August 12, 1920] 



NATURE 



749 



sources, it was found, could supply from 

 10,000,000 to 12,000,000 cubic feet of helium per 

 year. The following is a summary of the results 

 obtained from the analyses of a number of the 

 gases investigated. They include, it will be seen, 

 a few samples from outside the Empire. For a 

 complete account of this part of the investigation, 

 the reader is referred to Bulletin No. 31 of the 

 Mines Branch, Department of Mines, Canada, 

 1920. 



(a) Ontario Gases. — The analysis made by 

 Profs. Ellis, Bain, and Ardagh (Report of Bureau 

 of Mines of Ontario, 1914) of the natural gases 

 supplied to the experimental station, initially set 

 up at Hamilton, Ontario (Blackheath System), is 

 as follows : — 



Methane 



Ethane 



Nitrogen 



80 per cent. 



It was found, however, on operating with this gas 

 that the percentage assigned to methane really 

 included a considerable proportion of gasoline, 

 pentane, and butane as well. The helium content 

 of the gas was found to be 034 per cent. 



(b) Alberta Gases. — Gas taken from the mains 

 leading from the Bow Island supply to Calgary 

 was found to be quite free from the heavier hydro- 

 carbons. At times it contained slight amounts of 

 water vapour and occasionally a trace of carbon 

 dioxide as well. Its approximate composition is 

 given under* I. 



I. II. 



Helium 033 per cent. 0-36 per cent. 



Methane 87"6 „ 91*6 „ 



Ethane 09 ,. 1-9 „ 



Nitrogen 112 „ 6-14 „ 



Carbon dioxide ... trace trace 



Water vapour ... trace trace 



One well in particular, namely. No. 25 Barnwell, 

 which has recently been driven, and now supplies 

 gas to the system, was found to have a product 

 of the composition II. 



(c) New Brunswick Gases. — Some natural gases 

 obtained from wells struck near Moncton, New 

 Brunswick, Canada, were examined, and found 

 to have the following composition : 



(d) New Zealand Gases. — A series of samples 

 of the natural gases from the Hanmer, Kotuka, 

 Weber, Blairlogie, and Rotorua supplies in New 

 Zealand was forwarded by Mr. J. S. McLaurin, 

 Dominion Analyst of Wellington, New Zealand, 

 for examination, but was found to have an insig- 

 nificant helium content, the richest containing not 

 more than 0077 per cent. 



(e) Italian Gases. Pisa. — A sample of the 

 natural gas brought by pipe to the city of Pisa, 



NO. 2650, VOL. 105] 



in Italy, was examined, and found to have the 

 following composition : 



Methane ... 

 Ethane 



Carbon dioxide 

 Nitrogen ... 

 Oxygen 

 Helium 



800 per cent. 



40 



3-5 

 ii'9 



06 „ 

 None 



(/) Miscellaneous Analyses. — An analysis of the 

 natural gas supply from Heathfield, Sussex, 

 England, showed it to have a helium content of 

 but 02 1 per cent. The gas from the King Spring, 

 Bath, England, was found to contain 016 per cent, 

 of helium, and analyses of natural gases obtained 

 from Trinidad and from Peru showed their helium 

 content to be negligible. An interesting observa- 

 tion was made in connection with natural gases 

 obtained from Pitt Meadows, Eraser River Valley, 

 and Pender Island, in the Gulf of Georgia, British 

 Columbia. Both these gases were found to have 

 a nitrogen content of more than 99 per cent. 



Preliminary Experiments. 



Soon after taking up the investigation, it was 

 found, as mentioned above, that large supplies of 

 helium were available in the natural gas fields of 

 Southern Alberta, and that a small supply could 

 be obtained from a gas field situated about twenty- 

 five miles to the south-west of the city of Hamil- 

 ton, in Ontario. In 191 7 the Board of Invention 

 and Research decided to endeavour to exploit 

 these sources of supply, and operations were 

 begun by setting up, as already stated, a small 

 experimental station near the city of Hamilton. 



At this station efforts were directed towards 

 constructing a machine which would efficiently 

 and economically separate out the helium from the 

 other constituents present in the natural gas. The 

 carrying out of this work expeditiously was made 

 possible through the hearty co-operation of L'Air 

 Liquide Soci6te of Paris and Toronto, which 

 generously lent, free of cost, a Claude oxygen 

 column and the necessary auxiliary liquefying 

 equipment for the investigation. 



By making suitable additions to, and modifica- 

 tions in, this oxygen rectifying column, it was 

 ascertained that the problem of separating, on a 

 commercial scale, the helium which was present 

 in this crude gas to the extent of only 0-33 per 

 cent, was one capable of satisfactory solution. 

 Early in 191 8 it was found possible to raise the 

 percentage of helium in the gas to 50 by passing 

 it through the special rectifying column once only, 

 and as the gas obtained in this way consisted of 

 nitrogen and helium with a small percentage of 

 methane, it became therefore a comparatively 

 simple matter to obtain helium of a high degree 

 of purity. In one particular set of experiments 

 on this final rectification, helium of 87 per cent. 

 purity was obtained. 



Experimental Station at Calgary, Alberta. 



In order to operate on the natural gas of the 

 Bow Island system in Southern Alberta, an experi- 



