880 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 545. 



and his report on petroleum, prepared for 

 the tenth census (Washington, 1880) is 

 standard authority. Another chemist who 

 has studied petroleum both in the labora- 

 tory and also from a commercial point of 

 view as well, is Samuel Philip Sadtler 

 ( 1847- ) . His ' Industrial Organic Chem- 

 istry' (Philadelphia, 1900) gives a very 

 satisfactory survey of the subject with 

 an admirable bibliography. Among the 

 younger men I learn that William Cath- 

 cart Day (1857- ) has succeeded by 

 carrying out operations of distillation at 

 the ordinary atmospheric pressure upon 

 animal and vegetable matter, both sepa- 

 rately and mixed, in obtaining three dif- 

 ferent materials, all of which present in 

 different degrees the properties character- 

 istic of asphalts.* 



An early worker in the scientific part 

 of this subject was Cyrus More Warren 

 (1824-91), whose original researches on the 

 volatile hydrocarbons and similar bodies 

 resulted in many practical applications in 

 the use of coal tar and asphalt, especially 

 for roofing and paving purposes. Clifford 

 Richardson (1856- ) has in recent years 

 devoted much attention to the study of 

 asphalt and is a recognized authority on its 

 value for commercial purposes. 



I can not claim for the United States the 

 invention of illuminating gas, although as 

 early as 1823, its manufacture was begun 

 in New York city, but the development of 

 the production of a luminous water gas 

 was largely accomplished in this country. 

 According to excellent authority,! Thad- 



* Journal of the Franklin Institute, September, 

 1890, p. 205. 



t See a ' Communication on the Lowe Gas Proc- 

 ess,' New York (May, 1876) and 'A Communica- 

 tion on the Lowe and Strong Gas Processes ' of 

 later date (probal)ly 1878) and also 'The Chem- 

 istry of Gas Lighting,' by C. F. Chandler (Phila- 

 delphia, 1876), a reprint from the American 

 Chemist for January and February, 1876. There 

 is also a pamphlet report on the ' History and 



deus S. C. Lowe (1832— ) built and suc- 

 cessfully conducted gas works in Phcenix- 

 ville. Pa., in 1874, producing a water gas 

 ' far superior to that made from coal. ' Ac- 

 cording to Dr. Chandler 'there are forty 

 or fifty differing forms of apparatus for 

 manufacturing [water gas], but they are 

 almost without exception applications of 

 the invention of Thaddeus Lowe.* 



Those of us whose memories extend back 

 for a quarter of a century may recall Tessie 

 de Motay (1819-80), whose agreeable 

 personality charmed all of those who were 

 so fortunate as to meet him, and to him is 

 due the production of water gas in the late 

 seventies of the last century by a process 

 of his own invention in New York city.f 



A much-needed substitute for ivory and 

 horn that could be produced economically 

 was invented in 1869 by John Wesley 

 Hyatt (1837- ) and called by him cellu- 

 loid. It is so seldom that foreign recogni- 

 tion is unqualifiedly given to our American 

 inventors that I am glad of the opportunity 

 to quote Thorpe,! who says, concerning 

 celluloid, that it 'is an intimate mixture of 

 pyroxlin (guncotton or collodion) with 

 camphor, first made by Hyatt of Newark, 

 U. S., and obtained by adding the pyroxlin 

 to melted camphor * * * and evaporat- 

 ing to dryness.' Its many applications in 

 various industries are so well known as to 

 need no further mention here. 



It should not be forgotten that saccharin, 

 a coal tar compound with a sweetening 

 Value of Water Gas Processes' (New York, 1864) 

 by John Tor ray and Carl Schultz which gives a 

 i)rief summary of some sixty patents on the sub- 

 ject. 



* Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, 

 XIX., 1900, p. 613, where also excellent descrip- 

 tions of both the Lowe and the Motay processes 

 are to be found. 



t See sketch of Cyprien M. Tessie de I\Iotay by 

 A. J. Rossi in the Journal of American Chemical 

 Society, II., 1880, p. 305. 



% ' Dictionary of Applied Chemistry,' I., 1891, 

 p. 449. 



