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Laa imagaa luivantat ont tit raproduitat avac la plua grand toin. eompta tanu da la condition at da la natlatt da l'axamplaira film*, ai an conformita avac laa condition* du central da filmago. Original eopia* in printad papar eovar* ara fllmad baginning with tha front covar and anding on t^a laat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraa- sion, or tha back covar whan appropriata. All othar original copiaa ara filmad baginning on tha firat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraa- aion, and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraaaion. Tha laat racordad frama on aach microficha ahall contain tha aymbol •^ (moaning "CON- TINUED"!, or tha symbol V Imaaning "END"), whiehavar appliaa. Laa aaamplairaa originaux dont la couvanura an p an commancant par la pramiar plat at »n larminant loit par la darniira paga qui comporta una amprainia d'Impraaaion ou d'illuattation, soit par la lacond plat, salon la caa. Toua laa autras axamplairas originaui sont filmts an commancant par la prami4ra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'Impraaaion ou d'illuatration at an tarminant par la d*rni*rr paga qui comporta una talla amprainta. Up. daa symbolaa suivanta apparaitra sur la darniira imaga da chaqua microficha. salon la caa: la symbola -^signifia "A SUIVRE". la aymbola V signifia "FIN". Mapa, platas. charu, ate, may ba filmad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thosa too larga to ba antiraly includad in ona axposura ara filmad baginning in tha uppar lafi hand cornar. laft to right and top to bonom. as many framas as raquirad. Tha following diagrama illuatrata tha mathod: Laa eartaa, planchas, ubiaaux, ate. pauvant atra film** * daa taua da reduction diff*rants. Lortqua la documant aat trop grand pour atra raproduit an un saul clich*. il ast film* a partir da I'angla aupAriaur gaucha. da gaucha t droita. at da haut an ba*. an pranant la nombra d'imagaa nteaaaaira. Laa diagrammaa auivani* illuatrant la mOthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mioocorr HESoiutKm mr chait I«MSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2| A -JPPLEDIIVUGE In, 165 J Eost Marn Slr^ y ii A CENTURY OF OHEMIOAL PROGRESS INAUGURAL ADDRESS DELIVERED JANUARY a«th, 1901 BV W. R. LANG, D.Sc., PROFKSfiOR OF CHRMrSTRY IN THE UNIVRR8ITV OK JOkONTO. Reprinted fran the " Univenity of Toronto MontUx^" Vol I., No. 6 TORONTO : THE PUBLISHERS' SYNDICATE, Limitsu 1901 A CENTURY OF CHEMICAL PROGRESS INAUGURAL ADDRESS DELIVERED JANUARY j«th, 1901 IIV W. R. LANG, D.Sc, I'KOIKS'.OK "I- iliBMJMKV 1\ niK INlVtKMiv ni lORc. Reprinted from the " Univeriity of Toronto Monthly,' Vol. I., No. 6 lOROMO: THE rUIiLI.SllKRS' SVNDK .\T1-, I.imiih; 1901 A Century of Chemical Progress. IIY I'KlJKKSWJK \V. K. I.AM,. THKRE arc lew brancliL-s of scii icc which have proijrcsscd so lapiclly ' in the last hi iidrcd years as the DTic I have the lonoiir to profess ill this University. Looking bi.ck over this pi-rind one sees in existence a very different state of affairs, socially, commer':ialIy an.l otherwise, than is now with us, and it is no exaggeration to s. v, that much of the present comfort enjoyed by all classes, is due to the .idvance of physical .•md chemical science, liiology even, electricity certainly were in their infancy in iSoo. Chemistry, as wc know it now, almost ei|ually so. The old alchcmistical idea of "phlogiston" had received a decent burial, though its memory was kept green by I'ricstley till his death in 1.S04. and the medical chemists, whose search for the " elixer vit;e ' had occu- pied their attention sinte the middle ages had given up the ([Uest for more profitable intiuiry. The search for the " philosopher's stcne,' which was to I .iivL-t all 'laser metals into gold, had been the main object of the experiments of a certain class of chemists, but such men as Iflack, Cavendish, Scheele, Priestley and Lavoisier — who fell a victim to politics during the I- rench Revolution — wee studving the composition of matter for the sake of knowledge itself. That science was on the verge (.f entering on a new en. is evidenced by the fact that in i.Soo the Royal Society (founded l6f,3) commenced its "Catalogue of ScientiPc Papers." Chemical knowledge at that period was limited to a few isolated facts. O.vygen and hy.'