ss 



DISCOVERY 



>iich as dextrine or casein. Tiiis latter product lias many 

 Kivantages over any other similar material, and yields 

 ■■ ory good results on the finished piece. 



The " colour " is made up in a cask or barrel, without 

 any other addition than the thickener, and then poured 

 into the " sow-box," or trough of the machine, giving the 

 pieces two runs in opposite directions so as to secure 

 shades. The padded goods are well squeezed through 

 nipping-rollers, and then dried and " backed." The 

 temperature of the colour-paste should be boiling or 

 nearly so, because the higher the temperature the better 

 the penetration. 



Printed patterns or designs are often applied to jute, 

 and the process is exactly the same as for calico-work, 

 except that the colour-paste is made very much tliicker, 

 and that the colour in a number of instances is not fixed 

 by steaming. 



Often white figures are printed upon the dyed burlaps, 

 these being made up of white pigment, such as blanc fixe 

 thickened with albumen or casein. 



As a wall-covering burlap is certainly one of the most 

 satisfactory to be had, and it will no doubt continue 

 to increase in popularity. 



The Treasures of Goal-Tar 



If you put a bit of soft coal into a test-tube (or, if you 

 haven't a test-tube, into a clay tobacco pipe, and cover 

 it over with clay) and heat it, you will find a gas coming 

 out at the end of the tube, that will bum with a yellow 

 smoky flame. After all the gas comes off you will find 

 in the bottom of the test-tube a chunk of dry, porous coke. 

 Tliese, then, are the two main products of the destructive 

 distillation of coal. But if you are a born chemist, with 

 an eye to by-products, you will notice along the middle 

 of the tube, where it is neither too hot nor too cold, some 

 dirty drops of water and some black, sticky stuff. If 

 you are just an ordinary person you won't pay any at- 

 tention to this, because there is only a little of it, and be- 

 cause what you are after is the coke and gas. You 

 regard the nasty smelly mess that comes in between as 

 merely a nuisance, because it clogs up and spoils your 

 nice clean tube. 



Now, that is the way the gas-makers and coke-makers 

 — being for the most part ordinary persons, and not 

 born chemists — used to regard the water and tar that 

 got into their pipes. They washed it out so as to have 

 ilie gas clean, and then ran it into the creek. But the 

 neighbours — especially those who fished in the stream 

 below the gas-works — made a fuss about spoiUng the 

 water, so that the gas-men gave away the tar to the boys 

 for bonfires or sold it for roofing. But this same tar, 

 which for a hundred years was thrown away, and nearly 

 half of which is thrown away yet in the United States, 

 turns out to be one of the most useful things in the world. 

 It is one of the strategic points in war and commerce. 



It wounds and heals. It supplies munitions and medi- 

 cines. It is like the magic purse of Fortunatus, from 

 which everything wished for could be drawn. The 

 chemist puts his hand into the black mass and draws 

 out all the colours of the rainbow. This evil-smelling 

 substance beats the rose in the production of perfume, 

 and surpasses the honeycomb in sweetness. 



It is interesting to recjdl that anesthetics like novo- 

 caine and stovaine are derived from coal-tar ; anti- 

 pyretics like aspirin, acetanilid, and acetphenetedin ; 

 specifics such as adrenaline prescribed for Addison's 

 disease, soamin and arsacetin for sleeping sickness, 

 salvarsan for blood disease, and phenolphthalein used 

 cis a laxative. Saccharin, dulcin, and other sweeteners 

 are obtained from the same source ; essences like cin- 

 namon and coumarin ; photographic developers of 

 various kinds ; lyddite, melinite, and trinitrotoluol (called 

 TNT for short), which did such destructive work on the 

 battle-front in Europe. So diverse are the products 

 that it seems incomprehensible that all can be found in 

 one original product. 



In the distillation of coal-tar we obtain from the light 

 oil such products as benzol, toluol, xylol, pjxidine, phenol, 

 and cresol. From the middle oil we get naphthalene, 

 and from the heavy oil comes anthracene. The refined 

 tar and the pitch left as a residue have their uses. Great 

 industries have been built upon each and every one of 

 these remarkable products, and the chemists have only 

 begun their work in this line. The future is full of 

 possibilities. 



Royalty and the Royal 

 Society 



By Philip D. Rogers 



Thk recent election of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales 

 to the Fellowship of the Royal Society affords a 

 fitting opportunity to recall the relationship which 

 has always existed between the Throne and that 

 eminent scientific body ; a relationship which now 

 dates back for nearly 260 years. 



Owing to the fact that so many of the present 

 generation have, in their youthful studies, been 

 nourished on Macaulay, it is not altogether surprising 

 to find that most of them are content to accept without 

 demur the numerous pohtical and personal calumnies 

 which have been heaped upon the heads of the Royal 

 House of Stuart. Without wishing to embark upon 

 any historical controversy, let it be said at the outset 

 that King Charles II, in founding the Royal Society, 

 performed an act the far-reaching results of which 

 might well commend him to posterity as a second 

 Solomon. Writing in 1667, Spratt says of the founding 



