xxviii. The Fermentation of Cacao 



interested in the continuous rise in the price of 

 petroleum spirits and in every fact that points 

 to the alternate substitution of alcohol as a 

 source of power. We therefore quote in full 

 an article from the Manchester Guardian which 

 furnishes a number of useful data : 



4< There are many practical difficulties in 

 the way of producing a sufficient supply of 

 benzol under conditions which would allow 

 any attempt at price cutting on the part of the 

 suppliers of other motor fuels to be disregarded. 

 Alcohol is the only fuel which can be obtained 

 in virtually unlimited amount without encroach- 

 ing on capital, so to speak, as we have to do 

 with other fuels. It is obtainable from virtu- 

 ally everything in the vegetable world ; not 

 only from roots, as beets and potatoes, and 

 from grains, but from such things as peat and 

 even sawdusts. There should be no difficulty, 

 therefore, in securing an adequate supply at a 

 low price. The sources from which it can be 

 obtained are so numerous and their interests so 

 competitive, that there would be no possibility 

 of an alcohol ring being formed to force up the 

 price of the fuel. 



"As regards denaturizing, when alcohol is 

 mixed with 25 per cent, its bulk of benzol, the 

 alcohol being of a specific gravity of 0*833, an 

 engine can be started up from cold and run 

 with an ordinary carburettor. Benzol is often 

 employed as a denaturizing substance, especially 

 in Germany. It is stated that it is impossible 