.oi.'en had been pre oared, and the composition of air and water and of a few minerals was known, and a right understanding of the general characters of acids, bases and salts had been only recently arrived at. At the present day, when the electric current is now used so extensively in many chemical operations and manufactures, it is of interest to note that the first experiments towards the decomposition of water into its constituent elements, oxygen and hydrogen, by this means were nir.de in 1800 by Nicholson and Carlirle. Following on this Humphrey Davy, who in 1801 was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the now famous Royal Institution of London, applied the current from his gi.lvanic battery to the decomposition ( 'damp caustic potash and soda. In this way he obtained at the negative pole metallic globules, which by subse- quent experiments he found could be reconverted into the alkali from which the ■ h, ' -tio;;naIIy been prepared. By similar means he isolated the elenu barum, strontium and calcium from the common "earths," and found that these in combination with the gis chlorine — discovered by Scheele — gave soluble saline bodies, of whicii common salt may be taken as the type. Davy was at that time iiistrumc-ntal in |)rovin^{ that oxyufri, which hail tKi-ii coiL,idcrt(l the aiiil-fm minj; cleiiient, was not necessarily a loiistltiicnt of all aciil> ClilnriiK- was sup|)<)scil to tx- an uxiilc of h> ilro- chliiric a-riil. but all i.x|)eriincnts which hf performcil to find ox)gcn in ihlorini proved decisively that it was an elementary txjdy. About this time also L'urtois, a I'arisian soap-tioilcr, when preparinj; soap with alkali obtained from ,ca-weed lound indications of a substance hitherto uinioticed. Ihis In- ~ent to Daw. who discovered its elementary char- acter and its riscniblance to chlorine, and thus iodine came to be ad. of the diffusion of different (jases throut,'h some |).,rons inateri.il varied inversely as the s.|uare roots of their respective densities. Oraham also contributed Urcatly to our knowledj;e of lii|ui(l diffusion and his researches and views on the constitution of the phosphoric .u :, arc now classu . At the bcKinninu of the century (icrniaiu li.ul produced few chemists at any rate none of 'he first r.ink. I.iebi^;' may, perhaps, be considere.l' Its first great man, anil he in his youth received his instruction in the laboratory of a French chemist. r,'v-I,nssac. In r,S(;, wluii her late Majesty (Jueen Victoria of saorec' .lemory ascended the throne, he was in the height of his lame. To hini we owe much of the impetus which was given to the study of scientific cheinistrv in i;nt;land, and to him the physiologist, the manufacturer and the aitriculturist arc indebted for a great portion of their present l;nowledt;c of the pr.icticd application of It to their varied needs. He it was who ilevi vd the method still in use for the determination of the composition r ' organic " compounds. Vycihler showed at this time by his svntlie: of urea— ,i substance hitherto considered as purely the result of vital action -that "organic" chemistry must be regarded as the chemistry of compound r.adicles. Lieb.g and Dumas wer - at one with U'.'.hler in this, ami formally announced their adhesion to his doctrines at a si'ance of the idi'mic dcs Sciences de Paris in 1837. The enormous strides mao In the development of this branch of chemistrv cannot but strike ,nc most callous observer as one of the marvels of the ccnturv. from the syn- thesis of urea in iSj8 by W.ihler. ami of acetic acid'by Kolbe in 1S45 down to the present .lay, when dyes of everv shade and tint, explosives of all kinds, drugs, sugar, and even indij^o can be built up in the labo- ratory by artificial processes, the development of this department has been phenomenal. And how has this c.ime about .' The conception of radicles led to an incalculable amount of research into the constitution of organic compounds, and the uays in which rajicles were linked together and to elementary atoms. CompfHinds were broken down and again reconstructed, and the methods of causing these combinations to take place gradually became perfected. It may safely be said that the manufacturers of to-day owe much, if not all, of their success to the investigation following on these theoretical conceptions of the distin- guished chemists I have named. The old system of formula;, based on D.dton's atomic hypothesis, came Ill for reconstruction about the middle of the century. Gerhardt (1843) waf the first to seriously discuss the question, closely followed by Wil- liamson (1850). It was some time, however, before the system deduced from their vi.ws was generally accepted. Hofmann was the first to adopt It in his lectures, and in 1864 ])r. Odling, the President of the Chemical section of the British Association, congratulated the section on the agreement that had been arrived at amongst chemists as to the com- bining proportion of tlie elements and the molecular weights of their