Celluloid has its disadvantages. You may mold, you may color the stuff
as you will, the scent of the camphor will cling around it still. This
is not usually objectionable except where the celluloid is trying to
pass itself off for something else, in which case it deserves no
sympathy. It is attacked and dissolved by hot acids and alkalies. It
softens up when heated, which is handy in shaping it though not so
desirable afterward. But the worst of its failings is its
combustibility. It is not explosive, but it takes fire from a flame and
burns furiously with clouds of black smoke.
But celluloid is only one of many plastic substances that have been
introduced to the present generation. A new and important group of them
is now being opened up, the so-called "condensation products." If you
will take down any old volume of chemical research you will find
occasionally words to this effect: "The reaction resulted in nothing but
an insoluble resin which was not further investigated." Such a passage
would be marked with a tear if chemists were given to crying over their
failures.
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