Doubtless deeply moved himself by this impassioned appeal, the author of the Aurora papers exclaimed—
"I pronounce with confidence this shall never be the case. Every useful kind of learning shall here fix a favorite seat and shine forth in meredian splendour, to accomplish which may every heart and every hand be united."
And then, probably overpowered by an inner, compelling force and conscious of the possibilities of his science in the cause of man and the undeveloped resources of our country, quietly awaiting the oncoming alterations to be performed by applying chemistry, he continues with like spirit—
"If ever there was a time to bring the Arts and Manufactures to perfection in this Country, it is the present; for the season is approaching, when, of necessity, which is the mother of invention, our internal resources, and the application of them to our wants, will advance a brilliant and glorious epoch in the annals of our Country—second to none but the declaration of independence. Who is to establish the chain of manufactures—to convert the crude productions of Nature into useful articles; but you enlightened citizens, men of science and improvement, artists and manufacturers. The laboratory of Nature will be thrown open to you, and to use the scriptural phrase, 'Ye shall know even as ye are known.'"
Throughout the whole series of these papers there is manifest that noble patriotic spirit which shows itself in the last paragraph. There exists also an intelligent and unselfish spirit, so that as one finishes his reading there comes to mind a query as to the author who wrote thus in 1808—who was this early advocate of applied chemistry—this enthusiast in chemistry? Each article bears at its conclusion the initials J.C., which in several of the earlier articles are erroneously given as I.C. They throw no light on our curiosity and probably no one would ever have known whom J.C. represented had not the man himself in later life confessed that as a lad of twenty years he penned these papers. They are exceedingly well composed. They show a wide, general knowledge and also great familiarity with the science of chemistry. Their young author was James Cutbush.
When Robert Hare was twenty years of age he gave to the world one of the finest discoveries made by a chemist. Cutbush presented known chemical facts for the use and improvement of natural conditions. Might not the young men of these days, surrounded by every sort of help, make similar earnest and worthwhile contributions? They surely can do this if they are imbued with the spirit of the forefathers—the American spirit in chemistry.
Additional evidence of Cutbush's chemical activity at this early age may be seen in a contribution to the Philadelphia Medical Museum (1808) upon mercury fulminate. This interesting body he declared to be mercury oxalate and cited as his authority Aikin's Chemical and Mineralogical Dictionary. He believed that its oxalic acid content was due to the action of nitric acid upon alcohol. Such being the case, he argued that he saw no reason why the salt could not be prepared in a way by which "no alcohol is employed." Accordingly, he mixed intimately two parts of salt of sorrel and one part of red precipitate. Upon this mixture he poured sixteen parts of water, and rubbed the solid mass intimately together. In time the red-colored mass assumed an ash color, when it was collected on a filter and dried. In his own words—
"On trying a part of this powder on an anvil with a hammer, it exploded very violently, the comparison of which to that prepared by Howard's process was nearly equal."
While Cutbush was in error, relative to the true composition of the fulminate, he at least gave to the scientific world a characteristic property of mercuric oxalate, which does explode with considerable violence, while at 180° C. it quickly breaks down with a mild explosive effect. Singularly enough, he seems not to have abandoned the view that the interaction of alcohol and nitric acid give rise to oxalic acid.