A treatise on the chemical, medicinal, and physiological properties of creosote illustrated by experiments on the lower animals: with some considerations on the embalment of the Egyptians being the Harveian Prize dissertation for 1836 / By John Rose Cormack.

  • Cormack, John Rose, Sir, 1815-1882.
Date:
1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the chemical, medicinal, and physiological properties of creosote illustrated by experiments on the lower animals: with some considerations on the embalment of the Egyptians being the Harveian Prize dissertation for 1836 / By John Rose Cormack. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    is liable to considerable variation, dependent on the particular species of tar from which it has been obtained. It has a burning taste, followed by sweetness. At 68° F. its specific gravity is 1037. It boils at 397° F., and is not congealed at — 17° F. It burns briskly in the atmosphere, emitting a large volume of smoke. When dropped on paper it im- parts a stain, but this disappears in the course of a few hours, and much more speedily if a gentle heat be applied. Creosote is a non-conductor of elec- tricity. It unites with water in two different pro- portions; one of the combinations being a solution of one part of creosote in four hundred parts of water, and the other a solution of ten parts of water ina hundred of creosote. Alcohol, ether, car- | buret of sulphur, eupione, oil of petroleum, naphtha, and acetic acid, combine with it in all proportions. It has neither an acid nor alkaline reaction with test-paper, but it forms a number of interesting compounds, both with the acids and alkalis. Nitric acid acts upon it with violence, giving rise to a co- - pious disengagement of red vapours. Concentrated sulphuric acid, in small quantities, gives it a red colour, but when more of the acid is added, this colour becomes black, and the substance formed is of a more viscid consistence than creosote ; the sul- phuric acid is decomposed, and some sulphur set free, which may be separated by distillation. It