examined all methods formerly in use and devised many
Speaker 1: new ones. But his greatest services were the establishment of
Speaker 1: the Seitschrift furre Analyticia KEM in eighteen sixty two and
Speaker 1: the publication of his unlittung sor Qualitative in chemission Analysy
Speaker 1: in eighteen forty one and his unlittung Sore Quantitative in
Speaker 1: chemission Analyz in eighteen forty six. These works have been
Speaker 1: published in numerous editions and translations since. Other chemists who
Speaker 1: have aided in the discovery of new tests, improved methods
Speaker 1: of separation and determination, and in the designing of suitable
Speaker 1: chemical apparatus for analytical operations are liebig Stromeyer, Vunsen, Fremi, Turner, Shearer, Rommelsberg, Gibbs, Blomstrand, Maragnock,
Speaker 1: and Winkler Classen. Services in electroanalysis have been referred to
Speaker 1: volumetric analysis, that process in which the reagents are employed
Speaker 1: in solutions of known strength has been greatly developed during
Speaker 1: the last seventy years, and volumetric methods are much used
Speaker 1: in technical analysis owing to the fact that no weighing
Speaker 1: is necessary after the standard solutions are once made up,
Speaker 1: thus saving considerable time. The quantitative analysis of gases was
Speaker 1: greatly perfected by Bunsen, whose researches in this direction began
Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty eight. Bunsen published methods of estimating various
Speaker 1: gases by absorption in combustion, which have required only slight
Speaker 1: modification since. But the qualitative analysis of gases has only
Speaker 1: lately been developed in a scientific manner. The work of
Speaker 1: Winkler in this connection has been important, and he and
Speaker 1: Hempel have improved the apparatus for gasometry and gas analysis
Speaker 1: and have generalized methods. The quantitative analysis of organic compounds
Speaker 1: has gradually developed from the observation that carbonic acid and
Speaker 1: water are products of their combustion. Le Vossier indicated the
Speaker 1: right path here, and his process was improved upon by Gay,
Speaker 1: Lussac and Thurnard, Ercilius Libig, and more recently by Densted,
Speaker 1: Collie and Hempel. The exact detail termination of nitrogen only
Speaker 1: became possible after eighteen thirty, when Dumas had devised his method.
Speaker 1: Other methods of determining nitrogen have been worked out by
Speaker 1: will and Varentrop and by Keldahl, whose method is extensively
Speaker 1: used in agricultural chemical analysis for estimating protein. Many methods
Speaker 1: for determining the halogens, sulfur, phosphorus, and other elements which
Speaker 1: occur less frequently in organic bodies have been worked out,
Speaker 1: and these have found extended application in forensic chemistry, hygiene,
Speaker 1: and agricultural chemistry. The beginnings of phytochemistry the chemistry of
Speaker 1: plant life can be traced back to investigations made at
Speaker 1: the close of the eighteenth century. Priestly Senbiere de Saussuur
Speaker 1: and others were familiar with the fact that green plants
Speaker 1: under the influence of sunlight will remove carbonic acid gas
Speaker 1: from the atmosphere and decol impose it. They were also
Speaker 1: aware of the fact that ammonia salts are of value
Speaker 1: in stimulating the growth of plants, Nicholas LeBlanc having pointed
Speaker 1: this out at the end of the eighteenth century. Although
Speaker 1: the problems of plant life, the mode and manner of
Speaker 1: plant nourishment and growth had engaged the labors of many
Speaker 1: trained observers for many years, Yet even during the first
Speaker 1: three decades of this century, the belief was almost universal
Speaker 1: that plants, like animals, derived their nourishment directly from organic matter.
