The Ancients

In the ancient times" the 1950s), data were transferred to computers by using punched cards. But already in 1959 Ascher Opier from Dow Chemical Company reported the use of a light pen for graphical entiy of chemical structures into a computer. Light pens were also used in the Chemical Abstracts Service in the 1970s. 

L. alumen, alum) The ancient Greeks and Romans used alum as an astringent and as a mordant in dyeing. In 1761 de Morveau proposed the name alumine for the base in alum, and Lavoisier, in 1787, thought this to be the oxide of a still undiscovered metal. 

Sanskrit, sulvere L. sulpur) Known to the ancients referred to in Genesis as brimstone. 

Gr. anti plus monos - a metal not found alone) Antimony was recognized in compounds by the ancients and was known as a metal at the beginning of the 17th century and possibly much earlier. 

Filtration is the separation of two phases, particulate form, ie, soHd particles or Hquid droplets, and continuous, ie, Hquid or gas, from a mixture by passing the mixture through a porous medium. This article discusses the more predominant separation of soHds from Hquids. Filtration of soHd particles or Hquid droplets from gases is dealt with elsewhere (see Airpollution controlmethods). The oldest recorded appHcations of filtration are the purifications of wine and water practiced by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Cake filters, such as the rotary vacuum filter and the filter press, were developed much later from the necessity to filter sewage. 

H. Hodges, Technology in the Ancient World, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1970. 

WaterwaH furnaces were employed by the ancient Greeks and Romans for household services. A water boHet, found in Pompeii, was constmcted of cast bton2e and incorporated the water-tube principle (2). The earhest recorded instance of boHets performing mechanical work (130 Bc) was Hero s engine... 

Gold [7440-57-5] Au, is presumably the first metal known and used by humans. It occurs ia nature as a highly pure metal and is treasured because of its color, its extraordinary ductility, and its resistance to corrosion. Early uses ia medicine and dentistry date to the ancient Chinese and Egyptians. In the Middle Ages the demand for gold led to the iatense, unsuccesshil efforts of alchemists to convert base metals iato gold. These pursuits became the basis for chemical science. The search for gold has been an important factor ia world exploration and the development of world trade. 

Hair coloring preparations have been in use since the ancient Egyptians, and recorded recipes exist in many cultures. These followed the traditional apphcation of plant extracts or metallic dyes, both of which still are used. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, synthetic organic compounds were discovered which eventually led to modem hair coloring. 

Potassium nitrate, essential in the manufacture of black gun powder, was produced by the Chinese, who had developed gun powder by the tenth century AD. The process involved the leaching of soil in which nitrogen from urine had combined with mineral potassium. By the early 1800s, potassium nitrate had become a strategic military chemical and was stiU produced, primarily in India, by using the ancient Chinese method. The caUche deposits in Chile are the only natural source of potassium nitrate (2). These deposits are not a rich source of potassium nitrate, purifying only to about 14% as K O. 

Antibiotics were used in folk medicine at least as early as 2500 years ago when the Chinese reported the medicinally beneficial effects of moldy bean curd. Evidence for some type of tetracycline antibiotic usage by the Sudanese-Nubian civilization (350 AD) was reported in 1980 (6). Fluorescent areas in human bones from this eta were observed that were identical in location and characteristics to modern bone from patients treated with tetracyclines. Identification of tetracycline in the ancient bones was further substantiated by fluorescence spectmm measurements and microbiological inhibition studies (7). 

Before the invention of the Bessemer process for steelmaking in 1856, only the cementation and cmcible processes were of any industrial importance. Although both of the latter processes had been known in the ancient world, thek practice seems to have been abandoned in Europe before the Middle Ages. The cementation process was revived in Belgium around 1600, whereas the cmcible process was rediscovered in the British Isles in 1740. 

Natural and synthetic chemicals affect every phase of our daily Hves ia both good and noxious manners. The noxious effects of certain substances have been appreciated siace the time of the ancient Greeks. However, it was not until the sixteenth century that certain principles of toxicology became formulated as a result of the thoughts of Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim-Paracelsus (1493—1541). Among a variety of other achievements, he embodied the basis for contemporary appreciation of dose—response relationships ia his often paraphrased dictum "Only the dose makes a poison."... 

Compounds of antimony have been used as therapeutic agents for thousands of years (200). There is evidence that the ancient Egyptians used a... 

The ancient process of stoving is stiU occasionally used to bleach wool and silk with sulfur dioxide. In this process, wet fabrics are hung in chambers of burning sulfur or sulfur dioxide gas for at least 8 h. The fabrics are then washed with sodium sulfite to remove excess sulfur dioxide. Fabric so treated may have unpleasant odors, and the original color eventually returns, but the process is simple and inexpensive. 

The fundamental goal in the production and appHcation of composite materials is to achieve a performance from the composite that is not available from the separate constituents or from other materials. The concept of improved performance is broad and includes increased strength or reinforcement of one material by the addition of another material. This is the well-known purpose in the alloying of metals and in the incorporation of chopped straw into clay for bricks by the ancient Egyptians and plant fibers into pottery by the Incas and Mayans. These ancient productions of composite materials consisted of reinforcing britde materials with fibrous substances. In both cases the mechanics of the reinforcement was such as to reduce and control the production of cracks in the brittle material during fabrication or drying (2). 

Transportation of the Textile Material with No Mechanical Movement of the Liquor. Probably the oldest example of dyeing in which the textile alone moves is the ancient box-type skein dye machine in which skeins of yam are hung on wooden pegs with about three-fourths of the skein submerged in the dye Hquor. To prevent stick marks and unlevelness, the sticks are turned by hand at frequent intervals. 

Juglone [481-39-0] (Cl Natural Brown 7 Cl 75500) was isolated from the husks of walnuts in 1856 (50). Juglone belongs to the Juglandaceae family of which there are a number of species Jug/ans cinerea (butter nuts), J. regia (Persian walnuts), and J. nigra (black walnuts). Persian walnuts were known to the ancient Romans who brought them over from Asia Minor to Europe. As early as 1664, the American colonists knew how to extract the brown dye from the nuts of the black walnut and butternut trees, both native to eastern North America (51). 

Tyrian Purple was the most expensive and rare dye of the ancient world principally because only a small amount of dye could be obtained from each moUusk, roughly 0.12 mg (95). It was always considered a color of distinction and restricted to regal and ecclesiastical uses ia the Eastern Roman Empire, the heir to the throne at By2antium bore the proud name Porphjro-Genitur, bom to the purple. The Hebrews used purple ia many decorations of the Tabernacle (23). 

Because of the long overland route used to bring indigotin from India to Europe, and because of the small amount of indigotin that was present in the leaves, about 2—4%, indigotin ranked among the most expensive of the ancient dyes (105). 

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