Explosifs Nitrés

Abstract

BY far the greater portion of this book is a fairly literal translation of Mr. Sanford's work on nitro-explosives, published in 1894. It suffers therefore, in many respects, from the same defects, though in others it is a decided improvement. Like the original it gives, for example, a description of all the gelatinised nitroglycerine preparations before giving the manufacture of the various nitro-cottons used in gelatinising them, which is, in several respects, an inconvenient arrangement. Like Sanford's work, it describes the manufacture of nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose in greater detail than is necessary for the use of a general chemist, and yet insufficiently so to serve as a complete guide to the manufacturer. The description of nitroglycerine is, however, a marked improvement on the original, and does not, for example, leave the reader in doubt as to whether nitroglycerine should be regarded as a nitric ether or not. It is, therefore, all the more surprising to find that M. Daniel, like Mr. Sanford, has apparently failed to grasp the great importance, from a theoretical as well as a practical point of view, of the fundamental difference between a nitric ether, on the one hand, and a true nitro-compound on the other. The former, although, when pure, perfectly stable at ordinary temperatures, decompose readily at, comparatively speaking, low temperature, and are one and all unstable at ordinary temperature in the presence of even minute traces of strong mineral acids as well as in the presence of many organic acids. Hence, in order to ensure the stability of a powder containing a nitric ether, it is absolutely essential not only to exclude all free acids, but also all compounds likely to become acid. Hence ammonium salts, like nitrate of ammonium, for example, may be used with perfect safety in admixture with a nitro-compound, such as dinitrobenzole in the manufacture of bellite, roburite, secufite, &c., whereas the presence of this salt would be fatal in an explosive containing a nitric ether such as guncotton or nitroglycerine.

Explosifs Nitrés.

By J. Daniel. Pp. viii + 235. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars et Fils.)