NOTES 663 



protection. The hands and face can be covered effectively by a casein varnish 

 (which also protects them against tetryl stain), while the legs and feet must be 

 protected by suitable boots. 



The Munitions Inventions Department has issued a report on the Nitrogen 

 Problem. Apparently the Department was first made to realise the fundamental 

 importance of the matter by the inauguration of the submarine campaign in 

 February 1916, and also by a memorandum on the subject submitted to it at the 

 time by the Faraday Society. As a result the Nitrogen Products Committee was 

 formed in June 1916 for the purpose of exploring the whole problem and of 

 carrying out the experimental work necessary for the investigation of such 

 processes as might appear to be of value. This work has been carried on in the 

 new Ramsay Laboratory at University College, the first item being an investigation 

 of the Haber process (Science Progress, January 191 8), the commercial details 

 of that process being almost entirely unknown. Later, the Committee decided to 

 investigate the ammonia oxidation process as it is well adapted as an emergency 

 measure for securing quickly a considerable output of nitric acid. An interim 

 report was sent to the Minister of Munitions in February 1917, and he decided 

 (a) to undertake the erection of one Government plant for the oxidation process ; 

 \b) to permit the erection of a full-sized trial unit for the synthetic (Haber) 

 process ; (c) that the Committee should investigate the relative merits of certain 

 schemes for working the cyanamide process. In addition the Committee was 

 requested to deal with the problem of by-product ammonia from gas works and 

 coke-oven plants. This part of the work was subsequently handed over to the 

 Explosives Department, which has also assumed the responsibility of establishing 

 the oxidation process on a large scale. Studies of the synthetic process led to a 

 method of working whereby the output of ammonia per unit of catalyst space has 

 been increased to a figure which, so far as is known, exceeds anything hitherto 

 obtained. A semi-technical unit has been built, and it is expected that its 

 operation will enable the remaining problems connected with the chemical 

 engineering details involved in the erection of the full-sized plant to be solved. 



Bulletin No. 1 of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is a 

 memorandum on the Preservation of Timber in Coal Mines written by Prof. P. 

 Groom. The present shortage of timber supplies has rendered the prevention of 

 wastage in pit timber a matter of national importance. A large amount of 

 timber in mines, and especially in shallow coal pits, requires to be replaced 

 prematurely because it undergoes decay and consequently collapses. Such decay 

 or disintegration is, at least for the most part, caused by various fungi which 

 permeate and devour the wood, and often clothe its surface with a fluffy or 

 cottony material (" spawn "). This spawn, usually white but sometimes coloured, 

 can rapidly grow over the timber, walls or floor, and may even be broken off and 

 transferred elsewhere, and thus reach and infect sound wood. These wood- 

 destroying fungi also produce fructifications, which emit countless microscopic 

 germs (" spores "), which, conveyed through the air, may alight on, and attack, 

 pit-wood. The wood can be rendered immune to infection by fungi by impregna- 

 ting it with an antiseptic substance such as creosote or zinc chloride, the degree of 

 protection depending on the depth of penetration, complete immunity being 

 secured most economically by pneumatic pressure. As a remedial measure the 

 superficial growth of the fungus can be checked by cutting away the fructifications 

 in the accessible timber and washing with an antiseptic solution. Above all it 

 is important to prevent infection of sound timber by contact or by wind-borne 

 spores. 



