OCR Text |
Show PRACTICAL SCIENCE. We last week mentioned some of the special triumphs that have been wrought in the last few-years few-years by new applications of mechanics and new discoveries in chemistry. But the current Harper's Har-per's magazine has an article which all people who can should read on "The Latter-Day Alchemy" by William Conger Morgan. A synopsis of some of the points of his article follows: He shows how only thirty or forty years ago, with every ton of manufactured products, from 100 pounds to a ton of what was then called waste "was likewise produced, that since then, this waste in very many instances, has become a by-product sometimes more valuable than the original pro duct. Then he cites some of the miracles thaf have been performed. Three-fourths of the paints in use owe thoir existence In part or wholly to the by-product of petroleum. The "sweet-waters" of the candle maker and the waste of the soap-maker produce glycerine and from this the bulk of the world's dynamite is produced. Buttons come from the hoofs and horns of the slaughter-house By tho old way of burning charcoal, three-fourths of the weight of the wood disappeared. Then an investigation showed that an amount of fuel gas equal In weight to the charcoal produced was lost, besides one per cent of wood alcohol anJ acetic acid. Now the wood is piled upon steel cars, run into masonry chambers, heated by furnaces; fur-naces; a few hours does the work and the byproducts by-products are saved and utilized. We have all heard how a small percentage of phosphorous and sulphur in iron ore make it valueless. value-less. But the experiment of lining the converters with limestone has neutralized all that and multiplied mul-tiplied a thousand fold the world's supply of available iron ore. But the saving is not only In the neutralizing of the rebellious elements, the slag is charged with phosphate which when separated sepa-rated is one of tho greatest fertilizers known He tolls of the miracle wrought by the cyanide process for working gold ores. But the increased demand for cyanide has led to new devices for making it. Tho prescription is $250,000 worth of leather scraps from boot and shoe shops; $100,000 for scraps of hoof and horn; ?10,000 worth of scrap iron; $300,000 worth of potash; which with some charcoal dust make the mixture. Since the war, the waste of cotton seed has been converted into a magnificent by-product. More than 1,000,000 tons of cotton seed go to the presses annually, and the "pure olive oil" the artificial ar-tificial butter, oll-lard, and oil-cake made from it bring $40,000,000 annually. t But the feature of most present importance to the people of this valley is where the writer tells how the fumes from smelters have been neutralized neu-tralized and made an article of commerce. In England It required an act of Parliament to accomplish accom-plish the work. The companies were compelled to orect huge towers to absorb the escaping gas by water. The result was the production of ton upon ton of nitric acid, for which there was no market. II could not be turned Into the streams, for that would kill the fi9b and make the water unfit for use; It could not be turned upon the ground, for the gas would escape. But In a few months a process was discovered through which this gas was converted into foleaching-salt, for which there is a steady demand. The writer says the gasses from lead and copper furnaces can be transformed into the best of sulphuric acid, but says the gas is so cheap that a satisfactory utilization utiliz-ation of this gas has not yet been accomplished. But the products of coal tar, not long ago held as worthless, are most wonderful. The writer de clares that "coal tar is a veritable treasure-house," the chiefest of which are benzinq and aniline and says: "The Iridescent hue of the silken gown is but two or three steps removed from the tar-that tar-that may soil it." The rarest perfumes are made from coal tar and a substance 600 times sweeter than sugar comes from it, etc. As one pursues the theme, the impression grows that there Is no such thing as waste. What seems such is due to man's ignorance. Men ground clay under their feet for unknown ages and things utterly valueless were referred to "as worthless worth-less as clay." But all the time there was a shining, shin-ing, .ndestructlble, valuable something within It. It is leas than four score years since It was discovered; dis-covered; it is less than fifteen years since it could be produced at a reasonable price. And strangely enough, tho thing that made its cheap production possible was itself a mystery to men not many years ago. Now aluminum is produced chiefly by the action of electricity upon clay. The wonders that sleep in electricity are beyond estimation. Popular science tells of some of them. Not long since the manufacture of phosphorus was most costly. Now the work is quickly and oheaply performed per-formed in electrical retorts. The same agent is now employed to separate copper and iron from their gang. Caustic soda and bleaching powder are made by the electrolysis of brine. Concentrated sulphuric acid is manufactured manufac-tured by an electrical process. So, also, photographic negatives are reproduced. repro-duced. And all admit that as yet only tho anteroom ante-room of the science has been opened; the secret in ner chambers with all their waiting splendors are still closed. What fields are open to young, educated men. It may be said they have always been open, but not in the same way. In the old days the manufacturer manufac-turer wanted nothing of an assistant save that he either be a bookkeeper or a trained meohanic. He is Impressed now with the fact that the man n his laboratory is liable at any moment to make a discovery or the new application of a discovery that will transform his business. No man is more Impressed with this thought than Andrew Carnegie; hence his institutes and polytechnic schools. And this brings baok the thought of what an infinitely useful life Peter Cooper lived. He began penniless. penni-less. He made his first little stake by boiling the hoofs of cattle and making glue. I When ho had wrought out a fortune, he de- voted a great part of it to the founding of an ' Institute where poor young men and women could acquire that kind of practical knowledge, which would enable them to do something which business busi-ness men would be glad to pay for. The thought in his mind and the work he performed have revolutionized revo-lutionized our higher educational Institutions, and scores of manufactories in the country, and has sot going not only a desire for expert work, but a desire for investigation of what is yet undiscovered, undiscov-ered, that more and more of the brain and also' the waste of the world may be made profitable. |