92 Chemical Products. 



Chemical products formed by Mr. Guthrie. 



I add a notice of the following facts, conQmunicated by Mr. Guth- 

 rie in his letters, not for publication, but which I conceive are honor- 

 able to the rising chemical arts of this country. I presume it was 

 little suspected that such things were doing in a remote region on the 

 shore of Lake Ontario. — Ed. 



Chlorate of Potassa and other products. 



This remarkable salt, (olim, oxy-muriate of potassa) an object of 

 much interest to the scientific chemist, is manufactured in great purity 

 and beauty, by Mr. Guthrie ; I have received from him more than 

 a pound, and have never seen it more perfect. Mr. Guthrie has 

 manufactured, within three or four years, twelve hundred pounds of 

 this salt, and this enormous quantity is partly accounted for by the 

 fact, that he sells one thousand ounces, per annum, of the priming 

 powder, of which, the chlorate of potash is an indispensable ingredi- 

 ent. He makes two kinds ; the red, which is water proof, and the 

 black which is not. He has manufactured twenty five thousand 

 ounce cannisters of percussion powder. 



Mr. G. has made, and generally by processes peculiar to himself, 

 one hundred and twenty thousand gallons of vinegar, and one hun- 

 dred thousand of alcohol. 



His experiments have exposed him to much danger ; he has been 

 in the midst of eleven tremendous explosions; he has been frequent- 

 ly burned, and twice almost fatally. Mr. Guthrie bas made about 

 three hundred pounds of the yellow powder, on- which the following 

 remarks are contained in a letter of May 8, 1831. 



Some years ago, I introduced the "Yellow Powder" to the notice 

 of sportsmen ; I had long found much disappointment in my gunning 

 excursions, from the slow fire made by using common gunpowder as 

 priming; this induced me to melt the common fulminating powder, 

 made of nitre, pearlashes and sulphur, and when in a state of fusion, 

 to withdraw it from the fire, immediately before it should explode, 

 and then to grain and use it as priming. The operation was of 

 singular difficulty and danger, and although I met with frequent and 

 terrible disasters, having been burned by it nearly to death, yet I 

 pursued the business until improvement seemed to be nearly exhaust- 

 ed. The powder is eight times and a half quicker than the best 

 black powder, and was going largely into use, when 1 discontinued 

 the manufacture, and offered a substitute in the use of the chlorate 



