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Show '4 T The Hottest Stuff on Earth By Frederic J. Haekiu. 4 : f WASHINGTON, D. C. Sept. 19. The hottest stuff on earth the constituent of red pepper which makes It burn your tongue has been isolated, analyzed and put up in a little bottle by Dr. IS. K. Nelson Nel-son of the bureau of chemistry. Dr. Nelson may be eald to have taken the pep out of pepper, and thereby to have produced pure pep. This remarkable substance bears about the same relation to pepper that saccharin saccha-rin does to sugar. It has the essential quality of pepper the burning quality intensified about five hundred times, just as saccharin has the aweetness of sugar greatly intensified. In soldiers' rations a very small tablet of saccharin does the work of many pounds of sugar. A little capsaicin, as it 1b called, will do the work of tons of red pepper. It will not give the faint flavor which pepper derives from its essential oil, but It will give the sense of hotness with the most astonishing generosity. A mere pinch of capsaicin would make a whole kettle of soup so hot that no one could, eat it. The strength of this substance is almost al-most incredible. Vr. Nelson has about two ounces of it. He calculates that one of those ounces, if sufficiently diluted, would be enough to put a peppery taste on tho tongue of every man, woman and child in the United Htates. Dr. Nelson has a solution of capsaicin in alcohol, which consists of one part of the hot stuff to one hundred thousand parts of alcohol. Waiving the prohibition prohibi-tion law in the interest of science, the doctor allowed a newspaperman to touch with his tongue a single drop of t lie precious pre-cious fluid on a flake of glass. It may be stated that if this concoction were placed in general circulation it would breathe a new meaning into the term firewater. fire-water. This substance was isolated long ago by a British chemist named Thresh, who swallowed some of it in a capsule, and had one of the most intense and violent stomanh aches in the history of science. His discovery attracted some attention at the time, but was soon forgotten. It remained for Dr. Nelson to analvze the Bubstancc. Ho not only did that, producing pro-ducing the acid and the base of which It is marie, but he also made synthetically synthetical-ly a substance almost exactly like it. The doctor had some Interesting adventures ad-ventures with his discovery. From working work-ing in hiB laboratory with the fumes of capsaicin, his face became so red and irritated ir-ritated that he had to give up shaving for a while. A little of the vapor eot Into his eyes, and he was temporarily blinded. But he found that the substance has absolutely no permanent effects. His eyes in due course returned to normal, and were no worse for the experience. His whiskers are unharmed. By way of trying out the effect of capsaicin cap-saicin vapor, the doctor placed a very small pinch of it on a piece of metal and heated it until it vaporized. He then opened the door of his laboratory and drove the fumes out by placing an electric fan behind them. He himself remained behind the electric fan. Across the hall a conference was going on, and It presently pres-ently testified to the power of capsaicin by exploding into a terrific series of sneezes and coughs. But the doctor got an even more dramatic dra-matic WustniUon of the strength of this remarkable substance quite unintentionally. unintentional-ly. A minute quantity of capsaicin had crystallized on a bit of filter-paper, and this piece of paper the doctor burned, forgetting that there nas capsaicin on it. The vapor blew about the building and had much the same effpr-t on the OTupants of that floor as a fire alarm. When t;iey were ell out, a man from the floor below came up to see what was the trouble, but he did not stay long. For some time there was nothing do'ing in that part of the building. You might think from all this that capsaicin, would make a splendid fumi-gant fumi-gant to rid a house of Insect pests, but this dors not seem to be the case. The doctor says that he has just as many cockroaches in his office as he ever had. and that the presence of capsaicin vapor in the air does not seem to annoy them at ail. Tn ordrr to produce this substance, the doctor took fifty rund.s of the hottest red pepper he could get and put it through a number of chemical processes, finally eliminating everything but this one substance. The substance consists of tlnv, clw.r white crvstals, not unlike little diamonds. It is literally Impossible to do anything with the substance in a pure stut. A bit of It on ,th skin will redden und irritate the fle.h. The smallest small-est possible pinch placed on your tongue will make It burn for hours, as though it hail touched a red-hot poker. The substance has no odor, but If in sniffing it you draw nn infinitesimal particle of ft up your nostril, the result would surprise sur-prise you. The practical. minded layman wonders what Is the use of Isolating this st ran ire subs tancr. Tli ere are several possible us. ('spsaleln may be of great value In medicine as a counter-irritant. It would he possible to make with It a tiling similar to a mustard plaster, but vastly more efficient. Then, too, it can be used In making condiments. An extremely ex-tremely email amount of this substance distributed through some food. Fuch as starch, colored black and ground, would probably get by the average man as pen-per. pen-per. The pclentists, however, do not puru their Investigations with a view to din-covering din-covering practical application. Thev proceed pro-ceed on t lie principle that vou must get tho knowledge first, and apply it afterward. after-ward. Some years ago. for example, Dr. Nelson, Nel-son, who Is a specialist In essential oils, devoted much time to isolating and striving striv-ing tho essentinl oils of American worm oil or chonapodlum. He did not know what UNO would be nmde of his studies, but thev resulted in the discovery that chena podium is the best euro for hook worms, and it is now widely used as such. Dr. Nelfon has a little bottle of this essential es-sential oil. nnd ho will let you smoll it. Vou will then understand why hookworms hook-worms leave home. |