SOUTHERN HORIZONS 



then concoct an entirely new souffle, a blend of in- 

 gredients both above and below 100-octane. This is a 

 very delicate business, full of superfine details discov- 

 ered sometimes after months of precise research, some- 

 times by lucky chance. 



At the Phillips Laboratories in Bartlesville, a young 

 chemist was making routine tests, adding definite quan- 

 tities of tetraethyl lead to gasoline samples and check- 

 ing the antiknock results. One sample failed to respond. 

 He repeated the experiment with the same disconcert- 

 ing result. Puzzled and fearing he had made a mistake, 

 he went to his supervisor and together they rechecked. 

 The youngster had not slipped. Analysis of the gasoline 

 sample revealed a minute trace of sulfur, and cross- 

 checking by scores of petroleum chemists established 

 the conclusion that the sulfur in gasoline gums up the 

 lead treatment. 



"And the devil of it is," explained Ross Thomas, in 

 charge of Phillips' chemical developments, "it pays more 

 to take out the last one-hundredth per cent than any 

 other. But it also costs more and takes more pains." 



Thus aviation gas has been created out of a myriad 

 of such scientific minutiae, each one of which had to be 

 recognized, interpreted, and then applied. An outsider 

 can hardly imagine the details, but the result is plain 

 to all. From a few gallons available for some test flights 

 in 1936, the output has grown to more than half a 



240 



