530 
DISTILLATION  OF  PEAT,  BROWN  COAL,  ETC. 
and  when  ten  fluid  ounces  of  the  liquid  shall  have  passed,  put  it 
aside ;  continue  the  percolation  till  the  fluid  which  passes  is  com- 
paratively free  from  taste  ;  evaporate  this  latter  portion  of  liquid  in 
a  water  bath  to  four  fluid  ounces,  to  which  add  one  half  fluid  ounce 
of  acetic  acid,  and  mix  this  with  the  ten  ounces  first  obtained  : 
then  add  the  glycerin  and  filter.  The  product  should  measure 
seventeen  fluid  ounces. 
The  advantages  resulting  from  this  process  consist  in  the  prepa- 
ration retaining  its  full  aromatic  properties,  and  the  economy  of  time, 
it  having  only  required  a  little  over  two  hours  to  procure  the  first 
ten  ounces  of  liquid,  which  contained  the  bulk  of  the  active  portion 
of  the  compound,  and  but  twelve  hours  for  the  entire  completion 
of  the  preparation,  including  some  two  or  three  hours  loss,  so  that 
virtually  it  was,  and  can  be,  prepared  in  about  eight  or  nine  hours.—- 
Ibid. 
DISTILLATION  OF  PEAT,  BROWN  COAL,  &c. 
By  B.  H.  Paul,  Ph.D. 
Since  1847,  Dr.  Vohl  has  been  engaged  with  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  methods  by  which  volatile  oils,  paraffin,  asphalt,  and 
creosote  may  be  obtained  from  the  tar  produced  by  destructive 
distillation  of  bituminous  minerals.  These  experiments  have 
all  been  made  with  at  least  one  hundred  pounds  of  peat,  &c,  in 
order  that  the  results  might  have  a  technical  value,  and  serve 
as  a  guide  for  conducting  operations  on  a  working  scale.  Smaller 
experiments  made  with  a  few  pounds  of  material  are  likely 
to  lead  to  error,  and  are  therefore  valueless  as  regards  the  work- 
ing of  a  factory,  from  furnishing  scarcely  an  approximative  ba- 
sis for  judging  of  the  value  of  any  particular  material.  More- 
over, the  phenomena  presented  in  large  experiments  differ  some- 
what from  those  recognizable  in  other  cases,  and  hence  facts  of 
importance  as  to  the  working  on  a  large  scale  may  be  overlooked. 
Among  other  materials  that  have  been  examined  is  the  Ha- 
noverian peat,  which  is  tolerably  hard,  and  contains  but  few 
root  fibres.  Its  color  is  dirty  brown,  density  small,  and  the 
amount  of  ash  also  small. 
Successive  quantities  of  this  peat  were  distilled  in  an  iron  re- 
tort similar  to  those  used  for  making  gas,  three  feet  long,  one 
foot  wide,  and  ten  inches  high.    The  discharge  pipe  was  four 
