36 Chemical Transformations. [Jan., 



en by him in the morning, in the form of Seidlitz powders, to remove 

 the effects of his debauch. The offal of the streets, and the wash- 

 ings of coal-gas, re-appear carefully preserved in the lady's smelling- 

 bottle, or are used by her to flavor blanc-manges for her friends. 

 This economy of the chemistry of Art, is only in imitation of what we 

 observe in the chemistry of Nature. Animals live to die ; then their 

 dead bodies passing into putridity, escape into the atmosphere, 

 whence plants again mold them into forms of organic life ; and 

 these plants, actually consisting of a past generation of ancestors, 

 form our present food. 



The chemist has so far triumphed in the inorganic world, that he 

 is expected to reproduce almost every mineral compound which may 

 be submitted to him. A remarkable instance of the power of chem- 

 istry in this respect, is shown in the production of the most beauti- 

 ful and permanent blue which the artist uses. But a few years since 

 Lapis-lazuli could not be purchased but at the enormous price of 

 twice or thrice its weight in gold. It was carefully analyzed by 

 modern science, and shown to be made of common earths, which are 

 every day trod under foot. Chemistry showed the manufacturer 

 how these vile earths could be brought together, and blend into that 

 invaluable pigment, ' so deeply, brightly, beautifully blue ;' and now 

 Ultras-marine, equal in every respect to the best native Lapis-lazuli, 

 can be purchased for one dollar a pound. 



But it is among organic products, that we are to look for the 

 strangest transformations. We are forcibly reminded of them, on 

 visiting the laboratory of Dr. Grasselli, in the 'Queen city.' We 

 saw the black Cannel coal, under the patent influence of heat, trans- 

 formed into a pure, watery looking liquid, called benzole, and into 

 wax, when purified, as white as snow ; and into lubricating oil, as 

 unctuous as the finest sperm. 



Coal is a product of vegetable origin. In the world's younger 

 days, immense forest growths accumulated in places where the waters 

 of the sea or rivers soon covered them with mud, and there, as time 

 rolled on, the vegetable matters w^ere changed into various products, 

 the chief of which are stone coal — more or less resembling anthracite, 

 according to the time it has been in the ground — naptha, bitumen, 

 burning gas, and various other product»s. By the destructive distil- 

 lation of wood, these products can be imitated, and thus, by causing 

 heat to put forth its strange power, we obtain productions which re- 

 quire in nature's laboratory, the lapse of ages to form. When these 