Speaker 1: This assumption found its chief advocates in Germany and France,
Speaker 1: in Alberchtheer and Matthew di Dombolsey, respectively, in their opinion
Speaker 1: inorganic salts, the importance of which could not be absolutely denied,
Speaker 1: acted merely as stimulants and not as if they were
Speaker 1: essential to the growth of the plant. Indeed, they are
Speaker 1: held that the creation of earths in plants through their
Speaker 1: vital forces was possible. In this assumption, he followed the
Speaker 1: opinion of Schrader, who so early as the year eighteen
Speaker 1: hundred imagined that he had proved by actual experiments the
Speaker 1: generation of the ash constituents of plants by the vital forces. J. G. Wallerius,
Speaker 1: a Stockholm chemist, had sought to lay a much more
Speaker 1: rational foundation for agricultural chemistry in seventeen sixty one in
Speaker 1: his Akerbukats chemiska Kundor, when he made a comparison between
Speaker 1: the plant constituents and the constituents of the soil in
Speaker 1: which they grew. It was Justice von Liebeg who demonstrated
Speaker 1: the falsity of the views of Thyer and Dabasil, and
Speaker 1: who entirely disproved the humous doctrine, as the theory held
Speaker 1: at that time was called. It was in eighteen forty,
Speaker 1: after exhaustive investigations on the weathering of rocks, on the
Speaker 1: formation of soils, and on the effects of rain in
Speaker 1: the gases which Ran holds in solution, that Libig published
Speaker 1: his classic work on the Application of Chemistry to Agriculture
Speaker 1: and Physiology. In this Libig completely undermined the foundations of
Speaker 1: the humous theory and enunciated the following foundation principles of
Speaker 1: modern agricultural chemistry. On inorganic substances form the nutritive material
Speaker 1: for all plants. Two. Plants live upon carbonic acid, ammonia,
Speaker 1: nitric acid, water, phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, solicic acid, lime, magnesia, potash,
Speaker 1: and iron. Many need common salt. Three manure. The dung
Speaker 1: of animals acts not through the organic elements directly upon
Speaker 1: plant life, but indirectly through the products of the decay
Speaker 1: and fermentative processes. Thus carbon becomes carbonic acid and nitrogen
Speaker 1: becomes ammonia or Nitricastin the organic manures, which consist of
Speaker 1: parts of remains of plants and animals, can be substituted
Speaker 1: by the inorganic constituents into which they would be resolved
Speaker 1: in the soil. Practical field trials carried out by governments
Speaker 1: and large landowners proved the correctness of Liebik's deductions from
Speaker 1: his laboratory experiments, and the many investigators in this line
Speaker 1: since have come either directly or indirectly from Liebig's school.
Speaker 1: Libig's conclusion that one must restore to the soil that
Speaker 1: which the removal of the crop had withdrawn if one
Speaker 1: would prevent its exhaustion is the basis of successful agricultural
Speaker 1: practice today. A French chemist J. B. Bossingal worked independently
Speaker 1: along similar lines to Libig, and the services which he
Speaker 1: rendered in carrying out researches on the nutrition of plants
Speaker 1: by new methods were of great importance. May be made
Speaker 1: here about nitrification in soils and the assimilation of free
Speaker 1: nitrogen by plants. The most important discoveries in agricultural chemistry
Speaker 1: of recent years in eighteen forty nine, Georgesville, then director
Speaker 1: of the agricultural experiment station at Vincennes, proved by actual
Speaker 1: experiment that certain plants assimilate free atmospheric nitrogen, but his
Speaker 1: conclusions were strongly disputed, being directly opposed to those of
Speaker 1: Bosingel and Liubigue, and also to subsequent investigations by laws,
Speaker 1: Gilbert and Pew in eighteen fifty seven. An important experiment
Speaker 1: bearing on the point and extending over many years, was
Speaker 1: begun in eighteen fifty five by her Schultz of Lupetz
Speaker 1: in Altmark, Germany. He grew lupines on very poor soil
Speaker 1: with the addition of non nitrogenous manures only, and found
Speaker 1: that notwithstanding this, the soil became rich in nitrogen year
Speaker 1: by year. The next step toward the solution of the
Speaker 1: question was the discovery in eighteen seventy seven of the
Speaker 1: now well known process of nitrification in soils by schlosing
Speaker 1: in munts, this nitrification being the work of definite microbes,
Speaker 1: some of which have been isolated. While more recent work
Speaker 1: has proved that the direct assimulation of atmospheric nitrogen by
Speaker 1: laguminous plants is brought about by the agency of certain
Speaker 1: microorganisms tuberculal bacteria originally present in the soil. Cultures of
Speaker 1: these specific bacteria are now prepared on a manufacturing scale
Speaker 1: under the name of nitrogens, for application to soils naturally
Speaker 1: deficient in them. It only remains to mention as a
Speaker 1: factor in the present and future growth of agricultural chemistry.
