590  Fire-Proofing  Treatment  of  Wood.    { ADecJmuberTi902?' 
Fifty  cubic  centimeters  oleic  acid,  25  c.c.  ether,  25  c.c.  chloroform, 
250  c.c.  benzine  and  50  c.c.  spirit  of  ammonia  are  mixed  in  the  order 
given,  with  occasional  shaking.  If  a  white  emulsion  is  preferred,  the 
same  or  double  the  amount  of  water  of  ammonia  may  be  substituted 
for  the  spirit,  the  excess  of  alkali  in  this  case  being  rather  an  advan- 
tage. 
-  Saponaceous  menthol  solution. —  H.  Kuhl  {Phar.  Zeit.,  1902,  p.  710) 
gives  a  formula  for  a  preparation  of  this  kind,  as  follows : 
Menthol   1  gm. 
Chloroform   5  c.c. 
Spirit  of  camphor   10  c.c. 
Alcohol  20  c.c. 
Soft  soap  (U.S. P.)   .   15  c.c. 
Oil  of  wintergreen   2  c.c. 
Mix. 
This  makes  an  agreeable  and  cooling  lotion  that  may  in  many 
cases  be  recommended  in  place  of  menthol  cones,  or  menthol 
pencils,  for  neuralgias  or  headaches. 
ON  SOME  RECENT  ADVANCES  IN  THE  FIRE-PROOFING 
TREATMENT  OF  WOOD.1 
By  SamueIv  P.  Sadtlkr. 
The  saturation  of  wood  with  chemical  solutions  has  mainly  two 
objects  in  view,  either  to  prolong  the  life  of  the  wood  by  rendering 
it  as  resistant  as  possible  to  decay,  or  to  make  it  resistant  to  the 
attack  of  fire  and  to  cause  it  when  exposed  to  flame  to  carbonize  as 
slowly  as  possible  without,  of  or  from  itself,  contributing  to  the 
increase  of  the  flame.  We  will  take  up  the  second  of  these  two 
lines  of  treatment  for  present  discussion. 
The  treatment  of  wood  with  a  view  of  making  it  fire-resistant  is 
not  a  matter  of  recent  years.  The  Bavarian  chemist  Fuchs  in  1S20 
applied  the  newly  discovered  silicate  of  soda  to  the  fire-proofing  of 
wood  and  employed  it  in  the  rebuilding  of  the  Munich  Theatre  for 
the  treatment  of  both  the  wood  work  and  the  hangings  of  the 
theatre.    Gay  Lussac  in  1821  suggested  the  salts  of  ammonia  and 
1  Read  before  Section  C  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  Pittsburg  meeting,  June,  1902,  and  reprinted  from  Science,  Septem- 
ber 12,  1902. 