compound.s. Observation n<- ihe natural families into which the elements grouped themselves led to the enunciation of what is now known as the "Periodic Arrangement of the Elements." In 1S64, Newlands, of Lon- don, showed that when the elements were arranged in the order of the numerical value of their atomic weights, their properties, physical and chemical, varied m a recurrent or perioilic manner. Thus it was seen that the element eighth in succession from another usually resembles it closely. Newlands termed this arrangement the " Law of Octaves " In 1869, Mondeleeff, of .St. Petersburg, contributed further facts concerning this periodic arrangement of the elements and their study at this day is based on that now fully recognized system of classification. Both New- lands and Mendelecff predicted the existence and physical and chemical properties of many undiscovered elements which would go to fill the Llank.s m the table. When gallium, scandium and germanium were isolated they were found to correspond to the elements predicted bv Mendeleeff, and to which he had assigned the names, "eka-boron " "eka- aluminim and " eka-silicon." The phenomena exhibited by many substances in their action on polarized light has led to ideas regarding the arrangement of atoms in space. To Pasteur, and more notably Le Bel and van't Hoff, is due the credit ;jf bringing before chemists a hypothesis which has had an enor- mous influence in the progress of organic chemistry. The study of substances in solution has provided a means of deter- minmg molecular weights. Pfeffer, the botanist, in i8;8, performed an important series of experiments with membranes deposited by chemical means in the pores of unglazed earthenware, and found that if weak solutions of salts were placed outside such a vessel water would diflTuse through while the dissolved substance would not. This was due to the ■ semi-permeabihty " of the membrane employed. Van't HofT in 1887 in studying the theory of dilute solutions, found that the semi-p'crmeable membranes served to measure the pressure due to the dissolved sub- stance Prom an accurate study of substances in dilute .solution am. of their behaviour with regard to their passage through extremely thin porous membranes it is now evident that there exists the closest possible analogy between the state of substances in solution and the same in the gaseous condition. As the result of experiments on the conductivity of substances in solution for electricity, Arrhenius (1888) has shown that when an electrolyte, such as common salt, is dissolved in water it disso- ciates partly into the separate ions, a name devised by Faraday, and signifying the " things that go," namely sodium and chlorine These views have been strongly upheld by Ostwald and others, and are sup- ported by the facts rendered apparent by the behaviour of substances in solution as regards diffusion, the lowering of the vapour-pressure and the depression of the freezing point of the solvent. Davy, it has been pointed out, obtained the alkali metals b\- electro- lytic decomposition of th jir compounds. Electrolytic methods o'f analysis and the application of electricity to commercial processes and to more purely scientific research have graduallv become of more and more importance and interest. If electricity is passed through a conductor such as a metal bar, the current pa.sses along or through the metal which Itself does not move or suffer any apparent alteration. Hut when a current IS passed through an electrolyte it is transported by the moving t,ms. Ihe theory before referred to, that a portion of the substance in solution 1. in a dissociated state, goes far to explain the phenomena attendant on electrolyses. Though it seems difficult to imagine that in the case of a solution of sodium chloride there can exist sodium and chlorine in the free state, especially as the metal .sodium has such a violent chemical action on water, yet, according to the electrolytic disso- ciation theory, we must consider that the different constituents of the -sodium chloride de exist as .separate atoms but having enormously high charges of electricity. When, keeping to sodium chloride as our example a current is pas.sed, the sodium atoms charged .with positive electricity travel to the negative pole and there give up their charges, appearing then as molecules of sodium possessing the properties usualK- associated with that element. Similarly the chlorine ions charged with negative electricity travel to the anode, or positive pole, give up their charges and appear as ordinary chlorine. While these principles were gradually being unfolded and the newer ideas concerning matter were becoming