Word: glycerin
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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Berthelot proved the science of organic chemistry. Before him chemists thought that they could make compounds only of inorganic elements, that organic growths depended upon a "vital principle." Berthelot reasoned that all chemical phenomena followed physical laws. In his laboratory he treated glycerin with certain acids and got fats, oils and butters. He combined hydrogen and carbon by means of the voltaic arc and got acetylene. "Berthelot condenses it [acetylene] under the action of heat and behold, we have benzine," writes Premier Poincaré in the current Chimie et Industrie, French periodical. "He adds hydrogen and behold, there appears ethylene...
...Joliet, Ill., a priest driving an automobile asked permission to pass through the State prison grounds "for a short cut." He was seized and, after a violent brawl, unfrocked, and seen to be no priest. The automobile contained "a can of soup" (nitro-glycerin), loaded pistol, cartridge belt, two suits of clothes, a blue-print of the prison...
Another serious problem for the larger makers of industrial alcohol is the competition afforded their product by glycerin compounds for preventing frozen radiators. Glycerin is a by-product of soapmaking, and such large soapmakers as Lever Bros, and Procter & Gamble are strenuously seeking to market glycerin anti-freeze mixtures. The Commercial Solvents Co. and the United Carbide Co. also are perfecting competitive mixtures for the same purpose...