ON  CREASOTE. 
39 
'  for  making  ammonia,  and  there  is  no  good  reason  why  the  large  demand 
for  ammoniacal  products  should  not  be  supplied  at  home. — Editor  Am.  Jour. 
Pharm.] 
ON  CREASOTE. 
By  Edward  N.  Kent. 
Those  who  have  had  occasion  to  notice  the  article  which  has 
recently  been  sold  under  the  name  of  Creasote,  have  doubtless  ob- 
served a  remarkable  difference  between  it  and  that  formerly  sold 
under  the  same  name.  It  is  well  known  that  creasote  was  formerly 
prepared  exclusively  from  wood-tar,  and  was  generally  imported 
from  England.  The  new  article  is  obtained  from  Germany  ;  and 
in  a  recent  examination  of  it,  I  have  found  it  to  be  carbolic  acid, 
or  hydrated  oxide  of  phenyle,  and  is  consequently  prepared  from 
coal-tar.  A  slip  of  pine  wood,  dipped  first  into  this,  and  then  into 
hydrochloric  acid,  becomes  blue,  wrhich  is  not  the  case  with  creasote 
prepared  from  wood-tar.  In  all  other  qualities  it  is  so  similar  to 
creasote  as  to  be  scarcely  distinguishable  from  it,  except  by  its  less 
disagreeable  use.  It  is  applicable  to  all  uses  to  which  creasote  is 
applied,  and,  though  described  by  chemists  under  a  different  name, 
lam  disposed  fully  to  concur  with  those  who  consider  carbolic  acid 
to  be  creasote  in  a  purer  form  than  that  obtained  from  wood-tar. 
It  is  well  known  that  carbolic  acid  may  be  easily  obtained  by 
agitating  the  oil  produced  by  the  distillation  of  coal-tar,  with  a 
strong  solution  of  caustic  alkali,  and  the  subsequent  decomposition 
of  the  alkaline  solution  by  an  acid.  But  the  article  thus  obtained 
cannot  be  purified  by  any  of  the  processes  described  in  chemical 
works,  so  as  to  remain  colorless  or  compare  in  purity  with  that  pre 
pared  by  the  German  manufacturing  chemists.  To  obtain  this  de- 
sirable result  I  have  devoted  much  labor  ;  and,  as  the  process  has 
not,  to  my  knowledge,  been  previously  published,  will  proceed  to 
describe  the  method  of  manufacture  and  purification  which  has 
proved  successful,  with  the  hope  that  it  may  be  interesting  and  pro- 
fitable to  some  of  our  manufacturing  chemists,  who  may  be  induced 
to  engage  in  its  manufacture. 
When  coal-tar  is  subjected  to  distillation,  a  small  quantity  oflight 
oil  and  water  first  pass  over,  but  the  principle  product  is  a  heavy 
oil,  amounting  generally  to  a  little  more  than  twenty-five  per.cenu 