Speaker 1: The experiment stations and laboratories established now by the governments
Speaker 1: of every civilized country. In the United States, for example,
Speaker 1: there are at present sixty one agricultural experiment stations, all
Speaker 1: in charge of efficient specialists, and many intricate problems of
Speaker 1: national importance have been solved. The large chemical industries, and
Speaker 1: in fact all branches of chemical technology, have been immensely
Speaker 1: developed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the achievements
Speaker 1: of chemistry in the arts and industries have been stupendous
Speaker 1: and varied. During the modern chemical period, pure chemistry and
Speaker 1: applied chemistry have been constantly interactive, and the latter has
Speaker 1: profited immensely by the extension of the former, while pure chemistry, theoretical, inorganic, organic,
Speaker 1: and practical chemistry has in turn been greatly benefited by
Speaker 1: the opportunities offered by the industries. The advancement of technical
Speaker 1: chemistry has been especially aided, however, by the development of
Speaker 1: analytical chemistry, which has allowed of a keen insight into
Speaker 1: the composition of the various industrial products, thereby leading to
Speaker 1: the introduction of many technological innovations. Then, too, industrial research
Speaker 1: has been and is being constantly fostered by chemical manufacturers,
Speaker 1: and this has led to the accruitment of important novelties
Speaker 1: and improvements. The literature of technical chemistry is very extensive,
Speaker 1: but the standard treatises of Rudolf von Wagner, Han Bucher
Speaker 1: Chemistry Technology, Karl Cosmarsh Yeshishtika their Technology site, Dermtta des
Speaker 1: oksanton yahundots T e Thorpe A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry,
Speaker 1: and Ernst von Meyer. A History of Chemistry, translated by
Speaker 1: McGowan contains accounts of the development of the important industries
Speaker 1: the manufacturers of sulfuric acid and soda, which may be
Speaker 1: looked upon as the basis of all the other chemical industries,
Speaker 1: and which which are naturally followed by those of hydrochloric acid,
Speaker 1: bleaching powder, chlorate of potash and other salts of potassium,
Speaker 1: nitric acid, etc. Only attained to their full vigor after
Speaker 1: the various processes involved had been explained by chemical investigation,
Speaker 1: and after the most favorable conditions for those processes had
Speaker 1: been worked out. Important practical improvements were made in the
Speaker 1: manufacture of sulfuric acid so early as the beginning of
Speaker 1: the nineteenth century e g. The amount of steam required
Speaker 1: was regulated and the process was made continuous, the latter
Speaker 1: by Hulker. The first attempt to explain this remarkable chemical
Speaker 1: process of the formation of sulfuric acid from sulfuricic acid, air,
Speaker 1: water and nitrous gas was made by Clement and Desormes,
Speaker 1: who recognized the important part played by the nitric oxide
Speaker 1: high essential for the manufacture. The careful observations on the
Speaker 1: chemical behavior of nitrous acid to sulfurus and sulfuric have
Speaker 1: been is sufficiently evidenced by the introduction of the gay
Speaker 1: lusac and glover towers to which they gave rise and
Speaker 1: which have made the process into one complete whole. In
Speaker 1: eighteen thirty one, Peregrine Phillips discovered the contact process by
Speaker 1: bringing about the combination of sulfur dioxide and oxygen in
Speaker 1: presence of platinum, but it was only forty to fifty
Speaker 1: years later that Clemens Winkler converted this experiment into a
Speaker 1: technical manufacture. The contact process, in many modifications has developed
Speaker 1: and improved so rapidly that many think it will eventually
Speaker 1: supplant the old chamber process. Altogether, common salt forms the
Speaker 1: foundation of the soda industry, whose history commences with the
Speaker 1: beginning of the modern chemical period. Nicholas LeBlanc was the
Speaker 1: first to succeed in converting salt into soda, with sodax
Speaker 1: sols as an intermediate product Maherbi and del Me theory,
Speaker 1: having some time previously attempted to utilize the latter substance
Speaker 1: in the same way, but without material success. It was
Speaker 1: in seventeen ninety one that LeBlanc commenced the actual manufacture
Speaker 1: of soda, and in the year eighteen twenty three Muspratt
Speaker 1: began the erection of his alkali works at Liverpool. His
Speaker 1: name deserves a foremost place in connection with the development
Speaker 1: of the soda industry. The formation of soda from the
Speaker 1: sulfate by fusing the latter with coal and limestone was
Speaker 1: ultimately so far explained by exact chemical experiments as to
Speaker 1: allow of a tenable theory of this fusion process being advanced.
