322 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Science is of little public value if it cannot be brought to 

 bear on such a problem ; but it rests with the public to take, 

 action — some interest must be taken in the matter if the lethargy 

 which now prevails and the vested interests which bar progress 

 are to be overcome. 



A brief but most instructive discussion took place after the 

 above communication had been read. 



Prof. Smithells agreed that the economical consumption of 

 coal was a question of national importance. In the end, 

 however, the question was one of economy, not in its large 

 but in its small sense. The point to be proved was whether 

 fuel of the type indicated could be produced and sold in com- 

 petition with coal as put on the market under existing 

 conditions. Amongst consumers of domestic fuel there was 

 a widespread desire to contribute towards the abatement of 

 the smoke nuisance. At present they were offered two fuels, 

 practically speaking, coal and coal gas. If it could be shown 

 that there was another fuel which had the advantage pos- 

 sessed by coal of giving a cheerful fire, which at the same 

 time was not more expensive, he believed they would be 

 ready to use it. But at present that had not been proved. 



An ingenuous gas manager took exception to my objections 

 to the quality of the gas now supplied. Complaints had not 

 been more numerous since the repeal of the sulphur clauses. 



Mr. Beilby pointed out that the estimated present annual 

 consumption of coal for domestic purposes was about forty 

 million tons and that the gas companies were distilling about 

 fourteen million tons. It was obvious that if such large 

 quantities were to be carbonised, not only must the gas 

 industry be revolutionised but new uses would have to be 

 found for the large quantities of gas produced and for the 

 various by-products. On this account he thought that if coal were 

 dealt with in the manner proposed ultimately only the fuel value 

 could be realised for the greater part, as distinct uses could 

 not well be found for so large a quantity of by-products. 



Mr. Archbutt drew attention to Aitken's experiments proving 

 that sulphurous acid caused the condensation of water from the 

 vaporous state, so that smokeless fuel containing sulphur would 

 still give rise to fogs, although these would be far less dis- 



