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as splendent. I t exceeds the luster of glass and of present Florida produces the most turpentine, folthe other gems in my list which have what is usually lowed by Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, styled the vitreous luster. Both the zircon and North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas, in the sapphire when well cut and pure white show a faint order named. The statistics of production in various “ p l a y ” of. colors and both give fine brilliancy in their years from 1870, taken from the census reports, are reflections of white light. I have fooled many retail given in the following table: jewelers with a fine specimen of white sapphire which Year. Gallons. Value. I have set in a ring. As in the case of zircon, so with 1870 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,004,887 $ 2,194.498 the sapphire, a test of its hardness, specific gravity 1880 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,565,250 1,542,120 1890 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17,316,200 5,459,115 and refraction will a t once serve t o distinguish it clearly 1900 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38,488,170 $14,960,235 15,170,499 from diamond. I t s hardness is 9, its specific gravity 1905 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,687,051 14,112,400 . . . . . . . . 36,589,000 1908. 3.9-4.1 and it is doubly refracting. Next to the zircon and sapphire I place the It is the trade practice to grade turpentine accordwhite topaz. I t gives a faint play of color, is hard ing to its color, and the various grades are known as enough t o resist wear for years and takes a n extremely “water white,” “standard,” “off one shade,” “off high polish. Many so-called “white topazes” ad- two shades,,, and three shades.9, The latter is vertised by unscrupulous dealers are only lead glass, not merchantable, Under the trade regulations the and many more are cut from the softer and cheaper deductions in price on turpentine off one shade is 2 . 5 rock I had One Of the latter sent me cents per gallon and off two shades 4 cents per gallon. under a guarantee that it was a genuine white topaz. About half of the turpentine produced in this It was a finely cut and very brilliant gem but i t . was country each year is exported, chiefly to Europe, not real topaz. 1 sent it back after a specific gravity while by far the larger part of the remainder is contest, which I recorded on the inside of the paper in which the gem was wrapped, saying that I was sorry sumed in the varnish and paint industries, and small quantities are used in medicine and as a solvent for but I couldn’t use “ t h a t kind.” gums, rubber, fat, and waxes in this country’ No 1have already referred to the Portuguese Braganza” statistics are obtainable showing the quantities conas probably a white topaz. The fact that the specific sumed for the latter purposes, nor in thinning paints gravity of topazis very nearly that of diamond makes used’ it a still more dangerous imitator, but its hardness of and varnishes at the time they are The distribution of turpentine produced in 1905 was 8 and its double refraction serve to distinguish it. The other colorless gems in my list, phenacite, beryl as follows: Gallons. and rock crystal very closely resemble each other and Produced ........................... 30,687,051 all give brilliant stones when properly cut. The Exported. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,894,813 Used in manufacture of paints and varnishes.. . 7,160,774 phenacite and beryl are but slightly softer than topaz Used in other industries (by difference). . . . . . . . 7,631,464 and would wear well. The rock crystal is the softest in my list, and while it will hold its brilliancy for some The turpentine found on the American market is time it would dull in the course Of a few Years Or even quite frequently adulterated with cheaper and inferior months if subjected t o hard wear as a ring stone. oils, those most commonly employed being the petroAside from the peculiar interest which attaches to leum oils having specific gravities corresponding these colorless stones from the fact that they may be closely to that of turpentine, and distilling a t about and doubtless many times in the Past have been the same temperature. Other adulterants are certain substituted for diamond either ignorantly or with coal-tar oils, rosin spirits, and wood turpentine, which purpose to deceive, there is, I believe, a worthy interest closely resemble turpentine in specific gravity, disin them for what they really are and for the real tilling temperature, and some other properties. beauty which they undoubtedly possess. It is quite common for druggists, both wholesale When men shall have learned t o Practice honesty and retail, t o buy turpentine from oil and paint as the best POliCY, it is t o be hoped t h a t these gems, dealers or from any one handling it in large quantities, which do truly somewhat resemble the diamond, but and, therefore, samples have been secured from oil which resemble each other more, may come into their and paifit dealers, as well as from druggists, their own and be appreciated and valued for their own stock being in many instances representative of the beautiful qualities. turpentine sold a t the drug stores in the same community. I n fact rarely is any distinction made between turpentines for drug or technica1 purposes* COMMERCIAL TURPENTINES OF UNITED STATES.’ Though i t is known that spirits of turpentine is The turpentine-producing area in this country is practically confined t o the coastal plains region of very frequently adulterated, no systematic investigathe Southern States. the earlier days the industry tion of the subject in this country is on record. For was best developed in North carolina, but owing to this reason, the results obtained on samples collected destructive methods of turpentine orcharding, in con- from all Parts of the country are recorded for the injunction with lumbering, fires, etc., the industry has fOmm+tiOnof the public, t o show the extent of the gradually worked southward and westward, until at Practice of adulteration, and to furnish more complete data for the grading Of American turpentine and the Abstract from monograph prepared in Bureau of Chemistry, Departpreparation of specifications therefor which shall be ment of Agriculture, by F. P.Veitch assisted b y M.G. Donk. ‘ I
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T H E J O U R N A L OF INDC‘STR124L A S D EA-GILVEERIiYG C H E d f I S T R Y .
