August 30, 19 17] 



NATURE 



531 



characterised by yielding valuable commercial paraffin 

 oils in distillation, and are, at the present moment, of 

 very considerable importance. Torbanehill mineral, or 

 ■'boghead coal," has been exhausted for some years, 

 and for oil production th-^ shales of Lothian, Fife, and 

 Linlithgow are relied on. The author deals with the 

 megascopic, but more particularly the microscopic, 

 study, together with a rough comparison of the oil 

 yield and its character. Previous work has led to 

 much difference of opinion as to the constitution and 

 origin of the torbanite and oil shales. Micro-consti- 

 tuents are very varied ; they include minute carbonised 

 fragments of plants ; yellow bodies, regarded variously 

 as remains of algae, vegetable spores, or as residues 

 from oil globules ; shells of minute crustaceans, teeth 

 and scales of fishes ; and a high proportion of mineral 

 matter, parts believed to be pyrites crystals. Boghead 

 coal consists of little beyond the yellow bodies, which, 

 the author concludes, on very good reasoning, are 

 metamorphosed resins, and these yield the character- 

 istic oil products. Interstices are filled with opaque, 

 amorphous matter, similar to that forming the ground 

 mass of coal, and yield products similar to coal-tars, 

 and from this portion the important nitrogenous con- 

 stituents in shale products are derived. Unhesitat- 

 ingly the author ascribes these shales and torbanites 

 to vegetable sources. The boghead coal of Linlithgow 

 represents a deposit formed in a swamp fringed with 

 vegetation, but with open water towards the centre 

 sufficiently deep to prohibit the growth of plants. 

 Drifted vegetable matter reaching the central area 

 became so completely oxidised as to leave practically 

 only the resin. The Lothian oil shales accumulated 

 as the widespread mud-flats of an estuary, the river 

 bringing down a proportion of extremely macerated 

 vegetable matter, the ebb and flow of the tide aiding 

 in the elimination of the woody materials and concen- 

 tration of the resin. 



The Italian Geographical Society continues its series 

 of special publications on the Italian field of operations 

 and the borderlands of Italy. A small volume ('* Pagine 

 Geografiche della nostra Guerra ") contains six lectures 

 delivered before the society in 19 16 on the geography 

 of the war area, the geology of the Trentino, the 

 Adriatic lands of Albania, the Carso, Dalmatia, and 

 the Carnic Alps. The \olume is illustrated with several 

 black-and-white maps and one coloured one, which is 

 specially interesting. It is a map of the regions ad- 

 joining the present political frontier of Italy in the 

 north-east, and is coloured to show the distribution of 

 races as represented by majorities or minorities of 

 Slavs, Italians, and Germans. The proposed new 

 frontier drawn on this basis shows a close coincidence 

 with the natural physical frontier running along the 

 Alps. 



In the Scientific American for July 21 Prof. T. H. 

 Norton describes in simple terms the problems in dye 

 synthesis which are now being undertaken by Amer- 

 ican chemists. He traces the evolution of synthetic 

 dyes from some seven or eight direct coal-tar products 

 ("coal-tar crudes") through the intricate maze of 

 intermediate products to the finished dyewares. The 

 processes whereby the coal-tar crudes are converted 

 into intermediates are the chemical operations of nitra- 

 tion, reduction, sulphonation, alkali fusion, chlorina- 

 tion, oxidation, and sulphur fusions. These processes, 

 constituting the simpler reactions where inorganic 

 reagents are employed, are now^ carried out on a ver}' 

 large scale and require highly specialised plant, of 

 which illustrations are given. As a concrete example, 

 the care of the important colour-producing intermediate, 

 "H. acid," is cited. This substance, which has the 

 systematic name of 8-amino-a-naphthol-3 : 6-disulphonic 

 acid to distinguish it from 219 isomerides, is derived 



NO. 2496, VOL. 99] 



from naphthalene. The hydrocarbon is treated with 

 sulphuric acid (sulphonation) and converted into naph- 

 thalene-2 : 7-disulphonic acid, one of ten possible iso- 

 merides. The product is treated with nitric acid (nitra- 

 tion), when I : 8-dinitronaphthalene-2 : 7-disulphonic 

 acid is obtained. The dinitro-compound is reduced 

 with acid and iron filings to i : S-diaminonaphthalene- 

 2 : 7-disulphonic acid, the penultimate intermediate 

 which on heating with dilute sulphuric acid under pres- 

 sure at 120° C. yields the required H. acid. This highly 

 prized intermediate is greatly needed in the preparation 

 of direct cotton blaes and various shades of black, 

 violet, and green. The preliminary work to be done 

 in passing from naphthalene to this intermediate may 

 be gauged by the fact that the raw mateiial costs 

 about 5d. per lb., whereas H. acid is quoted nowadays 

 at about los. per lb. 



We have received a copy of a pamphlet by Mr. 

 Robert N. Tweedy on *" Industrial Alcohol," written 

 for, and published by, the Dublin Co-operative Refer- 

 ence Library. Its object is mainly twofold : first, to 

 emphasise the desirability of producing a home-grown 

 liquid fuel, and secondly to do so to the advantagie of 

 agriculture. These two objects are to be fulfilled by 

 the manufacture of ootato spirit on a large scale. The 

 author points out that our staple fuel, coal, cannot t>e 

 used for a variety of industrial purposes, such as the 

 manufacture of chemicals and motor traffic, and that 

 for the latter especially we are dependent on im- 

 ported petroleum, which is steadily rising in price. 

 In 1914 we imported petrol to the extent of 120 million 

 gallons (imperial), in addition to 150 million gallons of 

 burning oil. The extent to which alcohol is used on 

 the Continent, especially in Germany, for industrial 

 purposes may be judged from the following statistics. 

 Whereas in 1914 a littTe more than four million gallons 

 of methylated spirit were used in the United King- 

 dom, in 1912 France produced 875 million gallons, of 

 which eighteen million gallons were dena-^ured and 

 twelve and a half million gallons were used for heating 

 and lighting. In 1913 Germany produced seventy 

 million gallons from potatoes alone, representing So per 

 cent, of the whole production of alcohol, a large pro- 

 portion of which was used for heating, lighting, and 

 n.otor traffic. The author lays stress on the fact that 

 denatured alcohol for industrial purposes might be 

 produced with profit from potatoes in the manner that 

 has been developed with so much success in Germany ; 

 but that to do this an entire revision of the excise 

 laws will have to be taken in hand. At present it is 

 hedged in with such restrictions that until they are 

 removed or modified there is no prospect of this impor- 

 tant branch of agriculture being seriously exploited. 



A WRITER in La Nature for August 4 discusses the 

 special features w-hich aeroplanes of the chaser and 

 bombardment types should possess for adequatelv 

 carrying out the work assigned to them. He takes 

 as examples of the tw-o classes the Gotha t\pe — i.e. 

 the type which has been prominent in recent air raids 

 over London— and the Albatros. The Gotha type 

 is characterised by extensive plane area, high engine 

 capacity, and its powerful armament. The latest 

 types carry 600 kilos, of bombs. The power neces- 

 sary is furnished by two motors of 260-280 h.p. each. 

 The planes cover an area of about 100 sq. metres, 

 while the total length of the aeroplane is 

 12 metres and the span 24 metres. A speed of 140 

 kilometres per hour can be attained. The Albatros 

 of the D.I. type has a Mercedes engine of 170 h.p., 

 a plane area of about 24 sq. metres, a length of 

 7 metres, and a span of 9 metres. It has a speed of 

 200 kilometres an hour. Further interesting details 

 of the construction of these two types of aeroplane 

 are given in the article quoted. 



