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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 616. 



the material necessary for his experiments. 



As a substance of this constitution was 

 then unknown, it was made to order, and 

 in the course of this research the valuable 

 class of rhodamine colors was discovered. 

 Thus experiments with nerve tissues gave 

 birth to the manufacture of coal tar colors 

 of the greatest importance in the textile 

 industries. 



The dyestuffs methylene blue and some 

 others are also of great value as internal 

 remedies, and the former is strongly recom- 

 mended by one of the greatest American 

 authorities for the relief of pain in that 

 horrible disease— cancer. 



The medicinal properties of the coal tar 

 colors lead us to that branch of the indus- 

 try which is next in importance, namely, 

 the coal tar remedies. Incidentally, it may 

 be mentioned here that before these so- 

 called synthetics were introduced, Kolbe 

 had succeeded in 1874 in artificially pre- 

 paring from coal tar salicylic acid, which 

 up to that time was exclusively a product 

 of nature. Salicylic acid has been, and is 

 still to-day, used extensively as a remedy 

 against rheumatism. 



The industry of synthetic drugs owed 

 its origin also to the efforts of chemists to 

 produce quinine artificially. Experiments 

 had shown that by decomposing quinine a 

 substance called quinolin was formed, and 

 the latter was likewise found to exist in coal 

 tar. It was then assumed that quinine 

 must in some way be derived from quino- 

 lin, and that perhaps other derivatives of 

 quinolin might possess properties similar 

 to quinine. This trend of thought led to 

 the discovery of the quinolin derivatives, 

 thallin and kairin, which, however, were 

 soon discarded on account of their drastic 

 action and to-day possess only historical 

 interest. 



In 1883 Knorr, starting from erroneous 

 deductions concerning the constitution of 

 quinine, and also misinterpreting the con- 



stitution of some of the products obtained 

 in his research, inspired the pharmacolog- 

 ical study of a substance afterwards called 

 antipyrin. This product proved to be of 

 the greatest value in medicine and was the 

 first successful synthetic coal tar remedy 

 in the market. 



Shortly after the introduction of anti- 

 pyrin a fortunate accident gave this 

 modern art an unexpected stimulus, di- 

 verting the investigation from quinine and 

 uncovering an entirely new field. Kahn 

 and Hepp, two physicians connected with 

 the Strassburg University, were on terms 

 of friendship with a chemist of the 

 Hoechst Works, where Knorr 's antipyrin 

 was being manufactured, and requested 

 him, in 1886, to send them some chemically 

 pure naphthalene, which they desired to 

 use internally in the case of a patient 

 suffering with some skin disease. They 

 received the substance, and on administer- 

 ing it found that while it failed to exhibit 

 the expected effect, it promptly reduced 

 the existing fever. When the supply of 

 naphthalene was almost exhausted, they 

 wrote for a further quantity; but, to their 

 great astonishment, the second supply, un- 

 like the first, did not manifest any anti- 

 pyretic action, and on comparing the two, 

 they soon discovered that a mistake had 

 occurred somewhere. An investigation 

 showed that when the first request was re- 

 ceived the laboratory boy was directed by 

 the chemist to fill a bottle with naphtha- 

 lene and mail it to his friends, but through 

 an error some aeetanilid was sent instead, 

 while the second time the chemist himself 

 filled the bottle correctly. Thus through 

 an accident aeetanilid was introduced into 

 medicine, a remedy which to-day is used 

 by the ton as an antipyretic and anti- 

 neuralgic, and through the irony of fate 

 the most powerful competitor of anti- 

 pyrin was discovered as the result of a 

 mistake made in the very factory which 