Speaker 1: Scientific researches have also given rise to numerous importance improvements
Speaker 1: in the soda manufacturer e g. To the beautiful process
Speaker 1: of Hargraves and Robinson, by which sulfate of soda is
Speaker 1: prepared directly without the previous production of sulfurre furic acid,
Speaker 1: to the introduction of revolving soda furnaces, and to many
Speaker 1: processes for utilizing and rendering harmless the unpleasant alkali waste.
Speaker 1: But the greatest advance of all in this direction is
Speaker 1: the comparatively recent and exceedingly simple process of Chance, by
Speaker 1: which nearly all the sulfur and alkali waste can be
Speaker 1: recovered at a very cheap rate Purely. Chemical observations have
Speaker 1: also led to what was until quite recently the most
Speaker 1: important of all the innovations in the soda industry, the
Speaker 1: conversion of common salt into carbonate of soda without the
Speaker 1: intermediate formation of sulfate at all, by the ammonia soda process.
Speaker 1: The manufacture of ammonia soda and of artificial manures has
Speaker 1: grown so enormously of late years that the demand for
Speaker 1: salts of ammonia has increased proportionately, but this requirement has
Speaker 1: in its turn been met by introduction of improved apparatus
Speaker 1: for the working up of games liquor and by the
Speaker 1: successful attempts to extract the nitrogen of fuel in the
Speaker 1: form of ammonia at the same time that the heat
Speaker 1: from the fuel or the residual coke is itself being utilized.
Speaker 1: Berthelay's experiments upon the bleaching action of chlorine and the
Speaker 1: chlorides of the alkalies led to the manufacture of the
Speaker 1: bleached liquor known under the name of eu Dejevelle. Chloride
Speaker 1: of lime was first produced by Messer's Tenant and Company
Speaker 1: in Glasgow in the year seventeen seventy nine. Weldon's process
Speaker 1: for the recovery of the manganese dioxide required in the
Speaker 1: preparation of chlorine from the otherwise worthless chlorine waste has
Speaker 1: been in practical working since eighteen sixty seven. Deacon's method
Speaker 1: of producing chlorine directly from hydrochloric acid has never been
Speaker 1: very widely used. The manufacture of bromine and iodine is
Speaker 1: based upon the original work of Gay Lusac and Billard.
Speaker 1: Laboratory experiments have also led to the production of iodine
Speaker 1: from mother liquors which were formerly looked upon as valueless
Speaker 1: e g. Those from chili, saltpeter and from phosphorite after
Speaker 1: its treatment with acid to a franc is due the
Speaker 1: merit of having made bromine available for technical purposes by
Speaker 1: preparing it from the mother liquor of the stasphort wete salts.
Speaker 1: Nitric acid plays an important part in chemical industries, especially
Speaker 1: since the development of the manufacture of explosives on a
Speaker 1: large scale. Potassium nitrate, which has been known and valued
Speaker 1: for so long, is still an indispensable ingredient of black gunpowder.
Speaker 1: Since the introduction of the nitrate of soda from the
Speaker 1: chili deposits, nitric acid has been prepared from it instead
Speaker 1: of from the more expensive nitrate of potash by the
Speaker 1: old process of distillation with sulfuric acid, the latest advance
Speaker 1: here being the distillation of the nitric acid in a vacuum.
Speaker 1: The explosives whose preparation now forms a great industry, have
Speaker 1: all been made available for practical use by chemical investigations.
Speaker 1: The epoch making discovery of gun cotton by Schoenbein and
Speaker 1: Bocter independently in eighteen forty six must be recalled here.
Speaker 1: Nitroglycerine had been known as a chemical preparation discovered by
Speaker 1: Sobrero for fifteen years before it began to find extended
Speaker 1: application in eighteen sixty two as the result of Nobel's researches.
Speaker 1: The match industry owes its enormous development to the increased
Speaker 1: knowledge of chemical preparations and processes. There is a marked
Speaker 1: contrast between the chemical tender of eighteen o seven i e.
Speaker 1: Matches containing a mixture of chlorate of potash and sulfur,
Speaker 1: which were ignited by dipping them into sulfuric acid, and
Speaker 1: the present friction matches. Those prepared with ordinary phosphorus were
Speaker 1: most probably first introduced in eighteen thirty three by Arhini
Speaker 1: of pesh and subsequently by Romer of Vienna and Moldenhauer
Speaker 1: of Darmstadt. They have since undergone many improvements, the most
Speaker 1: important of these being subsequent to the discovery of amorphous
Speaker 1: not poisonous phosphorus, which had been used since the year
Speaker 1: eighteen forty eight. Phosphorus has been manufactured on the larger
Speaker 1: scale for about fifty years. Shiel's process for its preparation
Speaker 1: was improved upon by Nicholas so far back as seventeen
Speaker 1: seventy eight, and has been materially modified in recent years.
