ABSTRACT
COAL-TAR is an exceedingly complex material, being a mixture of a ‘great number of different substances. The following table shows the chemical name of many of the substances obtainable from the coal-tar. It must not be supposed that these substances exist ready formed in the coal, and that they are merely expelled by the heat. We can understand better how heat, acting upon an apparently simple substance like coal, and one containing so few elements, is able to produce so large a variety of different bodies, if we remember that heat is the agent most often employed to effect chemical changes, and that from even two elements, variously combined, bodies differing entirely from each other are producible.
