January 27, 192 1] 



NATURE 



709 



method for obtaining delirium cordis in the frog- 

 ventricle. Danielopolu (Bucharest) records observa- 

 tions upon the effects of various conditions — clinical 

 and experimental — upon the human electro-cardio- 

 gram. 



In a communication by Heger (Brussels) the cause 

 of the relative hypertrophy of the right ventricle 

 which occurs in man and animals acclimatised to 

 residence at a high altitude is ascribed to a persistent 

 pulmonary hyperaemia. 



Anaphylaxis was the subject of communications by 

 Kopaczewski (Paris) and Pesci (Turin). 



Communications dealing with the central nervous 

 system were few in number. Among them was one by 

 .•\mantea (Rome) on the effect of application of 

 strychnine to the sensori-motor region of the cerebral 

 cortex on experimentally excited epilepsy ; one by 

 Camus and Roussy (Paris) on polyuria produced by 

 lesions at the base of the brain ; and one by Lafora 

 (Madrid) on the functions of the corpus callosum. 



.According to .Abelous (Toulouse), cholesterol is 

 manufactured in the spleen, which organ may be 

 stimulated to increased production in this direction 

 by secretin. S. paper bv Rothlin (Zurich) was devoted 

 to the effects of adrenalin and j8-iminazolethylamine 

 (active principle of secretin) on gastric secretion ; the 



former inhibits, and the latter, if injected sub- 

 cutaneously or intramuscularly, stimulates. Quantita- 

 tive studies on the adrenalin output of the adrenal 

 glands was the subject of a communication by 

 Stewart (Cleveland). Bazett (Oxford), as the result 

 of cross-circulation experiments, finds that adrenalin 

 is of little imf)ortance as regards pressor reflexes, but 

 that it functions by maintaining a normal tone in 

 the arterioles or capillaries. Negrin y Lopez finds 

 that after " piqOre " and double vagotomy the blood- 

 pressure always rises, but if the animal has been 

 adrenalectomise<l a fall occurs. Gayda (Turin) finds 

 that tadpoles fed with thyroid give off more heat 

 than normal ones.. 



P^zard (Paris) confirmed the experience of others 

 that castration leads to the appearance of the opposite 

 sex-characters in fowls. Athias (Lisbon) showed that 

 after total castration pituitrin always contracts the 

 uterus, while adrenalin does so only in the rabbit and 

 hedgehog; it inhibits contraction of the uterus of 

 the dog and cat. 



There were also presented many communications 

 dealing with problems of chemical phvsiologv ar.d 

 with the action of particular drugs the contents of 

 which do not lend themselves to a short summary. 



R. K. S. LiM. 



Liquid Fuel from Coal. 

 By Prof. John W. Cobb. 



A 



PAPER entitled "Coal as a Future Source of 

 Oil-fuel Supply," which has a very special 

 interest at the present time, was read by Sir Arthur 

 Duckham at a meeting of the Institution of 

 Petroleum Technologists l^ld at the Royal Society of 

 Arts on October 19, 1920. It marks the recognition 

 of a new state of affairs which is rising out of the 

 enormous increase, actual and contemplated, in the 

 use of liquid fuel and the by no means unlimited supply 

 of natural petroleum. America is already concerned 

 with the conservation of its own supplies of the 

 latter, and there is every necessity for a careful and 

 extended examination of any method which appears 

 to be practicable for producing liquid fuel from solid 

 deposits. 



The demands that have to be met are of various 

 kinds, and require products differing widely in the 

 degree of their refinement. One extreme is encoun- 

 tered in providing for the delicate mechanism of the 

 motor-car engine, and the other in meeting the grosser 

 requirements of a steam boiler, particularly in the 

 raising of steam for the propulsion of battleships and 

 other sea-going vessels. 



The Scottish shale industry is old-established, and 

 an example of the practicabflity of obtaining oils by 



f retorting, but the proved quantities of suitable oil- 

 producing shale in this country are not very great. 

 Sir .Arthur Durkham has addressed himself to a dis- 

 cussion of what may be done by way of treating coal 

 so as to obtain the best value in oils and tars. In 

 reviewing possible lines of development he expresses 

 the beliff that the industrial future of this country 

 lies in the conversion of the coal at the pit's mouth 

 into liquid and gaseous fuels. " Liquid fuels will be 

 recognised as the modium for providing energy for 

 .tII transport by land, sea, or air with the exception 

 r,f ricrtrical transport for congested areas, while 

 IS fuels will be used direct for the great majority 

 iiing purposes and for the generation of elec- 

 rity." He points out that " full experience has been 

 lined in .America of the transmission of gas over 

 lung dist.Tncrs," and then that "there is no question 



NO. 2674, VOL. 106] 



that, starting in the big industrial districts which lie 

 near the coalfields, gas can be supplied in sufficient 

 quantities and can economically replace solid fuel." 

 In this way the author emphasises the production of 

 gas, oil, and tar together from coal as being the right 

 direction in which to go, and proceeds to discuss 

 the various technical and commercial considerations 

 which should influence the choice of process and plant 

 for the purpose. 



In this Sir Arthur Duckham is completely at home, 

 and, although primarily a gas engineer of assured 

 reputation, he displays no reverence for traditional 

 and accepted methods when these appear to him to 

 be only second best. He is, however, compelled to 

 lament at an early stage the impossibility of supply- 

 ing financial or thermal balance-sheets with any 

 degree of confidence. This difficulty is inevitable at 

 any time with unproved processes, and at the present 

 time there are peculiar difficulties on the financial side 

 which are not confined to the problem he is dis- 

 cussing, but apply to all schemes involving extensive 

 reconstruction. 



In order to deal in turn with established methods, 

 the author reviews the position of gasworks, coke- 

 ovens, and gas-producers. He describes the evolu- 

 tion of gas-making as it is conducted for the purpose 

 of public supply, pointing out how " it started as a 

 low-temperature process, and gradually became, with 

 the improvement of materials of construction and 

 advanced knowledge, a high-temperature process." 

 He indicates the extent to which gas undertakings 

 have been hampered by "antiquated and restrictive 

 legislation," based up<)n the conditions of the past, 

 and indicates quite rightly that the recent removal of 

 these restrictions should make for rapid development. 



The form of gasworks plant which meets with .Sir 

 .Arthur's approval is evidently the continuous vertical 

 retort with steaming, increasing the temperature about 

 the bottom of the retorts and highly superheating the 

 steam before it enters. The hot waste gases from 

 the plant are to go through waste-heat boilers, so 

 raisinf; the quantity of steam required for steaming 