Speaker 1: Closely connected also with the soda industry are the manufactures
Speaker 1: of ultramarine and of glass. The former substance was discovered
Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty eight by Gamelin and at about the
Speaker 1: same time by Guamet. A little later, it was also
Speaker 1: discovered independently by Gotig of Mycin, who was the first
Speaker 1: to prepare it on a technical scale. The production of
Speaker 1: glass reached a high state of development in olden times
Speaker 1: through pure empiricism, but has greatly benefited by chemical research.
Speaker 1: The manufacture of glass with sulfate of soda and the
Speaker 1: improvements in flint and crystal glasses belonged to the last century,
Speaker 1: while progress has also been made in silfuring by Lebic
Speaker 1: and in glass painting through the discovery of new mineral colors.
Speaker 1: Water glass, which was known to Agricola and Glauber, was
Speaker 1: made available for technical purposes by Fuchs in eighteen eighteen
Speaker 1: and has since then been used for a great number
Speaker 1: of different purposes e g. For impregnating wood and preparing cements.
Speaker 1: The attempts to utilize raw vegetable products, particularly wood and
Speaker 1: straw for the production of paper, were first carried out
Speaker 1: in the year eighteen forty six. In caustic soda, a
Speaker 1: reagent was found by means of which cellulose could be
Speaker 1: prepared from these materials, while of late years a solution
Speaker 1: of calcium sulfite in sulfurous acid has shown itself especially
Speaker 1: well adapted for this purpose. The above process for the
Speaker 1: production of sulfite cellulose resulted from the chemical investigations of Tilbin,
Speaker 1: Cross and Bevins. Discovery that cellulose can be dissolved by
Speaker 1: carbon disulfide and soda and thus be converted into a
Speaker 1: soluble cellulose santhate has enormously extended the uses to which
Speaker 1: the plastic material can be put. Objects of all kinds,
Speaker 1: from artificial silk to billiard balls, can now be made
Speaker 1: of pure cellulose. The beet sugar industry has developed into
Speaker 1: an enormous manufacture from experiments carried out by chemists on
Speaker 1: a small scale. Margrov's discovery in seventeen forty seven that
Speaker 1: sugar was present in the juice of beet was not
Speaker 1: at that time capable of being applied commercially. Achard, a
Speaker 1: pupil of Margrov and others again took up at the
Speaker 1: end of the eighteenth century the problem of obtaining sugar
Speaker 1: from beet on the large scale, and they devised a
Speaker 1: process which was carried out in factories during the years
Speaker 1: of the Napoleonic Wars. However, this process was unable to exist,
Speaker 1: being a very imperfect one in giving but a small
Speaker 1: yield of sugar. And it is from the year eighteen
Speaker 1: twenty five that the real rise of the beach sugar
Speaker 1: industry dates. Various factors entering into its growth, not the
Speaker 1: least of which was the practical application of chemical knowledge.
Speaker 1: Scheibler's Strontia process for obtaining the crystallizable sugar from molasses
Speaker 1: is based upon a knowledge of the various saccurates of strontia.
Speaker 1: The filtration of the refined juice through bone charcoal was
Speaker 1: first recommended by Figure in eighteen eleven and then by
Speaker 1: de Rosne in eighteen twelve, and has since become an
Speaker 1: essential part of the process. The use of vacuum pans
Speaker 1: for evaporating the syrup was introduced by Howard in eighteen thirteen,
Speaker 1: since which time many improvements have been made in them Osmosis,
Speaker 1: which was first applied on the large scale by Dmranfault
Speaker 1: in eighteen sixty three for extracting the crystallizable sugar from molasses,
Speaker 1: was developed by researches in physical chemistry. The development of
Speaker 1: the fermentation industries has been immensely extended by chemical investigation,
Speaker 1: while at the same time the nature of the processes
Speaker 1: themselves has been explained. The latest work of E. Buchner
Speaker 1: and his pupils has resulted in showing that fermentation is
Speaker 1: brought about by an enzyme zymese, produced from yeast. Among
Speaker 1: the more important observations in this branch during recent years
Speaker 1: are those of affront upon the favorable effect of a
Speaker 1: minute quantity of hydrofluoric acid on the fermentation process, and
Speaker 1: of others upon the advantages gained by ventilation and by
Speaker 1: the use of pure yeast cultures. A knowledge of the
Speaker 1: normal composition of wine and beer has led to rational
Speaker 1: suggestions for the improvement of those liquors. It would be
Speaker 1: impossible to attempt even a bare enumeration of the more
Speaker 1: important innovations in this branch, many of which are due
Speaker 1: to pasture e g. The pasteurization of beer in no
Speaker 1: other section of technical chemistry. Have there been so many
Speaker 1: discoveries made by systematic investigation as in that of artificial dyes.
