96 



CHILD, LYDIA M. 



"With the metals proper, the lines expand into 

 bands, and the continuous light takes a less 

 prominent place. In quicksilver the breadth 

 of the green and violet lines especially is con- 

 spicuous. Sodium gives at high pressures a 

 continuously illuminated spectrum near the 

 D-lines, which then appear reversed; at first 

 one or two lines are seen, but soon they widen 

 and merge into each other, and the dark band 

 of absorption gradually covers the whole illu- 

 minated part of the field. 



New Syntheses. Mr. Edgar F. Smith has 

 made the synthesis of salicylic acid in small 

 quantities by the following process : Upon heat- 

 ing one part of copper benzoate with about 

 three parts of distilled water in a sealed tube 

 at a temperature of 180 C. for a period of three 

 hours, a large quantity of cuprous oxide sepa- 

 rated. The contents of the tube were then re- 

 moved to a rather large beaker, and acidulated 

 with hydrochloric acid, and the solution was 

 supersaturated with hydrogen sulphide. The 

 filtrate from the copper sulphide contained a 

 considerable amount of benzole acid, which 

 was removed by distillation in a current of 

 steam. The residual liquid reduced to a small 

 volume gave a crystallization of needles, fusing 

 constant at 156 C., and afforded with ferric 

 chloride the characteristic coloration given by 

 salicylic acid. The salts also proved the pres- 

 ence of the latter. The experiment was varied 

 in one or two instances by using an aqueous 

 solution of benzoic acid and an ammoniacal 

 solution of cupric oxide, when the heat had to 

 be increased to 220 C. 



Messrs. Grimaux and Adam have succeeded 

 in building up citric acid, the characteristic 

 acid of lemons, from glycerine. They first 

 produced dichlorhydrine by the action of hy- 

 drochloric acid on glycerine, oxidized that sub- 

 stance with potassium dichromate and sulphu- 

 ric acid, and treated the resultant substance 

 with concentrated hydrocyanic acid. The acid 

 corresponding to the product of the last appli- 

 cation having been produced by saponifying 

 with hydrochloric acid, its sodium salt was 

 treated with potassium cyanide, whereby a di- 

 cyanide was produced. When decomposed by 

 hydrochloric acid, this dicyanide yielded a cit- 

 ric acid in all respects identical with that ob- 

 tained from the lemon and other fruits. Gly- 

 cerine may be prepared from trichlorhydrine, 

 which is itself obtained from the action of 

 chlorine in daylight on propylenic chloride, 

 one of the products of the chlorinntion of 

 propylene. Finally, propylene may be pro- 

 duced by passing a mixture of carbon monox- 

 ide and marsh- gas through a red-hot tube ; and 

 marsh-gas may be built up from carbon, hydro- 

 gen, and oxygen. The synthesis of citric acid 

 from these three elements is, therefore, now an 

 accomplished fact. 



CHILD, LYDIA MAEIA, was born at Medford, 

 Massachusetts, February 11, 1802, and died at 

 Wayland, Massachusetts, October 20, 1880. 

 Her ancestor, Richard Francis, came from Eng- 



land and settled in Cambridge in 1636. She 

 was the daughter of Convers Francis, a baker. 

 Her mother was a simple-hearted, loving wo- 

 man. 



In her early life Miss Francis studied with 

 her brother, who was afterward a distinguished 

 divine and scholar of the Unitarian faith, and 

 professor in Cambridge Theological School. 

 When only seventeen years old, Lydia Maria 

 Francis wrote "Hobomok; a Tale of Early. 

 Times." This was published in 1824. It was 

 followed by " The Rebels ; or, Boston before the 

 Revolution," a novel containing an imaginary 

 speech by James Otis, which has been trans- 

 ferred to many " speakers " and reading-books. 

 She afterward kept a private school in Water- 

 town from 1825 to 1828. In 1827 she estab- 

 lished " The Juvenile Miscellany," a charming 

 monthly magazine for children, which she su- 

 pervised for eight years. In 1828 she married 

 David Lee Child, a Boston lawyer and journal- 

 ist, distinguished for the independence of his 

 character and the boldness with which he de- 

 nounced social wrongs and abuses. In 1829 

 Mrs. Child published "The American Frugal 

 Housewife," a book of kitchen economy and 

 directions, which in 1855 had reached its thir- 

 ty-third edition. In 1831 were published " The 

 Mother's Book" and " The Girl's Own Book." 

 In 1832 appeared the " History of Woman," 

 and " Biographies of Good Wives." In 1833, 

 when the antislavery excitement was attaining 

 importance, Mrs. Child published her "Appeal 

 for that Class of Americans called African." 

 This remarkable work attracted great attention. 

 Miss Martineau, in her " Martyr Age of Ameri- 

 ca," describes Mrs. Child as "a lady of whom 

 society was exceedingly proud before she pub- 

 lished her 'Appeal,' and to whom society has 

 been extremely contemptuous ever since." Dr. 

 Channing attributed part of his interest in the 

 slavery question to the reading of Mrs. Child's 

 book, and walked from Boston to Roxbury to 

 thank her for it. Undaunted by social ostra- 

 cism, this champion of antislavery continued her 

 labors, publishing "The Oasis," "The Anti- 

 slavery Catechism." "Authentic Anecdotes of 

 American Slavery," and " The Evils of Slavery, 

 and the Cure of Slavery." 



Mrs. Child's novel of "Philothea," published 

 in 1833, is a romance of Greece in the days of 

 Pericles, and is regarded as one of her best pro- 

 ductions. In 1841 she was engaged as co-editor 

 with her husband on the " Antislavery Stand- 

 ard," published in New York. Later on she 

 assumed the entire management of the paper, 

 and made it agreeable to readers of literary 

 taste, without abating its antislavery zeal. She 

 wrote from New York a series of letters, de- 

 scribing every- day life in the city, to the " Bos- 

 ton Courier." These were afterward pub- 

 lished in two volumes, in 1843-'44. They went 

 through seven or eight editions in this form. 

 Other works were published as follows : " Fact 

 and Fiction" (1846) ; "Flowers for Children " 

 (1852); "Isaac T. Hopper, a True Life" 



