Picric acid converted it to acetylsalicylic acid, i.e., aspirin, to keep it from the Allies. See Great Phenol Plot. At the time, phenol was obtained from coal as a co-product of coke ovens and the manufacture of gas for gas lighting. Laclede Gas reports being asked to expand production of phenol (and toluene) to support the war effort. Both Monsanto and Dow Chemical undertook manufacture of synthetic phenol in 1915. Dow was the leading producer. Dow describes picric acid as “the main battlefield explosive used by the French. Large amounts [of phenol] also went to Japan, where it was made into picric
The Indian in the Cupboard meets Tom's daughter, who is wearing the long-lost earrings. Omri realizes that Jessica gave the earrings to Tom, who gave them to his daughter without knowing they were stolen. Having solved the mystery, he decides not to tell Tom's daughter the story of the earrings. Omri returns home to find that his father, while rebuilding Omri's bedroom, found the key, the cupboard, and the plastic figure of Little Bear and locked the toy in the cupboard, where he was shocked when Little Bear came to life. He has since been too frightened to open the cupboard while Little Bear called