Duluth Paper - Inorganic Standards for the Colorimetric Carbon Test

WHEREVER the amount of work renders it practicable the plan of using permanent standard solutions, in connection with the colorimetric carbon test, affords such manifold advantages that it is to be strongly recommended. That it has not attained a wider and more general application, is mainly due to the fact that, as the method is generally employed, the difficulty attending the production of the colors, and their doubtful stability when produced, have been only too evident to those who have undertaken their composition. The old method of using standard solutions made from sugar, coffee, etc., has always been hampered by the tendency of the colors to change upon exposure to the light, and the consequent liability to serious error, unless they are closely watched. Appreciating these difficulties, while recognizing the desirability of permanent colors, Mr. Magnus Troilius, at the suggestion of Prof. F. L. Erkmann, investigated the properties of cobalt, copper and ferric chlorides, with the view of determining their efficacy in the production of standard solutions. His results, as obtained, seem to have been satisfactory, but his treatment failed to eliminate many of the objections that have rendered the use of organic colors undesirable. The