66 THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 



I)ons. The latter are mixed with water gas and thus produce the 

 carburetted water g-as used in New York and most of our cities to- 

 day. Pintsch gas, which is employed for lighting railroad trains, is 

 made, consists entirely of thess hydrocarbons obtained by cracking 

 petroleum. After the kerosene they get heavy oils, which are rapid- 

 ly coming into favor as lubricants, a residuum and some coke. The 

 latter is made into the gas carbon used for electrodes and in arc 

 lights. The residuum, however, especially interests the pharmacist, 

 for from it are obtained both paraffin and petroleum. The various 

 uses and abuses to which paraffin is put would be too numerous to 

 mention. Suffice it to say that it finds its way into a number of 

 ointments and cerates and is used for adulterating bees' wax. The 

 petroleum residuum from which the paraffin has been removed by 

 chilling is purified by means of animal charcoal and yields the vari- 

 ous grades of petrolatum or vaseline ranging in color from (which) 

 white to a yellowish-brown. 



When we consider how numerous are the products obtained from 

 petroleum and how bright its future is, we can no longer marvel at 

 the large number of men who have made their fortunes just from 

 this one industry. Chief among these, of course, looms up ou • 

 present oil king, John D. Rockefeller, who is said to have been 

 properly named, for he was the fellow who was destined to get his 

 crocks from cavities which occur in rocks. 



SCIENTIFIC WORK 



I. — Study of the Action of Hydrochloric Acid on Linalool and 



Geraniol(^) 



This is a question to the study of which numerous chemists of 

 high standing have already turned their attention. We have had 

 occasion recently to take it up again and, by adopting certain very 

 interesting facts, notably the preparation of the hydrochloric ester 

 derived from linalool and the demonstration of its identity with the 

 derivative prepared from geraniol under the same conditions. Let us 

 recall in a few words the previous publications on this subject: 



i) On linalool: 



Grosser, in 1881 (Ber., 14, 2494) studied the action of hydrochloric 

 acid on the dextro-linalool of oil of coriander; he observed the elimi- 

 nation of water and described a compound QoHi^Cl (015=0.9527). 



(1) Investigation by MM. Justin Dupont and Louis Labaune, France. 