fair to the producer and also insure that the consumer secures the article for which he pays. Straight wood turpentines are readily distinguished from gum turpentines b y their odor, or when they have been very carefully refined, b y the odor of the first fraction, or of the residue from fractional distillation. One or both of these portions have the peculiar “sawmill smell,” and the residue has a camphoric and somewhat nauseating odor characteristic of wood turpentine, which is quite different from the mild, sweet fragrance of gum turpentine. Destructively distilled wood turpentine and also rosin spirits are more readily distinguished from gum spirits b y their odor than is wood turpentine prepared b y steam distillation, and they also give distinguishing color reactions when mixed with sulphurous acid as suggested by Hertzfeld or with hydrochloric acid. Turpentine adulterated with more than IO-ZO per cent. of coal-tar oils, or of gasoline or kerosene which have not been deodorized, may usually be readily detected b y the characteristic odor of the mixture. The odor of rosin spirits, while quite distinctive, is difficult t o detect in mixtures with turpentine. The presence of petroleum oils is also indicated b y bubbles o r “beads” persisting for a few moments on the surface of the turpentine shaken in a partly filled bottle. The presence of more than about I O per cent. of kerosene or similar mineral oils is readily detected b y the spot which a few drops of the sample placed on white paper leaves on drying. Gasoline and other light mineral oils do not leave this spot. The detection of mineral oils in turpentine is relatively quite simple, and is accomplished by mixing the turpentine with a certain proportion of sulphuric acid of a given strength, in which the turpentine is destroyed and mixes with the acid while most of the mineral oil remains unaffected and separates in a layer on top of the acid. Only a few of the samples taken of producers’ goods are adulterated with mineral oils, while the turpentine of the primary buyers and dealers in the turpentine belt is adulterated extensively, showing 13.6 and 18 per cent. of adulterated samples, respectively. The dealers ’ samples contain a much higher percentage of the adulterant than either of the other two classes, exceeding the producers ’ goods b y 3. j and the primary buyers’ goods b y 4.2 per cent. Adulterations occur more frequently and are present in larger quantities outside the turpentine-producing belt than within it. Eighteen per cent. of all the samples collected were adulterated, and the average percentage of adulterant in these was 6.1 per cent., ranging from 1-71 per cent. in the individual samples. The average amount of mineral oil in a barrel of the adulterated samples was approximately 3 gallons, which, basing the calculation simply on the cost of the two materials, made these adulterated turpentines worth fully $1.50 less per barrel than unadulterated stock. These facts assume graver significance when it is remembered that turpentine is an article so well known and so generally used t h a t it is carried in stock and sold b y merchants
July, 1911
generally, particularly by country merchants, and when bought from any source is liable to be employed indiscriminately, either medicinally or technically. The consumption of turpentine in the United States during 1908 was approximately I j,ooo,ooo gallons. If 18 per cent. of this mas adulterated, then approximately 3,000,000 gallons of adulterated turpentine, containing an average of a t least 6 gallons per hundred of mineral oil, costing about one-fifth as much as the turpentine, was sold a t turpentine prices. CYANAMID IN AMERICA.
There are now twelve factories engaged in the manufacture of cyanamid (lime nitrogen), and one or two others in the course of construction with an aggregate present and projected capacity of about 2 5 0 , 0 0 0 tons. These factories are scattered throughout Europe with the exception of the American Cyanamid Company which is located a t Niagara Falls, Ontario. The American ,Company which has been operating since January, I 9 I 0, now has a capacity of approximately 13,000 tons a year. The product is somewhat more highly developed than much that is produced abroad, due to the requirements of the American marketthat i t shall be capable of being compounded into complete fertilizers. The free lime which constitutes a considerable percentage of “Cyanamid” is hydrated, and it also undergoes a further treatment to eliminate t o a large extent the dust nuisance which was so objectionable in the original product. The plant a t Niagara Falls is of a most substantial character, the buildings being entirely of concrete and steel even t o the roofs. Power is the chief single item of expense, and as the factory runs every minute of the day, 365 days in the year, it must be had continuously and cheaply. The process as followed b y the American Cyanamid Company consists of the making of calcium carbid, which is pulverized and treated in electric ovens to nitrogen gas under pressure. The nitrogen gas is derived from the atmosphere, being a modification of the well-known copper process. The American Cyanamid Company is, with one or two exceptions, the only cyanamid factory which does not use the liquid air process for the manufacture of its nitrogen. The price per unit of ammonia a t Baltimore, the chief distributing point, was fixed early in the past season a t 2 0 to 2 5 per cent. in excess of the ruling price for sulphate of ammonia and has been maintained a t that figure. If cyanamid can eventually be sold a t prices materially cheaper than other nitrogenous fertilizers, its utilization on a very large scale would appear extremely probable. As yet, we have very little data from field tests in this country to determine the efficiency of cyanamid as a crop-producer as compared with other nitrogenous fertilizers, but the agricultural departments of Europe have done considerable work along this line during the past four or five years, and the results have for the most part been very favorable. The comparative efficiency of nitrogenous fertilizers is affected by the nature of the soil and the
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