2o6 



NATUKIi 



\iy 



ng of men's bodies, as in the nurture of i)i 

 luiiul liotween ■■ i.s and 



tlitiw nS*^ i*^ Muous; 



and-- iIhiukIi I' .iilfiTfnce 



lar^flv (I« iifiid ; !(» nicntidii 



liiH^h iiid (■<ll(i!<ii(l artirirs, ii ji-ip- r ■nul 



win; !i 1 , .11 M 1 1. : p-avfs- - Dill K . m i . n i , 



to an ' ('i\ilisat !■ in. 



I [lurificd fil)rr Mili-t.iii<-f 



(it , slK Cl.ll (■( illltill l.ll |i ;n < il 



CflluKi-' . In ilii' lil.i.-, <.l wi.iid, ilic crllulii-M- i-, as^i»- 

 i'"ntf(| with suIi-I.iiiccn \\ liitli li.i\<' lln- r-<>,rntial 

 i:, Ii ir.il ( liarach-i> dt ihr (li-l<fti un ■>. and liciice are 



.: .! iiil'd ■' Ii: ' M' Jill's. " 'i hi-M- ai'r (hiniiiMli'v' !nii('li 

 ■I Ih.- rrllulusr. 



. \.IU i !• . ,li I \ • I ^ -UsCl'pl il)ll' 111 ll\'p i , !, . , . ; , ,,» 



llii' (.\\ i^.Ti ot llir air. in thi'^ rr-sp.'ci diiliiin- ni)i.d)Iy 

 trmn nllido-M'. licnn' |i.ipir such as modern "nius" 

 l>.i|)cf, wliiih rtintains lii;nii-ci'Iluloses from wood-pidp 

 .Is .1 fonstituent, on exposure to air ,-ind light becomes 

 K idily discoloured, and loses it> ii iiacity. The ligno- 

 celluloses are the ess, nlial fibrous components of 

 "mechanical" pulj), wliich is merely wood disin- 

 ii^^raiid into its copsiitLi-nt fibres by j^^rinding. On 

 the oiiiii- hand, sinci- lii^^nonc is attacked bv chlorine, 

 1)\' ali<aHs, .and li\' .ilkaH l)isulphiU's, it can l)e separ- 

 ated wiih till sc t.-.ii^i-nts more or less readily from the 

 ci'UuIus,- with wlii. li it is associated, leaving the latter 

 substaiur in .a tolerably pure condition. This product 

 is "chemical" wood-pulp ("soda" or "sulphite" 

 pulp) ; it differs materially from, and is superior to, 

 the fibre obtained by the mechanical process- Common 

 " news " paper contains about 8o to 90 per cent, of 

 mechanical wood-fibre, and 10 to 20 per cent, of wood- 

 fibre which has been treated chemically ; in high-class 

 " news " paper these proportions are reversed. Natur- 

 ally, "mech.iiiicd " wood-pulp is excluded from paper 

 intended for permanent documents. It serves a use- 

 ful purpose, however, in enablini,^ the demand for 

 cheap publications to be met. 



Since cellulose in a more or less pure form can be 

 separated from wood .as " chmiical " wood-pulp, the 

 question naturally arises whether such pulp cannot be 

 used as a source of cellulose for the production of 

 textile fabrics, high explosives, and celluloid articles. 

 Its relatively low price would seem to give it a con- 

 siderable advantage. In fact, some success has been 

 met with in respect of the first-named group; for 

 example, in the manufacture of wood-pulp yarn 

 (■■silv.ihn ") and of artificial silk (from "viscose"). 

 But the shortness of the fibres is a serious limitation 

 to the use of wood-celluloses for textile purposes. As 

 regards the other groups, wood-cellulose when nitrated 

 has been found to be less stable than cotton-cellulose 

 nitrated to the same degree, and is therefore less 

 suitable for these industrial uses. 



The chief woods employed for the manufacture of 

 " sulphite " and " mechanical " pulps are spruce, fir, 

 and pine. For the production of " soda " pulp, aspen, 

 conifers, poplar, and other deciduous trees are 

 utilised; whilst hemlock wood is much used in the 

 making of wrappers and "fibre" papers. After two 

 NO. 2198, VOL. 88] 



of suppl- 

 the vari' 



.and 



uliois d. 

 • "■!-, md ih<n pro( i-«d to (J<;«;rjbc 

 ris iii\(,l\id in ihe manufacture of 

 ;<• book d' 

 i into p.ij 

 id witii its r '.tile 



general 



■ (llv tin- uork i- 

 ,■.,■,, i.at th'T.- is mi" '" ■■ -•>><>'-■•- 



lialrd \<\- tin- \(Hiiig I 



in ( rllulose pi ' < )i 1 .1 M"!i.,iiy in. -i\i.- is ncav) 



and not too i the volume as a whole gives 



a good gi-ti'T.-il idi .1 ■ iid-puIi) industry, and 



the .authors' names ,aii tee of its trustworthi- 



ness. 



DR LUNGE AND THE LEBLANC PU 



Ai.KM.i M.wrrAcrrin:. 



The Manufuchiri- nj Sulplinru- K/i/ atui Alkali . 

 the Cnlliitrral linnulics: a nunrctical and 1' 

 tical Treatise. Hy Prof. (1. I.u: _• . Third edit; 

 Vol. iii., Ammoni.'i-.Sod.i, \.n;i.,s Processes 

 .\llc.ali-making, and the Chlorine Industry. Pp. 

 \i\ + 764. (London: Gurney and Jackson, 1911.) 

 Price 30S. net. 



THESE handsome volumes, v '■■ '- " '■ ''" 



tireless industry of the 

 technical chemistry in tht 1" ' loiytecnmcui; 



Zurich, bring the hisior development 



alk.ili manufacture and of iis associated indust 

 down to its latest phase. During the dozen or n 

 years which have elapsed since the appearance of 

 last edition of Dr. Lunge's monumental work, ^ 

 siderable changes have occurred in this departr 

 of chemical technolotxy which bid fair, in the ful; 

 of time, completely to revolutionise its methods. 

 significant feature of modern manufacturing indii 

 is the e\ el-knowing application of electrical en' 

 to its processes, and in no field of production 

 this application been more fruitful in consequem 

 than in that of industrial chemistry. Although the 

 is, even now, scarcely a single section of appl 

 chemistrv wliich has not felt the influence, directly 

 indirectly, of this form of energy, it is almost 

 truism to assert that we are only at the thresl 

 of the new departure. 



Dr. Lunge's books bring^ the story as far as 

 parting of the w.iys. He is the faithful chronicler 

 contemporary achievements, the historian temporis 

 acli. He is concerned mainly in giving 

 full and as accurate a picture of the state of ah. 

 manufacture at the end of the first decade of the 

 twentieth century as is possible to him. As a faith- 

 ful reflex of the present state of this manufacture 

 the volumes before us sutTer from the limitation 

 that they deal only with what have grown to be 

 subordinate processes — that is, processes which are 

 dependent upon the conversion of common salt into 

 alkali through the instrumentality of oil of vitriol, 

 or, in other words, the Leblanc method of manufac- 

 ture and its associated industries. The supremacy of 

 this method has long since passed away by reason 

 of the elaboration and development of the ammonia- 