more familiar, fresh discove-ies of new elements were being made. It must be remembered that tiie compounds of many elements were known while as yet the elements themselves had not been isolated. Alumina and silica were known long before the elements aluminium and silicon were isolated • so also with fluorine, one of the chlorine group. Fluorine was known to exist widely diiTused m nature in many minerals and in small quantities in plants and animals, but .11 account of its great chemical activity it had not been isolated as had been its neighbours, chlorine, bromine and iodine. Davy and Scheele had both recognized its resemblance to these elements but It was not till 1886 that Henri Moissan, professor of chemistry at Kcole de Pharmacie in Paris, succeeded in electrolyzing a mixture of hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen potassium fluoride in a platinum vessel In 1897, when the British Association met in this city, Professor Me'slans for many years assistant to Moissan, gave a demonstration of the pro^ perties of fluorine here in this lecture-room. The last decade has been fruitful in the discovery of other elements utherto unsuspected, notably the new atmospheric gases, argon neon krypton arid .xenon. In 1775, Cavendish in his " Experiments o". Air " published in the Philosophical Tramactions, pointed out that in the air 8 there was a small quantity of a gas, " not more than i ,' 1 20 of the whole " of what we now call the nitrogen of the atmosphere, which could not be made to combine with oxygen. The question as to what this was lay unanswered for more than a century, when, in 1894, Lord Kayleigh and Professor Ramsay solved the problem by isolating argon from atmos- pheric nitrogen. They were led to this discovery by noticing that atmospheric nitrogen was denser than nitrogen prepared from chemical sources, such as ammonium nitrite. By passing a stream of atmospheric nitrogen over heated magnesium the nitrogen was absorbed and a residue remained, which could not be induced to enter into combination with anything. The amount of this new element in the air, whose discovery caused so much excitement in the scientific world, was found to corre- spond very nearly to the small portion of gaseous matter that remained uncombined after sparking; atmospheric nitrogen with oxygen, and which Cavendish had spoken of more than one hundred years previously. This discovery of argon led to a further research into certain minerals, which, when treated with dilute acid, evolved a gas which was supposed to be nitrogen. It proved, however, to be another new clement, previously indicated as being present in the sun's atmosphere by Lockyer, and named by him helium. These discoveries did not, however, end here, as liamsay and Travers, in experimenting with liquid air as a convenient source of argon, discovered three new gases, which they named krypton (hidden), neon (new), and metargon. Turning now to the interesting subject of the liquefaction of gases, we find that since the beginning of this century numerous experimenters have been trying to reduce the more commonly met with gaseous sub- stances to the liquid condition. The so-called permanent gases, which, up to a decade or so ago. resisted all attempts at liquefaction, have now succumbed to the advance of experimental science. In 1S05 North- more is -Stated to have liquefied chlorine by compressing it in a brass condensing syringe with a glass receiver. Then in 1S32 Cagniard- de-la-Tour observed that certain liquids, such as alcohol and water, when heated and kept under pressure, became apparently reduced to a vapour, occupying from two to four times the original volume of the liquid. This led to the classical researches of Andrews, of Belfast, on "The Continuity of the Ga.seous and Liquid .States of Matter," set forth in the Bakerian Lecture (Phil. Trans., I)i6g, Part II). In the following year Faraday succeeded in iiijuefying chlorine, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, carbonic acid, ammonia and many other substances previously known only in the gaseous condition. Tliere only remained hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, marsh gas and nitric, oxide ; the.se were called the "pcrmancTit gases." In connection with the liquefacticn of carbonic acid the name of Thilorier stands out prominently. l>y means of pressure alone he obtained this in the liquid form, and by causing it to evaporate rapidly through a narrow orifice obtained it in the solid state. This was the first instance of a substance, gaseous at the ordinary temperature, being seen as a solid. Faraday, in 1845, con- tinued his attempts to liquefy the remaining gases, and