Pharmaceutical Research and Literature

THE MANUFACTURE OF BENZOL*.

Benzol (benzene C.H), an important product of coal tar, is now to be had in larger quanitities than formerly. In the manufacture of lighting gas, the aim was to retain the benzol, as it is the chief factor of luminosity. Regard being had in the process of coking, however, only to the retention of heating factors, benzol is extracted not only from the coal tar, but also from the coal gas. This is accomplished by a special process to which the gas is subjected before re-entering the coking oven. Separation from the gas is effected either by means of a cooling apparatus or, following the method of Brunck, by washing the gas with viscous oils that retain the benzol.

Benzol is obtained from coal tar by fractional distillation. The commercial product is not pure benzol, but contains various impurities. The refining is ordinarily done so as to produce three fractions, 90 percent benzol, 50 percent benzol, and solvent naphtha. The 50 percent benzol of commerce is supposed to contain 50 percent of the parts which are volatile up to 100° C. (212° F.); likewise there should be 90 per cent of such parts in 90 percent commercial benzol. By further fractional distillation, which usually takes place in a column apparatus, 30 to 40 percent pure benzol, 5 percent so-called Benzol für Rot (a mixture of benzol with toluol), 35 to 40 percent pure toluol, and 5 to 8 percent xylol may be obtained from the 50 percent commercial benzol, while the 90 percent yields 65 to 75 percent pure benzol, 10 percent Benzol für Rot, and 2 to 4 percent toluol and xylol.

The column apparatus used for isolating the pure hydrocarbon is worked with dephlegmators and similar equipment such as are employed in the rectification of alcohol. German patent 140,824 covers a column apparatus for refining benzol, said to be remarkable on account of the small consumption of H2O and steam. The steam enters the column not from underneath, as is usual in other apparatus, but from above. The separation of the steam and the condensed fluids is effected by intermediate shelves of peculiar construction.

AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS FROM PETROLEUM-PURIFYING METHODS.

The Nikifrow process for obtaining aromatic hydrocarbons (especially benzol) out of crude petroleum and petroleum residues has aroused a good deal of discussion. According to this process, which is patented in many countries, the petroleum is distilled in horizontal iron retorts first at 500° and then at 1,000° C. (932° and 1,832° F.), under increased pressure. Twelve percent of the crude petroleum is recovered as benzol and toluol, 1 percent as anthracene, and 2 to 3 percent as naphthalene. The residual gases, coke, and heavy oil are used as fuel. This process can become of importance only where crude petroleum can be had cheaply and in quantity; in view of the prevailing low price of benzol, its use even then seems to promise nothing. The apparatus used in the Nikifrow process for separating the carbon and the parts boiling * Translated from Blucher's "Auskunftsbuch fur die chemische Industrie."

at more than 170° C. (338° F.) is protected in Germany by patent 143,549, which has, however, been set aside. It is to be noted that this patent does not relate to the process proper but to the apparatus used for purifying the products obtained.

Of the various processes for purifying benzol mention should be made especially of the Schwalbe (German patent 133,761). Its purpose is to extract the sulphides, especially the bisulphide of carbon and thiophen, from crude benzol by means of moist ammonia with or without the application of pressure. Oil drops from underneath the benzol, and the benzol when washed is quite free of sulphides. The extraction of the thiophen is also the purpose of the process of (1) Dimroth and (2) von Lippmann and Pollak. The benzol having been brought to boiling temperature is treated with a solution of mercury acetate, according to the first-named process, and with sulphur chloride, according to the second, in the course of which the reagents named unite with the thiophides, while the benzol is unaffected. According to German patent 211,239 the thiophen can be readily and completely done away with if the benzol be treated, while a suitable condenser is at hand, with small quantities of organic chemical compounds such as quickly condense with thiophen and its homologues. Formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and anhydrous phthalic acid are especially suited to this purpose.

PROPERTIES AND USES OF BENZOL.

Pure benzol is a mobile, colorless liquid with an odor of its own; specific gravity 0.8841 at 15° C. (59° F.); boiling point, 80.5° C. (176.9° F.). It congeals at about zero into large rhombic crystal flakes which melt at 3° C. (37.4° F.). It mixes with alcohol, ether, acetone, etc.; is almost insoluble in water; easily ignited; burns with a luminous, very sooty flame; dissolves fats, ethereal oils, india rubber, gutta-percha, camphor, etc. Chemically pure benzol is obtained by the distillation of benzoic acid with caustic potash.

Benzol is the basic material in the manufacture of many aromatic combinations; it also serves as a solvent and cleanser for many organic substances; it is especially used at the present time as an important base in making synthetic indigo. Benzol is used in constantly increasing quantities as fuel for combustion engines, both in crude and in a cleansed condition; for automobile motors, according to the experiments of Spilker, it is available only as a refined product.-Daily Consular Report.

Retail Drug Advertising

A Department Conducted by RALPH BORSODI

ADVERTISING THE COUNTRY DRUG STORE.

In trying to increase his business through advertising, the country druggist is confronted with a peculiar problem. Even when there are other drug stores in the town, his business, if it is to grow, can very seldom grow at the expense of his competitor's trade. For unlike his city brother, it is almost impossible for him to conduct a long drawn-out advertising campaign that is designed to take trade from another store. The country druggist most frequently, because of these facts, contents himself with growing no faster than his community-as that increases in population, the size and character of his stock changes accordingly.

