WANTED—A SUBSTITUTE FOR RUBBER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 318, 3 June 1911, Page 10

WANTED—A SUBSTITUTE FOR RUBBER

Who hut a chemist would suppose for a moment that there was anything in common between the camphor of the Eastern camphor-tree and the turpentine of the Western pine? The two substances do not look alike ,and their odors are entirely different. Yet long ago scientists discovered that, chemically, the two substances were amazingly alike. Turpentine is composed of ten atoms or carbon combined with sixteen of hydrogen, while camphor is the same, with the addition of one atom of oxygen. The best natural camphor comes from the Island of Formosa. When the RussoJapanese war broke out the supply became so uncertain, and the price so'high, that chemists all the world over set "to work to try to make artificial camphor—not merely a substitute for camphor, but the real article. And, knowing that turpentine was, from a chemical point ot view ,thc nearest in composition to camphor, this was the substance with which they experimented. There is no space here to describe the long and patient experiments. Sufficient to say Unit one day the familiar odor of camphor was detected, and that now there can bo now made out of common turpentine one-quarter of its weight of pure camphor, the process taking fifteen hours, as against the twelve vears required to grow camphor-trees/ This is just one example of what the synthetical chemist has accomplished. The word 'synthesis' means 'building up'; and thewonk of the synthetical chemist is to build up chemical compounds out of other substances usually less complex than the one which he is "trying to make. Among the triumphs which lie has already achieved are the making of indigo identical with the dye obtained from the indigo plant: vannilline, the flavoring principle of the vanilla pod; citric aciih the same us that obtained from lemons; and dyes and scents without number. At present his great ambition is to make india-rubber. Everyone knows how the famine in this commodity caused by Hie enormous demand for motor tyre's has sent its price soaring to heights' undreamed of a year ago'. Consequently, the man who could synthesise indiarubber could dictate his own terms to the commercial world. But it has never been done, and many great chemists are of opinion that the difficulties are insuperable. There are plenty of rubber snbstiIms on the market. One made bv treating cereals with a chemical known as phyalin possesses considerable value. But still it is not rubber, anl no subslitiifi possesses (he wonderful elasticity of the juice of Hie rubber-producing plant. Copper sells at considerably over one hundred pounds a ton. Two years ago great, excitement was caused in commercial circles by an .announcement that Sir William Ramsay had discovered a method of making copper. Copper h:is hitherto been considered as one of Ihe elements —uh.it. is lo cay. a substance which cannot be broken up into simpler substances. Consequently, the idea that it; could be synthcsised was most startling. However, nothing more has been heard of] the alleged discovery, and holders of copper mine shares breathe more freely. Tf copper could be svnthesised it would mean a loss of about 750 millions to the copper mines of the world. At the Iron a.nd Steel Institute a few months ago, Mr. Cushmau said that we could, enamel steel and prevent iron from rii-ting. Incredible as it seems, our iron ore supplies are dwindling, and this is entirely owing to the fact that iron decays so rapidly through rusting. The yearly loss to the world at large"through iron's troublesome tendency to oxidise is estimated at anywhere between twenty a?'' ' l,v ty millions sterling. Mr. Ciishman quoted an extraordinary fact. There is at Delhi a,n iron monument which does not rust or decay, and yet has no protective coating. There is a fortune in store for any chemist who can rediscover this lost secret. The new Army balloons are made of goldbeater's skin, which is a fearfully expensive material, yet the only one which successfully resists the passage of gas. The chemist who can invent a satisfactory varnish which will make ordinary balloons gas-tight will confer a benefit upon aerial navigation and make his fortune. Malleable glass is another secret the discovery of which would revolutionise the world, for then all our buildings and pavements would be made of this substance. The art is said lo have been known to a Venetian hundreds of years ago. A substitute for cork is one more ambition of the laboratory, for the real article is becoming more expensive everv year, and a champagne bottle cork is said to be as valuable as the wine itself when it is first bottled.