34  Chemical  Manufacturing  in  Philadelphia    {A™an£°^  v-^f7m' 
firm  for  some  time.  The  new  firm  name  was  John  Farr  &  Co. 
This  was  later  changed  to  Farr,  Powers  &  Weightman,  and,  on  the 
death  of  the  senior  partner  in  1841,  the  firm  name  was  again 
changed ;  this  time  to  the  title — Powers  &  Weightman,"  by  which 
it  was  so  long  known  throughout  the  entire  country.  These  two 
firms  in  1905  united  under  the  name  of  the  Powers-Weightman- 
Rosengarten  Co.  and  continue  as  probably  the  best  known  manufac- 
turers of  general  and  medicinal  chemicals  in  the  United  States. 
The  history  of  the  commercial  production  of  pure  glycerine  is 
also  of  interest  in  this  account  of  Philadelphia's  chemical  achieve- 
ments. 
The  late  Robert  Shoemaker  while  making  medicinal  plasters  had 
his  attention  directed  by  Prof.  Wm.  Procter  to  the  residuum  liquid 
which  was  obtained.  From  this  he  prepared  the  first  glycerine  made 
in  this  city,  if  not  in  America,  in  1846,  and  this  was  exhibited  by 
Prof.  Procter  to  his  class  at  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy 
at  the  time.  Mr.  Shoemaker  manufactured  it  for  sale  according  to 
his  statement  for  some  years  in  connection  with  the  manufacture  of 
lead  plaster. 
The  later  development  of  the  refining  of  waste  lyes  containing 
glycerine  was  also  a  Philadelphia  achievement  and  was  worked  out 
by  the  late  Henry  Bower.  By  the  courtesy  of  his  son,  Mr.  W.  H. 
Bower,  I  am  allowed  to  quote  from  a  private  letter  which  gives  the 
account  of  his  work,  in  his  own  words : 
Quite  early  in  life,  say  in  1857,  my  attention  was  keenly  directed  to  some 
mode  of  purifying  these  waste  liquors  of  the  Stearine  Candle  factories,  and 
in  that  year  I  could  have  purchased  the  entire  product  of  Crude  Glycerine  of 
the  United  States  for  a  sum  not  exceeding  $5,000,  although  the  manufacture 
of  it  was  nearly  if  not  quite  as  large  then,  as  now. 
I  commenced  work  in  earnest  to  experiment  in  purifying  Glycerine  in 
1858 — and  expended  long  and  weary  efforts,  all  my  earnings,  as  well  as  some 
borrowed  money.  I  at  first  succeeded  in  producing  an  article  sufficiently  pure, 
for  use  in  gas  meters  (in  place  of  alcohol)  to  prevent  freezing,  and  stoppage 
of  the  instrument — it  was  not  however  until  about  the  middle  of  i860  that  I 
succeeded  in  making  and  placing  in  the  market  a  "  Pure  Inodorous  Glycer- 
ine " ;  even  then  the  amount  sold  was  quite  insignificant.  Inferior  grades 
made  their  appearance  about  the  same  time  in  the  West.  The  bland  and 
neutral  nature  of  the  article,  and  the  discovery  of  various  uses  for  it,  soon 
increased  the  demand  to  a  marked  extent;  I  was  enabled  from  time  to  time 
to  increase  my  works,  and  in  increasing  them  was  making  steady  inroad 
into  the  supply  of  the  crude  article.  At  this  period— say  in  1863— the  business 
of  refining  Glycerine  was  scarcely  known  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  I 
