CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 239 



and wearing apparel, without injuring the fabric, its color, or leaving any 

 permanent smell or mark, as is the case with turpentine. The numerous 

 uses to which this valuable product can be applied in manufactures renders 

 it of extensive employment in place of alcohol and other fluids which are, 

 generally speaking, too expensive for common commercial purposes. 



As an instance, Mr. Calvert cited that in Yorkshire there was a large quan- 

 tity of wool dyed before it was spun, principally for carpet manufactures. It 

 was then necessary to oil this dyed slubbing-wool, as it is called ; and up to 

 the present time no means had been discovered of removing the oil without 

 injuring the color ; and thus this oil remaining in the fabric materially injured 

 the brilliancy of the color, as well as rendered the carpets thus manufactured 

 liable to become sooner faded or dirty. Now, by the employment of benzole, 

 which has not the property of dissolving colors, the oil can be removed from 

 such fabrics, and the full brilliancy of the colors fixed on this slubbing-wool 

 can be restored. He also states that this benzole can be employed with ad- 

 vantage in photography, in removing the grease from daguerreotype plates. 

 "\Vhen this benzole is treated with strong nitric acid, it gives rise to a sub- 

 stance called nitro-benzole, which is every day becoming more and more used 

 as a substitute for essence of bitter almonds, used in perfumery. It is thus 

 interesting to observe that, by the triumphs of chemistry, a delicious perfume 

 has been produced from the noxious smelling refuse of coal. The next pro- 

 ducts he mentions which are distilled from coal-tar, are those denominated 

 light oils of tar, which remain on the surface of water, and are applied, to- 

 gether with the heavy oils, to the preservation of w r ood from rotting. The 

 introduction of the fluid into wood is effected by placing the wood in close 

 iron tanks, exhausting the air, and then forcing the oil into the w r hole sub- 

 stance of the wood, under a pressure of from 100 to 150 Ibs. to the square 

 inch. There exists in these light oils of tar a highly interesting product, 

 called tar kreasote, or carbolic acid, which possesses extraordinary antiseptic 

 properties : such, for example, as prevent the putrefaction of animal substances. 

 Mr. Calvert has applied it with success in preserving bodies for dissection, 

 and also in keeping the skins of animals intended to be stuffed. Owing to 

 its peculiar chemical composition, he has also employed it successfully in the 

 preparation of a valuable dye-sku% called carboazotic acid, which gives mag- 

 nificent straw-colored yellows on silk and woolen fabrics. The carboazotio 

 acid, prepared from the above-mentioned substance, can be obtained very 

 pure, and at a cheap rate, thus enabling the dyer to obtain beautiful yellows 

 and greens, which are not liable to fade by exposure to the air, as is the case 

 with most of those colors when obtained from vegetable dyes. The advan- 

 tage of the acid so prepared is. that it is entirely free from oily or tarry sub- 

 stances which have the property of imparting a disagreeable odor to the dyed 

 fabrics. The intense bitter which this acid possesses induced him to have it 

 tried as a febrifuge ; and Dr. Bell, of Manchester, has succeeded in curing 

 several cases of intermittent fever by its aid. Mr. Calvert has lately applied 

 carbolic acid in a manner that offers advantages to dyers and calico-printers. 

 It' is well known that extracts made from tanning matters can not be kept for 

 any length of time without undergoing deterioration, in consequence of the 



