882 



SCIENCE. 



[X. S. Vol. XXT. Xo. 54:. 



a student in Obeiiin College, conceived the 

 plan of extracting aluminum by electrol- 

 ysis and he found that a melted bath of 

 the double fluorides of aluminum and 

 metals more electro-positive than alumi- 

 num, such as sodium or calcium, was a per- 

 fect solvent for alumina, and from such a 

 solution he was able to separate the alumi- 

 num by means of the electric current. It 

 is by this process that all of the aluminum 

 of commerce is produced to-day. 



Moissan, whose extended researches with 

 the electric furnace have made his name 

 justly famous, writes : ' The discovery of 

 crystalline carbon silicide belongs to 

 Acheson. '* This remarkable abrasive, pre- 

 pared by heating a mixture of silica, coke, 

 alumina and sodium chloride in an electric 

 furnace, was invented in 1890 by Edward 

 Goodrich Acheson (1856- ) while experi- 

 menting for the artificial production of 

 diamonds, and is one of the many beautiful 

 products obtained at Niagara Falls, where 

 quite a number of chemical manufacturers 

 have established their plants in order to 

 take advantage of the power obtained from 

 the great Avaterfall. IMr. Acheson has also 

 succeeded in preparing artificial graphite 

 as a by-product in the manufacture of the 

 carborundum, and he claims that it is the 

 result of the decomposition of the carbide 

 formed in that process, t 



Although the existence of calcium car- 

 bide has been recognized ever since its orig- 

 inal production in 1857 by Ednuind Davy, 

 Wohler and Berthelot, it was not until 

 May, 1892, that its commercial production 

 became known in consequence of its chance 

 discovery by Thomas Leopold Willson 

 (1860- ) while experimenting in Spray, 

 N. C. He obtained it by the fusio«i and 

 reduction in an electric furnace of a mix- 

 ture of fiii(>ly powdci'cd and intimately 



* ' The Electric Furnace ' (Kaston, 1904), p. 273. 

 ■f Journal of Die iioriety of Clioniccd Industry, 

 XIX.. 1000, p. 000. 



mixed lime and coke. "When it comes in 

 contact with water decomposition ensues 

 with the production of acetylene gas, an 

 illuminant of remarkable power. This 

 valuable compound is also manufactured 

 at Niagara Falls. 



Another valuable application of the high 

 temperatures obtained by the electric fur- 

 nace to substances from which the extrac- 

 tion of the metal was formerly considered 

 impossible is the method patented in No- 

 vember, 1903, by Frank Jerome Tone 

 fl868- ), of Niagara Falls, N. Y.. for 

 obtaining metallic silicon by reducing silica 

 Avith carbon in an electric furnace of his 

 own construction. 



Of great value is the elaborate bulletin* 

 on 'Chemicals and Allied Products' pre- 

 pared for the twelfth census by Charles 

 Edward Munroe, already mentioned, and 

 Thomas IMareau Chatard (1848- ). The 

 industries discussed are grouped into nine- 

 teen classes and with each the discussion is 

 introduced by a history of the development 

 of the manufacture in the United States, 

 and at the close is a brief bibliography. 

 The volume includes a digest of United 

 States patents relating to the chemical in- 

 dustries. 



Worthy of the most distinguished con- 

 sideration is the career of Charles Frederick 

 Chandler (1836- ). This eminent chem- 

 ist has since 1864 taught the technical 

 chemistry in the Schools of Science in Co- 

 lumbia University and no record of the 

 development of chemistry applied to the 

 arts in the United States would be com- 

 plete without mention of his work. It is 

 true that no great invention bears his name, 

 but he has achieved results greater than in- 

 ventions, for he has educated chemists, and 

 yet even more than that as we shall see. 

 Go where you will and you will find busy 

 workers in science who have learned from 



* Census Bulletin. Xo. 210. Quarto, .300 pp. 

 Wa sin not on. .lune 2."). 10O2. 