Consequently, advertising that would really do him good must first of all develop new business-create among his customers new wants which he could supply and cultivate throughout the territory he serves the conviction that his store is wideawake. Nothing is so apt to discourage a prospective competitor from entering the town where a druggist already is located, if the prospective entrant immediately realizes that he would have to compete with an aggressive fighter for all legitimate business. The country druggist, confronted with wholly different problems, should not therefore advertise in the same way that the city druggist does his copy must be made to fit the conditions he faces.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, his local newspaper is a weekly and the problems involved in profitably advertising in the country weekly require much individual study. The advertiser in the city daily has had his difficulties charted by innumerable specialists; the weekly newspaper advertiser, on the other hand, has no one to whom he can turn for assistance, and yet his difficulties are just as great, if not greater, than the others.

The inevitable result of this state of affairs is seen in the flat, uninteresting and generally unprofitable character of the ads in country papers. The retailers support their local newspaper by advertising in it-they do not dream that this expenditure can really be made to increase their business and consequently fill their space with glittering generalities that fail to create new trade.

To begin with, there are a few fundamental rules for you, the advertiser in the country weekly, to religiously observe.

First, change your advertisement in every issue of the paper. It will cost more, but the difference is trifling, while if you wish to encourage the reading of your ads, you can no more hope to make them read the same copy twice than the editor can hope to make you read the same local news two weeks in succession.

Secondly, make your advertisement specific. Everybody knows and has a general idea of what sort of merchandise and service they can look for in a drug store they can only be interested in specific items concerning which they are given reasons that will induce them to buy. This rule applies to all drug stores, but with double force to the country store.

Thirdly, the price must be a feature of the advertisement-not necessarily a "bargain" price-nor need the act of featuring it necessitate that it be advertised as a cut price. But if the price is omitted or treated as a secondary matter, much of the inducement to act is taken from the ad. Price is the measure that determines

whether what is offered is a good or a mediocre value. If your ad leads the reader to desire the merchandise, the price will enable him to decide whether or not he should buy it.

It is not my purpose to take up the question of composition and style and illustration in this article, for these are matters which have already been discussed in this department and with which subsequent articles will deal. What is said concerning these subjects is equally applicable to ads for the country weekly and the city daily. The advertiser in the weekly is handicapped, frequently, because of the limited equipment of the local publisher and he may be forced to use type faces that are not just the very best for his purpose, but nowadays he can obtain just as good illustrations as anybody can procure, and he can draw upon the examples cited in this department as models for the style in which to write his ads.

What the country druggist must first face is the realization that, while he cannot use as efficient a medium as the city daily, he yet can use the country weekly efficiently. Once he seriously undertakes to make his advertisements readable, seasonable, and convincing, he will soon discover that they can be made to pay handsome dividends in developing trade.

A CLEVER COUPON IDEA.

The advertisement of the Wendt-Bristol Drug Co., of Columbus, Ohio, which we reproduce, describes a very clever coupon idea in that the coupon is the means of popularizing their candy and soda departments.

Most coupon schemes are open to the objection that they are strictly premium schemes; that after the customer obtains a premium for the coupons, the premium given ceases to advertise the retailer. In this coupon plan, and in any other based upon the same idea, the premium introduces the customer to a department they may not previously have patronized and thus opens the road to larger purchases at the store.

It has also the obvious advantage of giving to the customer a bigger value for the coupon, for the cost to the druggist is not the retail but the wholesale or actual cost of the candy or soda given as a premium.

SODA FOUNTAIN ADS.

Too many druggists are content to let their fountains advertise themselves, proceeding on the theory that the fountain should advertise the store. Quite apart from the fact that the soda fountain can be made a very profitable branch of any drug store business, if it is one of the store's attractions, the public should be made acquainted with it in every possible way.

We reprint a few examples of how soda water and ice cream are advertised in the

newspapers:

Some people secure comfort at the seashore; others in the mountains. For the stay-at-homes there is comfort every day at our soda fountain. Perfect flavors, thin glasses, plenty of ice.-The Eagle Drug Store, Denison, Texas.

Finest soda water. We serve all the favorites. We do not wish, however, to convey the idea that we are soda water druggists. We are very anxious to sell you drugs and medicines also. And the same care we take to tickle your palate, we also exert in compounding your medicines.--Smith's, Fort Smith, Ark.

Our superior quality of ice cream is soon appreciated, as shown by the increased demand for our ice cream in the short time we have been catering to the family trade. When you wish to serve pure, smooth ice cream, call Main 500.

and they are redeemable at Our
Soda or Candy Dept. for their face
yalue.

Directly Opposite McKinley

Save them--they are just as good as cash.

W.-B. Soda Is Best Because Purest

We introduce more new drink and Fountain Delicacies than any other place in Columbus.

Home of Original Allegrettis, Boston Apollo, Gilbert's and Lowney's Chocolates.

WENDE BRISTOL

S. HIGH

Ice Cream-with complete satisfaction in every spoonful-that's the kind we It has that smooth, rich taste of pure Jersey cream; the flavor is the best vanilla bean and choice crushed fruits.-Franklin's, Salt Lake City, Utah.

serve.

Drop in at our fountain on a hot day or evening. We will serve you the coolest and best drinks you ever tasted. They quench the thirst because they are made. right. Expert operators mix all the latest drinks.-Watson's, Winnipeg.

Ice Cream. Take a box home to the children. Pure ice cream is good for them. It is refreshing, nourishing and healthful. They will enjoy it too. Balduff's little boxes of ice cream are filled with pure, sweet cream.-Balduff's, Omaha, Neb.