edHsd by
JOHN W. WOTlZ Southern lllinols University Carbondale, Illinois 82901
Cornells Drebbel andoxygen J. W. van Spronsen Uniuersity of Utrecht The Netherlands Joseph Priestley is usually associated with the discovery of oxygen in 1774. Nowadays i t is generally recognized that Scheele should be credited with this discovery (1). Furthermore, Lavoisier's experiments on oxidation led to the evolution of the "New Chemistry" as we know it today. Yet some of these chemists were not the fust who prepared oxygen from its compounds or who studied its properties. Almost two centuries earlier it was a Dutchman Cornelis Jacohszoon Drehbel (1572-1633) who prepared oxygen by heating salpeter, a method still used today in secondary schools. Drebbel is not credited with the discovery of oxygen probably due to the fact that he spent only pan of his life as an alchemist and made no experiments withthe gas. He described his preparation in his book "Of the Nature of Elements" (such as Fire, Water, Etc.) (2). Figure 1is an illustration of the pyrolysis of salpeter printed in his hook. The only reason why he wanted the formed "air" (gas, oxygen) was to use it in a submarine which he invented (Fig. 2). In this way Drehbel was able to remain under water for longer periods. In 1615 while in the employ of the Royal Navy his oxygen filled submarine was rowed, submerged, by 12 men on the Thames from Westminster to Greenwich over a period of three hours (3, 4). Suo~osedlvKine James I was in the boat. ~ i e b b e;als &tly a technologist and inventor rather than scientist. He was too oractical-minded to spend a ereat deal of time philosophizin~on "the nature of a&". 1f hehad con-
Figure 2. h e b b e i ' s submarine (reference (4)).
tinued to investieate the air k a s ) which was so essential for human survival his suhmariie, the phlogiston theory, which was to dominate most of the 18th centurv. would never have been developed. Oxygen, the important gasfor theoretical and practical chemistrv, would have been discovered a centurv and half earlier. Drehbel, who had a laboratory in King James's Eltham Palace, was also a member of the court of Rudolph I1 in Prague, in the company of such distinguished men as Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Michael Mayer, Philippe de Monte, Jacohus de Kerle, and Charles Luyton. There he worked in alchemy, not in order to make gold, but as a practical chemist dealing with the distillation, c~ystallization,and sublimation of useful substances (5).This work prohahly explains why mercury compounds and silver fulminate were ascribed to Drehbel. He found also a tin mordant for combining scarlet with cochinal. This mordant came into use and was later considered to be so imwrtant bv.Bovle. . to call Drebbel in 1660 "a famous mechanirik and rhymist." ~ r e b b ealso l succeeded in ~roducinesuifuricacidbv the oxidation of sulfur with salpeter, and this method was generally adopted in Eggland (6). These were many practical contributions but Drebbel had no influence on theoretical chemistry. Literature Cited Caewbeum,H.,andSchufle, J. A,. J. CHEM. EDUC..52.442 119751. Drebbei, C. J., "Van do Nsfuere der Elementen." Rotterdam, 1621, p. 32. Tierie. G., "Cornelis Drebbel? P h . D Thesis. Leiden University, 1932. Nsber, H. A., '"D. M r van 1572 (Cornelis Jsmbsz. Drebbel)", Maanchappy uscr @ ~ d e engaedlmpeleefuur.Amru?dam, nodate. (ea 19341. 15) Hsrrir, L. E., "The l'wo Netherlands. Humphrey Bradley and Cornelis Drebbel." E. J.Brill, Leiden. 1961. (6) Partington, J. R , " A History of Chemistry II': MseMilian & Co.. Landon, 1961, pp. 321-4.
11) (21 (31 (I)
Nlels Bohr's Flight to Great Britain R. F. Trimble Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Illinois 62901 The editor of this Feature recently (I) appealed for more first-hand accounts of the "storv behind the storv." The lack of such accounts encourages authors w supply "corroborative detail, intended to give verisimilitude w an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative" (2).The results are likely to be stories of the same event that diverge as widely as the following do ~~~
F i g u r e 1. Pyrolysis of salpeter (reference (2)).
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Volume 54, Number 3, March 1977 1 157
about Niels Bohr's flight from Sweden t o Great Britain. Bohr (1885-1962), a Dane, was one of the founders of ouantum mechanics. a Nobel Laureate in Dhwica (1922). and aploneer in the theory of nuclear fsaion. & 6ctober 1943,the Nazi threat to him in Cooenhaeen had become so meat that he was persuaded to escape to3weden. After a few days in Stockholm. he was flown out of Sweden in an unarmed, English, ~ o s & i t obomher. The following versions of an incident which occurred on that flieht are -given. not in their order of publication, but in order of their increasing divergence from the most likelv version. That one is by Aaze Bohr, Niels's son. and is prohaily the closest we havkto :first-hand account (3). The Mosquito was a two-man plane and so Bohr had to travel in the bomb hay. His helmet, with earphones for the intercom system, did not fit properly and he did not hear the pilot tell him to turn on his oxygen. As a result, he fainted from lack of oxygen. The pilot, worried because Bohr did not reply to questions, descended to low altitudes after passing over German-held Norway. By the time they landed in Scotland, Bohr had regained consciousness. In her biography of Bohr (4). Moore explains that Bohr's head was so large the earphones did not cover his ears, with results as described. She adds the detail that Bohr had a parachute and flares. If the plane could not escape attackers, the homh bav was to oDen so Bohr could ~arachuteinto the sea and ligh
