324 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



at relatively low temperatures with water gas ; the present 

 irrational method of manufacture should be abandoned, in any 

 case. It would be necessary to make but simple alterations in 

 the carbonising plant of our present gas works if such a change 

 were to be made. 



The production of coal gas is a chemical problem ; the 

 storage and delivery of gas is a mechanical problem. Unfor- 

 tunately hitherto but scant attention has been paid to the 

 chemical side of the industry ; the control has been entirely in the 

 hands of engineers who have not only not been conversant with 

 the chemical problems and altogether destitute of chemical feeling 

 but often actively antagonistic to the introduction of the chemist 

 into the works. When admitted, the chemist has been kept 

 in an entirely subordinate position. The industry is only now 

 becoming alive to the fact that it must take some notice of 

 chemistry if it is to progress. Gas managers have been led 

 to look at matters entirely from the point of view of cost of 

 production — questions of quality have been beyond their ken 

 and understanding ; they have been entirely in the hands of 

 their engineers in such matters. 



The issue I have raised is undoubtedly, as Mr. Beilby 

 indicated, a very big one and one in which a variety of 

 interests is involved. It is therefore essential that it be taken 

 into consideration very seriously and in some public way. 

 It cannot well be left to solve itself through the private 

 operation of limited business interests. 



In the first place there is the moral obligation we are 

 under to be economical in our use of coal in the interest of 

 future generations. Unfortunately such moral obligations 

 count for little in our time. We can, however, appreciate 

 the deplorable condition of smoke and fog to which our large 

 towns are so often reduced through our use of bituminous 

 fuel. The baneful effects are too well known to need state- 

 ment but it may be pointed out that it is by no means 

 improbable that, in a season like the present, much of the 

 gloom which has affected us may have been conditioned by 

 the products of combustion constantly passed into the atmo- 

 sphere. It is only necessary to visit towns where smokeless 

 fuel is used to appreciate the advantages it offers. 



All the hydrocarbon oil we now use for internal com- 

 bustion engines is imported. There is no doubt that by 



