PHE′NYL. C6H5. The hypothetical compound radical of the phenyl-series. Carbolic acid is said to be its hydrate.
PHENYL′AMINE. C6H5H2N. Aniline is sometimes so named on account of its relation to the phenyl series.
PHIALS. The ordinary green moulded phials used by the pharmaceutist are made of a glass obtained from common river sand and soapboilers’ waste. In the manufacture of the glass for the white phials purer materials (and these as free from iron and alumina as possible) are used. Decolourising agents are also employed. The following is given as the composition of a white glass for apothecaries’ phials in ‘Chemistry: Theoretical, Practical, and Analytical,’[94]
[94] Mackenzie and Co.
| 100 | lbs. | white sand. |
| 30-26 | ” | potash, impure. |
| 17 | ” | lime. |
| 110-120 | ” | ashes. |
| ·25 to ·5 | lbs. | binoxide of manganese-cullet. |
Phials, Bologna. Small flasks or phials of unannealed glass, which fly to pieces when their surface is scratched by a hard body. Thus, if a small piece of flint be dropped into them they are shivered; whereas if a bullet be used they remain uninjured.
PHILO′NIUM. The ancient name of an aromatic opiate, reputed to possess many virtues, invented by Philo. See Confection of Opium.
PHILOS′OPHER’S STONE. Syn. Lapis philosophorum, L. A wonderful substance, the discovery of which formed the day dreams of the alchemists. It was supposed to be capable of converting all the baser metals into gold, and of curing all diseases. Some of the alchemists appear to have laboured under the delusion that they had actually discovered it. The last of these enthusiasts was the talented and unfortunate Dr Price, of Guildford. Speaking of the age of alchemy, Liebig says:—“The idea of the transmutability of metals stood in the most perfect harmony with all the observations and all the knowledge of that age, and in contradiction to none of these. In the first stage of the development of science, the alchemists could not possibly have any other notions of the nature of metals than those which they actually held.... We hear it said that the idea of the philosopher’s stone was an error; but all our views have been developed from errors, and that which today we regard as truth in chemistry may, perhaps, before to-morrow, be regarded as a fallacy.”
PHILOSOPH′IC CANDLE. An inflamed jet of hydrogen gas.
PHILOSOPHIC WOOL. Flowers of zinc.