NA TURE 



517 



I 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1916. 



COAL-TAR AND AMMONIA. 



"oal-Tar and Ammonia. By Prof. G. Lunge. 

 Fifth and enlarged edition. Part i. Coal- 

 Tar. Pp. xxix + 527. Part ii. Coal-Tar. 

 Pp. xi + 531 to 1037. Part iii. Ammonia. 

 Pp. xvi+io4i to 1658. (London: Gurney 

 and Jackson, 1916.) Price, three parts, 3Z. 35. 

 net. 



rHIS well-known book is one of the acknow- 

 ledged classics of chemical technology. 

 >riginally published in 1882, it has now reached 

 ts fifth edition. Perhaps nothing could pos- 

 ibly serve to illustrate more strikingly the 

 xtraordinary development of chemical industry 

 luring the past third of a century than a coni- 

 larison of the contents and size of the volumes 

 'f the successive editions. The 1882 edition, 

 ihich all authorities agreed was a faithful reflec- 

 ion of the then condition of this particular 

 adustry, consisted of a modest volume of some 

 70 pages, of which about 300 treated of 

 oal-tar, its origin, properties, distillation, 

 actionation, etc., while fewer than sixty pages 

 ere devoted to the subject of ammoniacal 

 quor, its treatment, and the manufacture of the 

 lore industrially important ammoniacal salts, the 

 imainder of the book comprising tabular matter, 

 inversion tables, appendix, and index. 



The present {1916) edition extends to three 

 >lumes, each of which is nearly double the size 

 '* the single volume of which the first edition 

 insisted. Two of these volumes are taken up 

 ;ith coal-tar and its products, while the third 

 eats exclusively of ammonia and its commer- 

 al compounds. It may serve to indicate the 

 iportance which this subject has assumed to 

 ate that the space which has now to be given 



it is nine times greater than was needed some 



irty-four years ago. 



In the first edition no attempt was made to 



timate the amount of the by-products obtained 

 the destructive distillation of coal. In the 

 ;rly 'eighties the industry, although no longer 

 ' its infancy, was still comparatively un- 

 ♦veloped, and statistics were not readily avail- 

 •le, nor when obtained were they very con- 

 stent. Wurtz, in 1876, in connection with the 

 «rly history of the coal-tar colouring matters, 

 |d estimated the total production of coal-tar in 

 |irope at about 175,000 tons, of which Great 

 Mtain produced about 130,000 tons. Weyl, of 

 -innheim, some years later, put the amount for 

 < Europe at 350,000 tons, of which England 

 P'duced more than half, exclusively, of course, 

 S-as-works. In 1880 Germany worked up 

 37,500 tons. In 1883 the total production 

 j- the principal European countries was stated 

 Gallois to be 675,000 tons, of which Great 

 ^tain produced 450,000 tons and Germany 



000 tons. At about that time (1884), arcord'- 

 * a report of the directors of the South 

 XO. 2443, VOL. 97] 



Metropolitan Gas Company, the sale of tar and 

 sulphate of ammonia realised 82 per cent, of the 

 initial cost of the coal incidentally employed. 

 "Residuals," however, do not always command 

 such prices. Tar, for example, has fluctuated in 

 value in recent years from 265. a ton in 1903 to 

 as low as 115. in 1909. Owing to the special 

 circumstances of the times it has doubtless 

 greatly increased in price. 



The production of tar and the working up and 

 treatment of tar-products and " residuals " 

 generally have made enormous strides in Ger- 

 many during recent years, and she is now, in all 

 probability, no longer dependent upon outside 

 sources as she formerly was. \'ery recent 

 statistics are, of course, not to be looked for. 

 The latest which are available for a comparison 

 between our position and that of Germany in this 

 respect refer to 1909, and no doubt are not 

 strictly applicable to the present abnormal condi- 

 tions. But even as they stand they are very 

 significant, and leave no room for doubt as to 

 their meaning. 



According to the figures furnished by the 

 author the amount of tar produced in the L'nited 

 Kingdom in 1909 was 1,100,000 tons, made up 

 as follows : — 



Tons 



Gas-tar ... ... ... 750,000 



Coke-oven tar ... ... 150,000 



Blast-furnace tar 200,000 



1,100,000 



In the same year the aggregate production of 

 tar from all sources in Germany was 1,012,000 

 tons. In other words, whilst the United King- 

 dom had rather more than doubled her production 

 in about twenty-five years, Germany, during 

 the same interval of time, had increased her 

 supply by about twelve times the amount. There 

 can be little doubt that her production at the 

 present time exceeds that of the United Kingdom 

 and that we have now definitely lost our pre- 

 eminence in this particular industry. The 

 greatly increased production in Germany would 

 appear to be due to the extraordinary developn 

 ment of the coke-oven industry which has taken 

 place within recent years in that country. There 

 is at the present time about three times as much 

 coke-oven tar produced in Germany as of gas-tar, 

 whereas with us the amount of coke-oven tar until 

 quite recently was barely half that of the gas- 

 tar. This great disparity in the rate of develop- 

 ment of this particular phase of the industry is, 

 no doubt, due to several causes, some of them, 

 possibly, purely economic. On the other hand, 

 something must be set down to the conservatism 

 and apathy of coalowners and to the prejudice 

 of ironmasters. It is lamentable to think how 

 one of the greatest assets this country possesses 

 continues to be wasted through ignorance and 

 neglect. Some day we shall wake up to the fact 

 that we have heedlessly squandered the potential 

 riches with which we have been endowed. 



Considering the part played by coal-tar 



D D 



