72 BIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS 



for the use of grain in distilleries, and I select the 

 year 1907, the last complete year before the Commis- 

 sion on Whisky took evidence. The materials used 

 were: 



Million 

 calories. 



Malt 173,000 tons) , ,- 0/ ,. 



TT ... . /J Vat 60% extraction = 870,000 



Unmalted gram 247,000 ,, J 



Molasses 50,000 ,, = 12,000 tons sugar = 45,000 



9 I 5 000 



The malt and grain, if milled to 60 per cent fineness, 

 would have given flour equivalent to 870,000 million 

 calories; assuming that the molasses contained about 

 25 per cent of sugar, a further number of calories would 

 have been supplied to make a total of 915,000 millions. 

 In the distilleries these yielded 91,000 tons of absolute 

 alcohol, equivalent to 637,000 millions of calories. The 

 loss in human food by the process was therefore about 

 30 per cent or 278,000 million calories, which is suffi- 

 cient to feed London for thirteen days. The loss in 

 food for animals is equally great when grain is sent 

 to the distillery instead of to the mill. At present the 

 distilleries are providing only industrial spirit for the 

 manufacture of munitions, and we have no indication 

 how much grain which might be used as food is 

 being employed in this way. It has been suggested 

 that the large stocks of spirits in bond might be re- 

 distilled and utilized for munition purposes, thus free- 

 ing a certain amount of imported grain for food. 

 This drastic proposal could only be carried out at a 

 cost of many millions, as the whisky would have to be 

 paid for; and it is to be hoped that we shall not be 

 driven to straits which would make the suggestion a 

 question of practical politics. 



Besides the financial objection, it is urged that dis- 

 tillation must be continued in order to produce yeast 