Speaker 1: The first anilin dye which was produced upon a technical
Speaker 1: scale was the MOV prepared by W. H. Perkin in
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty six by acting upon anoline with bichromate of
Speaker 1: potash and sulfuric acid, and it was to him that
Speaker 1: the introduction of the color industry is due. A. W.
Speaker 1: Hoffmann observed in eighteen fifty eight the formation of anolin
Speaker 1: red magenta, which was shortly afterward manufactured by another method
Speaker 1: by Virguine of Lyone and introduced into commerce under the
Speaker 1: name of fuchine. This was followed by the discovery of
Speaker 1: anolin blue, anolin violet, and anolin green, all of which
Speaker 1: were first prepared by Hoffmann himself, while he proved that
Speaker 1: all of them were derivatives of fuchine. The discovery of
Speaker 1: methyl violet by loth in eighteen sixty one and that
Speaker 1: of anolin black by Lightfoot in eighteen sixty three were
Speaker 1: of great practical importance. In addition to this, new and
Speaker 1: improved methods for the production of roseannolin dyes have been
Speaker 1: discovered and developed e g. Oxalic acid, formic aldehyde and
Speaker 1: carbonyl chloride are now used for the synthesis of diphenomlamine blue,
Speaker 1: the new magenta, methyl violet, and allied compounds. The valuable
Speaker 1: dye mazazarine was formerly prepared entirely from the matter root,
Speaker 1: but is now obtained from coltar, this revolution having been
Speaker 1: brought about by grob and liebermann successful synthesis in eighteen
Speaker 1: sixty nine of alizarine from anthrasine, a constituent of coltar.
Speaker 1: Following alisarine, other derivatives of anthrasine were prepared from the
Speaker 1: year eighteen eighty onward. An immense industry, that of so
Speaker 1: called chemical preparations, has gradually been developed on scientific lines
Speaker 1: from apparently insignificant beginnings which had their origin in the
Speaker 1: work of the apothecary. Such preparations belong partly to inorganic
Speaker 1: and partly to organic chemistry. As instances of this one
Speaker 1: may take the great increase in the production of silver
Speaker 1: salts bromine and iodine for photographic and other purposes, and
Speaker 1: the manufacture of numberless other metallic salts e g. Thiosulfates, hydrosulfites, borates,
Speaker 1: and silicates. Not to speak of newly introduced compounds like
Speaker 1: the peroxides of hydrogen and sodium, sodium persulfate, and other
Speaker 1: per salts and compounds of lithium, rubidium, vanadium, et cetera.
Speaker 1: The already imposing list of inorganic preparations is being continually
Speaker 1: added to the manufacture of organic preparations is still more extensive.
Speaker 1: The various alcohols themselves, their ethers and esters chloroform, chloral,
Speaker 1: iodoform aldehyde, et cetera, are now alwa yssential to the
Speaker 1: chemical manufactures and to medicine. The processes by which these
Speaker 1: compounds are manufactured are the result of scientific researches old
Speaker 1: and new. From what has been said, it is seen
Speaker 1: that coltar is the raw material from which many organic
Speaker 1: preparations are obtained, the technical importance of which it is
Speaker 1: difficult to estimate. Formerly a troublesome waste material, it is
Speaker 1: now of at least equal value to the other products
Speaker 1: from the distillation of coal. The manufacture of ammonia and
Speaker 1: salts of ammonia from gas liquor is now a thoroughly
Speaker 1: rational one thanks to the careful chemical examination of the latter,
Speaker 1: and it forms a large and important branch of industry.
