POPULAR CHEMISTRY.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 352, 3 December 1875, Page 2

POPULAR CHEMISTRY.

DB. WHITTON'S LECTUBE,

The marvels of chemistry, dealing only with the hard facts of science, far exceed intheir wondrous effects the illusive manifestations of the ancient magicians' fabled power. Npr cabalistic signs, nor charmed circle, nor weird-like professor " with horrenthair in Oriental garb'' are now needed to produce the almost miraculous results of this, the mightiest and most, utilitarian of all the aits, which the expanding intellect of man uses to aidfhim in his. efforts to. understand and 'grapple with the laws which govern nature in working out her multifarious operations—whether on a scale of gigantic grandeur, as evidenced by the sudden apheaval or submergence of large tracts of thisjseemjngly firm-set earth, or by the conversion, of the fleeting and intangible vapor into the sharp, crisp, frost needle, or fragile and beautiful snbwfiake. Our modern Merlin, the chemist of the nineteenth century, shall be an unassuming gentlemen, ar-V rayed in sombre suit; or,' haply, fair Mosgiel tweed of the very latest fashion—his whole apparatus with which to perform doughty and" : astounding deeds nbthingbut a few glass jars, phials, tubes, and mayhap an electric machine ; and,, with these simple contrivances,, he can achieve such wonders as were never dreamt of in the wildest flights of fancy "of our ancestors. A very beautiful and effective illustration, of the resources of chemistry was given by Dr. Whitton in the Town Hall last Tuesday night, in aid of the Atheuseuhi funds. , The evening was,a specially lovely: one, and-affor.ded many, an" opportunity ;of attending.who resided..at the town. A large number of persons .were' as?aembled, anil noticeably several'fair votaries of,science added the 'charm ht their' presence . to grape the. occasion. The leaf hed lecturer, who was _brieily introduced by the indefatigable M ayor, Mr. Buscb, initiated the proceeding's in some apposite observations. He said at one time the extent of human knowmight have been comprised in small but, with the gradual increase of [mankind, -so also "knowledge also enlarged its capacities, and' from one common stock many various branches of science. The one which he then intended'-to deal with was chemistry. In digging through the surface of the earth numerous substances are met with/commonly called soil, such as clay, stones, gold, water, &c. Like the soil itself each of these is not one simple substance, but made up of several bodies, and the object of chemistry is to find out what they are com-.-posed of, how joined, and the nature of their composition. The most rapid developments and extension of chemical lore have been consequent upon the discovery of oxygen, a period within the range of, the last century. The ancients had an easy wayj>f ■ finding out the component parts of. our planet. Earth, air, fire, and water, Avere the materials which built it up, they said ; but wehave'been obliged to discard their faith, and, by the light of our more advanced appliances, have found that there are no less than sixty simple bodies; i.e., substances, .wbjeh, tried in every possible way, remain the same." y&pld isgold, you say, and iron is iron, indubitably ; but in the case of water it is qiiTte'different. JPass electricity through some of this fluid,. over which are placed glass tubes, ami,* after a time, the water disappears, and the tubes are filled with two gases—oxygen arid hydrogen ; while, on the other hand, if the, same two gases are placed in a bladder, and set fire to,' they explode, and water remains. The grey scales or pellicles' hammered off an incandescent bar of iron in a smythy ;are- not iron alone; but a compound of iron and. the oxygen of the-fire. The learned gentleman then in a-' serie* of very interesting .and ; cleverly, exe-. cuted experiments showed" how compound bodies were formed. Taking two colorless , liquids, common salt and a caustic, nitrate of silver, and adding them together in equal proportions, a new body—chloride of silverwas formed, which, being of a pure .white color,, was spotlessly visible. Inlike manner he operated with other colorless fluids, ;ahd succeeded in producing a brilliant chromatic scale of color, from the intensest blue to the gorgeous glory of golden yellow, and was repeatedly applauded by his interested and instructed auditors. Speaking of precipitates —as these bodies are called—he said: Form and_colbr- are means by which unknown matter is tested.. Carbolic acid, mixed with another substance (its name escapes us) forms a compound of a magenta color, so thai if you know one of the ingredients you become acquainted with the other.' It is on the principle of these precipitates that antidotes to

poisons areused.;: Suppose a person unfortu' n&te enough to swallow a solution of caustic, the antidote to give would be common salt. The same thing would take place in the person's stomach, as observed in the glass jar * a new and harmless substance would be evolved, and the danger got rid of. Experiment followed experiment in quick successien, each equally edifying and amusing,— explosions of detonating powders,-inflation of bladders by various gases, and subsequent ignition and explosion of these aerial creations, all calling forth the unmiatakeable commendations of the - onlookers-; -^nd though during some parts of the performance the odors were not exactly of Araby ths Blest, still the people seemed to enjoy them rather than otherwise. The exhibition ;of tie maguesiumlight was a surpassingly lovely one , and lit up the hall with the brilliancy and lustre of almost a noon day sun, and was in itself a treat worth.seeing. He said it exceeded in brilliancy "the lime light, and r was only surpassed by the electric one. Bengal lights, such as .those lit at sea, were burned, and had a very charming effect; and the "light, similar to that used in transformation scenes in fairy extravaganzas in theatrical regions, made us feel as if we were luxuriating in " bowers of blisß " in the kingdom of never-failing delights. A vote of .thanks to the accomplished lecturer teiminated the proceedings.