DENATURED ALCOHOL 259 



this country to learn that lamps burning alcohol for light on this prin- 

 ciple are to be numbered literally by the hundreds in Germany to-day. 

 At a recent competition in that country for a prize for the best lamp 

 no less than 99 new designs were entered. 



These lamps are efficient, the best using only 16 to 20 cubic centi- 

 meters of 95 per cent, alcohol for ten hefner candle power hours. 

 They are long lived, and will last without renewal of wick or mantle 

 much longer than the ordinary incandescent electric lamp lasts. Not 

 the least of their advantages in these days of domestic difficulties and 

 problems is their extreme cleanliness. 



The questions as to the efficiencies of the denatured alcohol lamps 

 may be summed up by giving the results obtained by Professor Rous- 

 seau of Brussels. He has carried out many experiments and concludes 

 that denatured alcohol at 31 cents a gallon furnishes a slightly cheaper 

 light than kerosene at 15 cents a gallon. 



But the subject is by no means closed. These alcohol lamps are 

 slow in getting started and a minute or a minute and a half elapses 

 after the match is applied before they are emitting their maximum 

 light. This is because a portion of the alcohol must be vaporized be- 

 fore the heat is great enough to raise the mantle to full incandescence. 

 This little detail is enough to condemn the lamps with many. That 

 their imperfections are fully recognized is demonstrated by the fact 

 that the government of France offers a prize of $10,000 for a device 

 to burn alcohol under exactly the same conditions under which petro- 

 leum may be burned for lighting purposes. Similar prizes are also 

 awaiting the fortunate inventor in Germany. 



Questions involving the use of denatured alcohol in chemical indus- 

 tries must be omitted here, as anything like an adequate exposition 

 would require much space. They are questions of great magnitude, 

 involving perhaps the establishment of large and important manufac- 

 tories. 



In these as in all the uses of alcohol the presence of any denaturing 

 agent whatever is at best a great nuisance. As was justly said by 

 Professor Erdmann, of Halle, in a discussion of the subject, "It is 

 most illogical and contrary to the most self-evident principles of econ- 

 omy to go to an expense in order to make a useful material less use- 

 ful." But, as a recent newspaper editorial said, " It is one of the 

 penalties which humanity as a whole must pay for the failings of a 

 minority." 



Costs and Prices 



The cost of ethyl alcohol to the manufacturer is a subject upon 

 which divergent opinions are held. It depends upon so many variable 

 factors that it is doubtless different for each manufacturer, and more- 

 over must differ from year to year if not from month to month. Cal- 