in his experi- 1 merits came very near to anticipating' Andrews in liis famous researches and the principles deduced therefrom. Hricfly stated, Andrews found that there was a certain temperature peculiar to each t*as, above which no amount of pressure could cause liquefaction. This he termed "the critical temperature." From this it will be seen why so much difficulty was experienced in attempting the liquefaction of the six permanent gases, as, up to that time, the h)west temperature obtainable had been above the critical points of all of them. Towards the close of 1877 Cailletet, of ("hatillon-sur-Scine, and Fictet, of Geneva, communicated simultaneously to the Acadtimie des Sciences de Paris that they had succeeded in liquefying oxygen, carbon monoxide and nitric oxide Cailletet subjected the gases to considerable pressure, thereby reducing greatly their volume ; on suddenly relieving the pressure expansion and consequent cooling took place, and a portion of the gas appeared in the form of minute drops. Nitnigen ami hydrogen now alone remained; the former yielded in 1S83 to I'rofessors Wroblewski and Olszewski, and hydrogen succumbed in 1895 to Professor Dewar, of the Royal Institu- tion in London. The principle involved in liquefying these gases is as follows: we have seen how liquid carbonic acid, if allowed to expand, is cooled down sufficiently to enable it to become actually solid. Sup- posing, then, that air or hydrogen is compressed under 180 atmospheres or so (2,500 lbs. to the square inch), and the pressure gradually released, *the temperature of the issuing gas will be lowered considerably. By allowing this cooled gas as it issues to pass over a large surface of copper coils conveying the compressed gas from the cylinder containing it to the expansion valve the gas becomes still more cooled down, a cumu- lative effect is produced, and finally the issuing gas arrives at the point of exit at so low a temperature that it becomes liquid. Different forms of apparatus have been devised by Hampson of London, Linde of Munich, and by Dewar, and are now used for producing liquid air in fairly large quantities, but the principle involved in each is the same. By the rapid evaporation of liquid hv'drogen Dewar succeeded in obtaining it as a snow-white solid. Thus far I have only discussed the development of what might be called scientific chemistry. The fieM of industrial chemistry is so wide that only a short reference can be made to the advances that have been made during the past hundred years. It must be pointed out, however, that the growth of chemical industry owes much of its progress to the reasonings and researches of the theoretical chemist. Among the branches of industry which have advanced greatly might be mentioned the soda industry, with which the production of chlorine, and consequently bleaching-powder. is closely associated. The Leblanc process, invented during the Napoleonic wars, at the end of the eighteenth century, for the production of alkali— essential in soap-making and other industries — from common salt has found a strong rival in the ammonia- soda process, first introduced by Solvay in Belgium, and brought tu a high state of perfection by Brunner and Mond in England. An electro- lytic process is also employed, common salt being converted directly into ciiustic soda and chlorine, Kltctricit)- is also made use of for tlic production of aluminium, which metal is now eNtracted in large ijuan- tities from alumina, both on the continent of l^urope and in Scotland. Its uses are many, and the peculiarly light metal which twenty years ago was looked upon as a curiosit>-, is now as familiar to us as copper ur iron. The electric current is also employed for making calcium carbi' Sobrero in 1847. Nobel made these nitro-cortipounds his special study, and iii I.srj6, by absorbing nitro-glycerine in a porous siliceous earth known as kieselguhr, produced a brown pasty substance, and named it " dynamite." The chief constituents of the modern explo- sives, blasting-gelatine, cordite, gelignite and ballistite are gun-cotton and nitro-glycerine. The discovery of blasting-gelatine was accidental and deserves recording, Nobel, when in his laboratory experimenting with nitro-glycerine, cut his finger slightly, and to cover the wountl applied collodion, which is a solution of nitro-cellulose in ether, to the part affected. Having done so he emptied the contents of the phial into the vessel which held the nitro-glycerine he was experimenting with. The mixture became gelatinous, and thus accidentally c:ime about the discovery of one of the mo.st used ingredients of modern explosives. I-atel>' we have heard much about lyddite