88 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



PARKESINE. 



While considerable attention is being given to gun-cotton and 

 nitroleum, a somewhat similar substance is gradually making its 

 way as an article of orilinary domestic use, entirely free from 

 danger, and possessing sueh advantages as are likely to secure its 

 genrral adoption. In the manufacture of Parkesine, filjrous veg- 

 etable matter of any and every kind — cotton and llax waste, and 

 old rags, being, from their cheapness, the favorite materials — 

 may Ijc employed. These are first dissolved l)y acids, and they 

 then yield what chemists call pyroxyline. Pyroxyline, however, 

 as its name implies, is highly inthuninable, and indeed explosive, 

 like gun-cotton ; and this dangerous qualirjcation has to be neu- 

 tralized. Mr. Parkes effects this by the introduction of eitlier of 

 various chemical ingreilients, as iodide of cadmium, tungstate of 

 soda, chloride of zinc, gelatins, several carltonates, sulphates, and 

 phosphates. Collodion (as used by photographers), when evap- 

 orated so as to leave a solid residue, has Ijeen emplo3ed in the 

 production of Park<'sine ; but it was found l)y far too exi)ensive. 

 The substances which have given the best results with the pyroxy- 

 line are nitro-benzole, aniline, and glacial acetic acid. B}' the 

 use of various propinlions of these substances, all consistencies 

 of Parkesine, from the solid to the fluid form, may l)e obtained. 

 The applications of I'arkcsine are, of course, as numerous as its 

 forms are various. In the fluid form, it is availal^le for water- 

 proofing fabrics ; and in this way it is very serviceable. In a 

 plastic state, Parkesine is useful in making tubes, etc., and for 

 insidating telegrajih wires. Where hardness and toughness are 

 rcfiuired, these desiderata are aiTived at by the admixtui'c of oils 

 prepari'd with chloride of sulphur, which latter solidifies and 

 makes them (the oils) non-adhesive. Again, l)y the use of resins, 

 gums, stearin, tar, etc., modified preparations of the invention 

 may be made to suit special apj^lieations. Parkesine, indeed, is a 

 most accomodating material : and maybe made as hard and brittle 

 as glass, or as fluid and yielding as cream, and of every interme- 

 diate consistency. It may have elasticity imparted to it to almost 

 any extent or degree, and in this state it is likely to become a 

 dangerous rival to India-rubber and gutta-percha, inasmuch as it 

 will become, if it be not now, far cheaper than those useful arti- 

 cles of commerce, and answer almost all their uses equally well. 

 Vulcanized India-rubber will find a sturdy competitor in Parkes- 

 ine, for it may be manufactured with less of brittleness, quite as 

 much hardness, and at a lower cost than that tediously manipu- 

 lated substance. There is no refuse in the manufacture, the chi2'»s 

 and cuttings being cajjable of re-manufacture with the greatest 

 facility. Parkesine will take any color, and may be given any 

 degree of hardness ; it may be made to imitate tortoise-shell, 

 marble, malachite, or amber ; and can be cut with a saw, turned 

 in the lathe, planed, carved, engraved, stamped between dies, 

 rolled into thick or thin sheets, worked into screws, shaped into 

 mouldings or cornices, etc. It is suscei^tible of a high polish, 

 agreeable to the touch, and not disagreeable in smell. At a tern- 



