NOTE  ON  CARBOLIC  ACID,  ETC. 
261 
ant  members  of  this  group  at  present  known  and  partially  in- 
vestigated.* 
These  facts  and  circumstances  render  it  unwise  to  learn 
to  designate  these  substances  as  alcohols,  since  this  would  be 
quite  as  inaccurate  as  to  call  them  acids  ;  and  it  must  be  far 
better  to  keep  up  with  the  progress  of  science,  even  at  the  ex- 
pense of  frequent  changes.  Ascertained  facts  are  always  safe 
indications  to  change  in  the  advancement  of  knowledge,  but  it  is 
.not  always  easy  to  discriminate  between  fact  and  fallacy. 
The  dark  colored  oily  liquids  met  with  in  the  markets 
under  the  name  of  crude  carbolic  acid  for  the  lower  grades, 
and  impure  carbolic  acid  for  the  better  grades  is  this  same 
mixture  of  these  liquids  in  varying  proportions,  but  commonly 
containing  more  or  less  tar,  oil,  etc.,  and  is  therefore  in  reality 
coal  tar  creasote.  It  is  now  not  only  inaccurate  but  posi- 
tively incorrect  to  call  this  mixture  (or  either  of  its  constituents) 
an  acid,  and  the  longer  it  continues  to  be  so-called  the  more 
difficult  it  will  be  to  change  it.  And  as  it  is  a  very  important 
substance  now,  and  must  come  into  far  more  important  and  far 
more  general  use ;  and  as  in  practical  general  application  it  will 
probably  always  be  a  liquid  mixture  of  these  two  or  more 
phenols,  there  appear  very  good  reasons  for  going  back  to  the 
original  well-constructed  name  of  creasote  for  it,  leaving  the 
name  "wood  creasote"  for  the  rare  substance  described  by 
Reichenbach  and  others,  which,  however,  has  similar  physical 
properties  and  is  applicable  to  the  same  uses.  When  separated, 
each  phenol  should  take  its  proper  name,  as  Phenol  and  cresol.f 
*  The  researches  of  M.  Kekule  upon  the  Aromatic  Series  to  which  these 
substances  belong,  and  the  well  and  long  known  antiseptic  properties  of 
the  aromatic  oils  in  general,  leads  to  the  inquiry  as  to  whether  these  may 
not  be  a  natural  general  relation  between  aromatic  odorous  substances 
and  septic  processes.  If  there  be  such  a  relation,  is  it  proportionate  to 
the  strength  or  power  of  the  odor,  as  would  seem  to  be  indicated  by  the 
well  known  effects  of  oils  of  Thyme,  Cinnamon,  etc.  ? 
t  When  the  Phenol  which  stands  as  the  type  of  the  group  of  phenols, — 
namely,  "  crystalliiied  carbolic  acid," — is  intended,  it  is  useful  to  write  it 
with  a  capital  P.  But  when  a  phenol  is  indicated,  the  word  should  not 
be  capitalized.  Such  distinctions  tend  to  accuracy  of  expression,  and 
are  therefore  both  nice  and  wise. 
