January:, 1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
m* a* ^ 
D‘OJ 
the Society could do nothing - with respect to the prose¬ 
cution, hut must leave it for the druggists of Toronto to 
deal with as they might think best. 
Mr. R. W. Elliott said the Pharmacy Bill was 
crowded out last session, partly through a press of rail¬ 
way business and partly through the supineness of the 
gentleman who had charge of it. It was for the meet¬ 
ing to say whether it would be advisable to place it in 
other hands. 
A committee was appointed to confer with the Attor¬ 
ney-General, and take such action as they might deem 
best for obtaining the desired legislation. 
PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY OF LONDON. 
December 13, 1870. 
On Xylonite, a Material aeplicaele to Photo¬ 
graphic Purposes. 
BY DANIEL SFILL. 
The name “Xylonite” is taken from the Greek word 
aidon, “wood,” and the material upon which this name 
has been bestowed is derived from wood or woody fibres. 
These are converted, by the action of mixed nitric and 
.sulphuric acids, into a rough form of xyloidine, which, 
being subsequently dissolved into a species of collodion, 
constitutes the base of a further manufacture. 
The material was first introduced to the notice of the 
public, at the International Exhibition of 1862, by Mr. 
Alexander Parkes, of Birmingham, at which time it had 
not yet become an article of commerce; subsequently 
it was manufactured on a commercial scale, and intro¬ 
duced to the world for a short time under the name of 
“Parkesine” (named after the inventor). The manu¬ 
facture having been much improved, and the patented 
solvents and machinery almost entirely remodelled, it 
was considered advisable that the name should also be 
changed, and “Xylonite,” as being more appropriate for 
■a derivative of xyloidine, was adopted. 
The soluble base of this manufacture may be made 
from any wood or woody fibre, or fibre-producing grasses, 
■old rags, waste from cotton or flax mills, old rope, starch, 
Esparto grass, “half-stuff” of the paper-makers, etc., 
but preferably using waste fibrous material from cotton 
•and flax mills. Either of these substances which may be 
chosen should be first freed from all extraneous matter 
by boiling with alkali or soap and water, well washed, 
•and dried, so as to leave nothing but a nearly pure fibre 
for the subsequent treatment. A bath composed of one 
part, by weight, of concentrated nitric acid, four parts of 
concentrated sulphuric acid, and one of water, having- 
been prepared and cooled to about 70° or 80° F., a weighed 
quantity of the purified vegetable fibres is then immersed 
therein for a period of from one to fifteen minutes or 
longer, according to the degree of solubility required. 
The next step is to remove the uncombined acids as 
quickly as possible, either by draining or pressure (the 
latter preferred), and then wash quickly in a copious 
•supply of water until the last washings are neutral to 
test-paper. If the fibre should at this stage retain any 
colouring-matter (which is not unfrequently the case), it 
may be submitted to the action of any of the ordinary 
bleaching agents without injury to the chemical condi¬ 
tion of the xyloidine, which, after it has been carefully 
•dried at a low temperature or by pressure (the latter 
being preferred), will be ready for dissolving. The sol¬ 
vents commonly employed in the preparation of photo- 
.graphic collodion are too expensive to permit of their 
use in the xylonite manufacture. The volatile solvents 
mostly used are wood-spirit, alcohol, aldehyde, mineral 
naphtha, benzole, and other hydrocarbons; and the non¬ 
volatile or fixed solvents are oil and camphor, or natural 
•camphor-oil, linseed, castor, and other vegetable oils. 
I he introduction of these fixed solvents is an important 
improvement and economy in the manufacture of xylo¬ 
nite, obviating much loss by evaporation and inconve¬ 
nience arising from contraction of the material. To 
prepare these solvents, take, say, 100 parts of castor-oil 
and heat to about 250° or 300° F., then dissolve therein 
about 50 parts of camphor; while in the heated condition 
add the xyloidine, which readily dissolves into a stiff 
paste, and is then ready for a subsequent process. The 
condition of xylonite may be varied from the flexibility 
of morocco leather to the hardness of ivory or stone by 
the judicious combination of xyloidine, oil, and pigments. 
Practically it is not necessary to dry the xyloidine 
thoroughly before dissolving it; pressure alone will re¬ 
move 90 per cent, of its moisture ; in this state it is quite 
uninflammable, even when held in contact with fire, and 
yet will readily dissolve in the before-mentioned solvents. 
Five parts of solvent will reduce one part of xyloidine 
into a stiff paste by stirring alone; but to blend the 
materials more perfectly the mixture is masticated or 
ground between rollers until the incorporation is com¬ 
pleted ; it is next removed into a strong vessel having a 
perforated bottom covered with a finely-woven wire 
sieve, which vessel is then placed beneath the piston of a 
powerful press, and the paste is thereby forced through 
the sieve, in order to strain it from all mechanical impu¬ 
rities or undissolved particles of xyloidine. This purified 
xyloidine is next removed, weighed, and the requisite 
quantity of oil or pigments added thereto, and then 
passed to a heated masticator or grinding-rolls, or into a 
retort provided with mechanical stirrers, which, for vola¬ 
tile solvents, are enclosed in an air-tight casing, the latter 
being in connection with a condenser and vacuum appa¬ 
ratus during the process of mastication or agitation. 
The volatile solvents are evaporated by the heat and 
vacuum, and conveyed away to a condenser for future 
use. When non-volatile solvents are used, the last- 
named apparatus is not required, heat and mastication 
being sufficient. When the paste is masticated into a 
very stiff condition, it is removed into a powerful calen¬ 
dering-machine, where it is rolled into sheets of any 
required thickness, after which it is placed in a season¬ 
ing-room heated to 100-120° F. for periods varying from 
fifteen to thirty days, when it is ready for use. 
When preparing hard compounds with the non-volatile 
solvents it is necessaiy to use oxidized oil, such as lin¬ 
seed-oil, which will dry and become hard in the process 
of seasoning. The flexible kinds are prepared with 
cotton-seed-oil or castor-oil, which will not become hard. 
For coating or waterproofing fabrics, the paste may be 
applied in a semifluid condition with an ordinary india- 
rubber spreading-knife or machine, or it may be applied 
in a very stiff paste by the aid of calender-rolls. 
In preparing non-actinic sheets for photographic pur¬ 
poses, no pigments are used, but semitransparent colours 
only, such as w T ill arrest the passage of the chemical rays, 
and furnish a material suitable for windows of the dark¬ 
room in place of the ordinary yellow glass, but of suffi¬ 
cient depth of colour to arrest all the actinic rays of sun¬ 
light. In this state the sheets are flexible, durable and 
light. Spread upon fabrics it forms a waterproof mate¬ 
rial, useful for photographic field-tents, giving the ope¬ 
rator an abundance of light of perfectly non-actinic 
quality, thus having a “dark” room combined with a 
considerable amount of light for personal comfort, and 
avoiding the use of yellow glass windows altogether. 
The applications for the material outside the photographic 
world are almost innumerable; a few of them may be 
instanced, viz. insulation and protection of telegraph- 
wire, coating fabrics for waterproof garments, making - 
artificial leather for furniture-covering and book-binding, 
writing-tablets, substitutes for ivory, bone, horn, tor¬ 
toiseshell, hard woods, marble, etc., knife-handles, fric¬ 
tion and gear-wheels, also bearings for machinery, 
spinner's bosses, billiard-balls, pianoforte keys, walking- 
stick and umbrella handles, etc. 
It may be turned in a lathe or wrought by the cabinet¬ 
maker’s or brass-finisher’s tools; can be embossed or 
