Some chemistry, latin and gas illumination expertise needed, please!

[CelticAnnie]

I am trying to transcribe some tape recordings made (I think) c1960s by my great uncle b1888.  In one recording, he talks about his boyhood memories of his father's chemist shop.  The quality of the tapes is not great, and at some points it is difficult to make out exactly what he is saying.  Elsewhere, I could do with some knowledge of chemical processes -- and how I wish I still had my old Latin dictionary!  Any help anyone can give me with the following queries would be much appreciated.

1.  GAS ILLUMINATION.  He talks of his father liking a lot of light in his shop and that raw coal gas was not considered sufficient.  He refers to something that sounds like the 'Roll's' back burner later being introduced -- does that (or something that sounds like 'Roll's') make any sense to anyone?!  He also refers to a chemical process: '.... we fed a solid hydrocarbon which XXXX with the heat and enriched the gas'.  XXXX sounds like 'phomatilised' but I can trace no such word.  Does anyone have any idea what it might be?!

2.  LATIN.  He refers to the Latin labels on the fronts of drawers in the shop.  It sounds like he says the drawer containing orange peel was labelled 'orangi cortex'; but google translate renders 'peel' simply as 'cort'.  Please, does anyone know which is correct?  And the drawer containing linseed was labelled what sounds like 'linae salina'; but google translate offers 'acumine lini' which sounds totally different!  Can anyone throw any light on this?!

3.  He lists a handful of the fascinating products contained in the drawers.  One sounds phonetically like 'quasher chips' from Jamaica!  Anybody have any idea what that might be?!

4.  Chemist shops were, of course, the original home of cameras and photographic accessories.  He mentions fleetingly what the shop stocked in relation to photographic processes and states: 'We bought xxxx by the hundredweight and gold chloride by the grain'.  xxxx, in this context, sounds like 'hypo'.  Is 'hypo' likely to be correct?!

5.  He talks about the process for making linen (not done in the chemist shop, obviously!) and states: '....how the short fibers were separated for use as xxxx and the long fibers spun into yarn and woven into linen'.  xxxx in this context sounds like 'tarl' but again I can find no such word.  Does anyone have any idea what it might be, please?

Sorry for such a long post!  Would be very grateful for all and any assistance or ideas anyone can offer.

CELTICANNIE

[Erato]

As a starter, 'hypo' is sodium thiosulphate a solution of which was used to 'fix' a photograph, meaning to make it insensitive to light so it would not become darker.

[Erato]

'phomatilised'

This must be 'volatilized' with the heat.

[Erato]

Reading up on linen, I see that the lower quality fibers are separated out and are called 'tow.'  Maybe this is what he was referring to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tow

[josey]

My latin dictionary has cortex [m] for peel.

[josey]

From wikipaedia:
There were six types of burners but four burners were really experimented with. The first burner used with this system was the single-jet burner that produced a small flame. The tip of the burner was made out of lead which absorbed heat causing the flame to be smaller in size. It was discovered that the flame would burn brighter if straight metal was mixed with other components, such as porcelain. Flat burners were invented mainly to evenly distribute gas and light to the systems. The fishtail burner is a relative to the flat burner but it managed to create a brighter flame and conducted less heat. The last burner that was experimented with was the Welsbach burner. Around this time the Bunsen burner was in use along with some forms of electricity. The Welsbach was based on the idea of the Bunsen burner, still using gas, a cotton mesh with cerium and thorium was imbedded into the Welsbach. This source of light was named the “gas mantle” which created three times more light than the naked flame. (Penzel 89)

Could it be the Welsbach burner he talked about?

[Erato]

"quasher chips"

Cassava chips??  Just a guess.

[jorose]

"Quasher" I think may be "Quassia":
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/q/quassi01.html#con

[josey]

Spot on jorose!!