and its effects. This is also a product of the last decade in so far as its use as an explosive is concerned, though it has been employed for dying silk for many years. I have endeavoured to show in this short address to what an extent scientific and industrial chemistry has progressed during the century now- gone. It would be interesting to speculate as to future developments. The atomic theory which has so long been our chemical creed may be overthrown as was the theory of philogiston. Elements may no longer be regarded as simple substances and may even be looked upon as different forms of one ultimate kind of matter, or again as varying modes of motion. Speculation and theories regarding this have even now been advanced by men eminent in the world of science. Chemistry and physics are drawing closer together and the investigation of physico- chemical phenomena is occupying the attention of many workers. Great have been the advances made in pure chemistry, ,ind to no less a degree has the application of these principles to industrial chemistry progre-ssed, I feel I cannot close without stjme reference to the part that may be taken by chemists in the development of the natural resources of Canada, and more particularly of this province, I see from that useful volume a " Handbook of Canada" published by the local executive of the British Association meeting of 1897 that our province is possessed of almost untold mineral wealth. The metals gold, silver, copper, nickel, lead and iron are in abundance. Of sulphur in combination there is plenty, while coal, mineral oil, phosphates and common salt also arc found. The search after the precious metals, mining, the production of copper, iron and nickel are all departments of industry in which njany graduates of the University have found and will, 1 venture to think, continue to find employment. It is to the men we send forth from this institution that we must look for the proper exploitation of our natural resources. While in past years most of our graduates entered the professions of medicine law or of teaching now a large proportion are going, not only into mining and the other branches of engineering, but also into manufactures and mmmerce. The future of this country is in the hands of these men. Now that the School of .Science has become an integral part of the University and constitutes our faculty of applied science, a stronger tie has been created between this department and that presided over by my colleague Professor EMi.s than was possible heretofore. It should be the aim of the departments, then, to give our .students a thorough all-round tri.:ning in the principles of chemistry, not omitting reference . the practical application of these principles to the arts and manufactures. A chemist thoroughly trained in his subject by a course of study such as can be obtained in any of our universities is the man who is most fitted to apply his knowledge to whatever branch of industry he may find himself engaged in after he leaves his Alma MaUr. I have heard i» advocated that the universities and technical colleges should employ special lecturers, expert in their several spheres of chemical fndustry to instruct students in the particular branch which it is to their ultimate intention to take up as their life-business. Where, I ask, are such men to be found .' Is it likely that a manufacturer will enter into all the details of improvements in his own business that he has, after much experience, introduced for the benefit of his own or his employer's profit > In these days of keen competition, and of earnest striving to gain even a modest competency, any particular detail or device which will ensure a better yield of material or the production of a superior article than one s rivals in trade can produce is zealously guarded, as well it might be A general knowledge of the principles of the subject is the first .rreat essential and whether it be metallurgy, brewing, calico-printing or dyeing that the young graduate proceeds to, he will always be able to adapt himself to his new surroundings and be of more use in improving the processes in which he is interested than if his whole time had been spent learning the details of his special work to the exclusion of the great general principles involved in the science. The man with energy and application, but whose academic and scientific training has been nil, has hitherto in many cases succeeded in coming to the front in whatever industry or business he may have taken up, how much more, then, may we expect to see the scientifically trained graduate {ceteris ■■itibus) become a successful worker in any of the many great fields open" to him