Speaker 1: The manufacture of coal gas was at first developed quite empirically,
Speaker 1: and it was only in the second half of the
Speaker 1: nineteenth century that improvements were introduced which were based upon
Speaker 1: the scientific investigation of the relations existing between the composition
Speaker 1: of the gas and the mode in which the distillation
Speaker 1: of the coal was conducted, and this also applies to
Speaker 1: improved methods of purifying the crude gas. The present distillation
Speaker 1: process was introduced about the year eighteen eighty after it
Speaker 1: was seen that by raising the temperature of decomposition, the
Speaker 1: yield of gas from pit coal was nearly doubled. In
Speaker 1: order to achieve the necessary white heat, gas retorts are
Speaker 1: now made from the most refractory fireclay instead of iron,
Speaker 1: and they are heated by regenerator gas. About fifteen years ago,
Speaker 1: acetylene began to come into prominence as an importance and luminant. Indeed,
Speaker 1: enthusiasts on the subject prophesied that the brilliant light which
Speaker 1: it gave would prove to be the light of the future.
Speaker 1: Produced from calcium carbide, a product of electrochemistry, it looked
Speaker 1: for a time as if acetylene were destined to become
Speaker 1: a formidable competitor of the electric light. The first impulse
Speaker 1: toward the use of furnace gas as a heating agent
Speaker 1: was given by the experiments of Faber Defar and of Bunsen.
Speaker 1: Experiments made with the object of utilizing the gases issuing
Speaker 1: from the mouth of iron blast furnaces, which are rich
Speaker 1: in carbon monoxide. These, as well as the gases from
Speaker 1: coking ovens, were furlong allowed to escape and still are
Speaker 1: to some extent, but for the most part they now
Speaker 1: constitute important sources of heat. Low introduced water gas into
Speaker 1: technical use in eighteen seventy five, preparing it by passing
Speaker 1: steam over red hot coal. It is now much used
Speaker 1: for heating and illuminating purposes, and will undoubtedly become even
Speaker 1: more employed in time. The above resume of the development
Speaker 1: of industrial chemistry during the modern period will indicate how
Speaker 1: it has been elevated by a continuous infusion of scientific spirit,
Speaker 1: and manufacturing, once a matter of empirical judgment and individual skill,
Speaker 1: is more and more becoming a system of scientific processes.
Speaker 1: Quantitative measurements are replacing guesswork, and thus waste is diminished
Speaker 1: and economy of production insured. In the United States, several
Speaker 1: decades ago, few industrial establishments furnished regular employment to chemists.
Speaker 1: But now American manufacturers are becoming more and more appreciative
Speaker 1: of scientific research, and the results so far obtained have
Speaker 1: resulted in far reaching improvements in the production of a
Speaker 1: metal from its ores, or of indigo from coltar. It
Speaker 1: is chemistry that points the way, and the more complex
Speaker 1: the problem, the greater the dependence. In devising new processes
Speaker 1: and in the discovery of new and useful products, chemistry
Speaker 1: is again the pathfinder. The community is apt to overlook
Speaker 1: the extent and diversity of the services rendered by the
Speaker 1: chemists because of the quiet and unobtrusive way in which
Speaker 1: the work is carried out. The measure of a country's
Speaker 1: appreciation of the value of chemistry in its material development
Speaker 1: and the extent to which it utilizes this science in
Speaker 1: its industries generally measure quite accurately to the industrial progress
Speaker 1: and prosperity of that country. In no other country in
Speaker 1: the world has the value of chemistry to industry been
Speaker 1: so thoroughly understood and appreciated as in Germany, and in
Speaker 1: no other country of similar size and natural endowment have
Speaker 1: such remarkable advances in industrial development been recorded, and this
Speaker 1: too with steadily increasing economy in the utilization of the
Speaker 1: natural resources. Ex President Roosevelt has well said, quote, the
Speaker 1: life of the nation depends absolutely on the material resources
Speaker 1: which have already made the nation great. And M. T.
Speaker 1: Bogert recently has eloquently indicated how the chemist can and
Speaker 1: will be of service in that great problem, the conservation
Speaker 1: of natural resources. This work is not entirely that of
Speaker 1: the engineer, and with the awakening of the producer and
Speaker 1: manufacturer to the value of science and industry, the outcome
Speaker 1: of the conservation movement can only be a successful one
Speaker 1: through the assistance of the chemists. End of section twenty
Speaker 1: one recording by Warren Cotty Gurnee, Illinois. End of The
Speaker 1: Science History of the Universe, Volume four, Chemistry, edited by
Speaker 1: Francis Rolt Wheeler