TECHNOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY — WITT. 257 



taneously by three processes, that of Griesheim, that of Castner- 

 Keller, and that of Aiissig, which are close rivals in their effective- 

 ness and boldness of invention. With these a new era has begun in 

 the production of caustic alkalis, and also in the chlorine industry. 

 The old process for the production of chlorine has disappeared along 

 with the ingenious methods of Weldon and Deacon. Chlorine, once 

 so costly, is produced in such abundance as to provoke a feverish 

 search for new applications for it. By the side of and often in the 

 j)lace of the venerable chloride of lime we find to-day liquefied molec- 

 ular chlorine put up in transportable form in steel bottles. 



Finall}', the production of alkali metals on a large scale should be 

 counted as one of the most important results of modern electro-chem- 

 ical technologj\ The same reaction in a form suital)le to technical 

 methods which once in Davy's hands led to the discovery of these 

 metals — the electrolysis of alkaline hydrates — has shown itself to be 

 the best and least costly method of manufacture for these strongly 

 reactive bodies, one of which especially, sodium, has rapidly become 

 of extensive apj)lication in a technical way. By its aid in particular, 

 it has been possible to produce potassium cyanide free from cyan- 

 ates, which has contributed to the success of the cyanide process for 

 refractory gold ores. 



Such a metamorphosis of inorganic chemical technology as has 

 been briefly described would not have been conceivable if greater and 

 greater quantities with their continually decreasing prices had not 

 found a continually increasing market. The same fact along with 

 the natural increase of needs generally has produced in the case of 

 organic chemistry an even more striking and remarkable transforma- 

 tion and develo]3ment than in inorganic technical processes. 



We all know in a general way that the old industries of brewing, 

 distilling, sugar making, and starch making, of the production of 

 fatty bodies and of foods, all of which are connected wuth agricul- 

 tural work, have flourished remarkably in the last forty years and 

 have become of very great importance. They owe their most im- 

 portant progress to the aid of modern biological research. But be- 

 sides these, other industries operating on organic substances have 

 sprung up and prospered, which were formerly entirel}^ unknow^n. 



A lively interest attaches to the chemical application of wood 

 which has not only allowed a particularly profitable use of our 

 forests, which is coming more and more into evidence, but has also led 

 to a simple separation, almost analytical in its nature and carried out 

 on a large scale, of the components of lignine, one of which, how- 

 ever, the incrusting medium, remains to this day a chemical enigma. 



The extraction of an almost pure cellulose from wood has placed 

 the paper industry on a new footing and has obviated the necessity 

 of our limiting the production of printed matter for want of paper. 



