Alchemical and Historical Print - "Chymischer Goldt Narr" by Johann

Alchemical and Historical Print - "Chymischer Goldt Narr" by Johann Christoph Weigel. Ind. Eng. Chem. , 1941, 33 (4), pp 549–549. DOI: 10.1021/ie503...
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April, 1941

I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G CHEMISTRY

The chief export item among the soaps is toilet or fancy soap, of which we sold $1,211,000 worth to foreign buyers in 1940 as against 81,675,000 the year before. Dental creams continue to lead the field of toilet preparations sold abroad, the value last year being $1,607,000 and in 1939, $1,964,000. Exports of lipsticks, $686,000; hair preparations, $515,000; talcum powder, $503,000; and face and compact powder, 96443,000, were the other leading items.

TABLEVJ. EXPORTS OB NAVAL STORES,GUMS, A N D RESINS (IN THOUSANDS) Naval stores Gum rosin barrels (500 pounds) Wood rosi; barrels (600 pounds) Gum spirits’ of turpentine, gallons Wood turpentine, gallons Pine oil, gallons Tar and pitch of wood, pounds Sulfate resin, pounds Other gums and resins, pounds

MATERIALS RELATED TO CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

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By Johann Christoph Weigel

“The art of making gold would lead to gain Were not the oraftaman’s efforts aU in vain. The fool, who good coin in the 6re pokes, Trying out his art in curling clouds of smokes, Will find the Philosophic Stone his doom. Of all his fancied wealth the fateful tomb.”

Weigel, who was both the artist and publisher and is usually known as Christoph Weigel, was born in 1654 in Redwitz, Bohemia. He obtained his education while traveling from 1666 to 1691, and lived in Vienna, Frankfort on the Main, and Augsburg, finally settling in Niirnberg where he died in 1725. He was a prolific worker and illustrated many books. D. D. BEROLZHEIMER

New York, N. Y . The lists of reproductions and direotiona for ohtaining copies appear a8 follows: 1 to 96, Januery 1939,issue. pageJ24; 97 to 120, January, 1941, page 114. An addatloud reproduction appeara eaoh month.

- - 1 9 4 0 7

Amount Value

594 5 5,888 341 3,079 9,842 2,627 2,023 547 1.682 902 18,347 327 9,819 141 8,655 1,583

328 $ 3,291 291 2,657 4,999 1,592 1830 562 2:041 1,208 33 414 806 16:447 275 9,623 1,707

515,094

$12,098

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table dyeing and tanning extracts stood a t $2,411,000 last year, the 1939 value being $1,748,000. Sulfur exports in 1940 were worth $12,961,000 for crude and $781,000 for sulfur crushed, ground, refined, etc., as against 1939 figures of $10,772,000 and $910,000, respectively. Imports of leading items last year, with the 1939 trade indicated in parentheses, included : inedible animal oils, fats, and greases, $4,182,000 ($5,498,000); edible vegetable oils and fats, $7,547,000 ($10,712,000); other vegetable oils, $55,838,000 ($46,659,000); crude rubber, $303,118,000 ($167,558,000); rubber latex, $14,593,000 ($10,468,000); gums, resins, and balsams, $17,390,000 ($14,338,000); drugs, herbs, leaves, roots, etc., $15,031,000 ($11,689,000); oil seeds, $32,237,000 ($33,232,000); essential oils, $6,406,000 ($6,444,000) ; and dyeing and tanning materials, $6,747,000 ($8,328,000).

OURthanks go t o Mr. Arthur Lina for his courtesy in permitting us to reproduce as No. 124 in the Berolzheimer series of Alchemical and Historical Prints, one of his extensive collection of engravings, the “Chemical Gold Fool”. This is from a very early collection of rather primitive engravings by Weigel which may have appeared in book form, illustrating the foibles of human nature and representing “Narren” (fools) in all walks of life. Subsequently some of the engravings were altered and were collected in a book which Weigel published in Niirnberg about 1690. The alchemist from this latter book will appear as No. 126 in the series. The old-fashioned poem translated by chemistry’s poet laureate, Jerome Alexander, reads as follows:

50 East 41st Street

7-1939Amount Value

Total

A number of articles in the import and export trade are related more or less closely to chemical industry but are included under other classifications. Following are figures showing the course of trade in 1940 in various important commodities of this type. Imports and exports of petroleum and products in the last two years are shown in Table V. Exports of naval stores, gums, and resins fell off about one fifth in 1940. Details are shown in Table VI. In the export trade, inedible animal oils and greases were valued a t $1,490,000 in 1940 compared with $2,073,000 in 1939. Edible animal oils and fats were valued a t $13,066,000 as against $21,229,000 in 1939. The chief item is lard, which dropped from $20,222,000 in 1939 to $12,724,000 in 1940. Edible vegetable oils and fats were valued a t $6,384,000 in 1940 and $4,981,000 in 1939, and inedible vegetable oils a t $6,267,000 last year and $5,179,000 the year before. Vege-

CHYMISCHER GOLDT NARR

549