The Project Gutenberg EBook of Coal, by Raphael Meldola

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Title: Coal
and What We Get from It

Author: Raphael Meldola

Release Date: July 15, 2010 [EBook #33165]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COAL ***

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COAL; AND WHAT WE GET FROM IT.

THE ROMANCE OF SCIENCE.

COAL AND WHAT WE GET FROM IT.

A Romance of Applied Science.

EXPANDED FROM THE NOTES OF A LECTURE
DELIVERED IN THE THEATRE OF THE
LONDON INSTITUTION, JAN. 20th, 1890.

BY RAPHAEL MELDOLA, F.R.S., F.I.C., &C.,

PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE FINSBURY TECHNICAL COLLEGE,
CITY AND GUILDS OF LONDON INSTITUTE.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE
OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

LONDON:
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C.;
43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.
BRIGHTON: 135, NORTH STREET. NEW YORK: E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO.
1891.

TO WILLIAM HENRY PERKIN,
PH.D., F.R.S.,
THE FOUNDER OF THE COAL-TAR COLOUR INDUSTRY,
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR.

PREFACE.

This is neither a technical manual, nor a treatise dealing with the
history of a particular branch of applied science, but it partakes
somewhat of the character of both. It is an attempt--perhaps somewhat
bold--to present in a popular form an account of the great industry which
has arisen out of the waste from the gas-works. In the strictest sense it
is a romance of dirt. To render intelligible the various stages in the
evolution of the industry, without assuming any knowledge of chemical
science on the part of the general reader, has by no means been an easy
task, and I have great misgivings as to the success of my effort. But
there is so much misapprehension concerning the history and the mode of
production of colouring-matters from coal-tar, that any attempt to strip
the indu