MAGIC OF COAL-TAR

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 113, 6 February 1919, Page 5

MAGIC OF COAL-TAR

The modern magician's favourite raw ! material is coal-tar. Ho waves his wanfl lover it, and lo! all sorts of marvels spring into being. Coal-tar (a cheap byproduct in the manufacture of illuminating gas) is au exceedingly complex organic compound, out of which the chemist seems to be able to dig almost anything he wants, from a dye to a per-' fume, from a disinfectant to a greasespot erodjeator and from a pain-quelling i drug to a war explosive. It is almost i exactly a century since (in 1820) naphtha-, J lene was first derived I'iom coal-tar. We j are most familiar with it to-day as tho substance out of which mothballs are ! mado. But from it have also been obtained some beautiful colours—buttercup ■ . j yellow and a variety of 6carlets, pinks ! and greens. • •• ■ . ' ! Next came benzine—discovered in. 18K .j by Michael Faraday. There is .a littlo ■ bottlo of it in every household. It has the property of dissolving fats, and r ( therefore is liighly effective as a remover. ' j of grease spots. What is known as tho ; "dry-cleaning" process (a mystery to ; most folks) is simply washing with a j mixture of gasoline and benzine soap.; ; Many years ago a clever chemist was j trying to make an artificial quinine from, benzino treated with nitric acid. In thia attempt ho failed, but to his great 6ur- > prise liis process yielded cheaply and in i quantity "aniliijc"—tho stuff that is to- j day tho source of a whole rainbow of '; wonderful dyes. ' '

From benzine, also, is derived an artificial oil of bitter idmonds, used by the hundreds of tons for the scenting of soaps, And likewise rbtained from coaltar (black and ill smelling) are many exquisite perfumes, such as "white heliotrope," for my ladrs toilet. Most widely used of all coal-tar products is carbolic acid. It was the original germ killer, the first one used, by Lister as a, disinfectant in surgery, ,