NATURE 



25 



THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1890. 



CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY. 

 Chemical Technology; or Chemistry in its Applications to 

 Arts and Manufactures. Edited by C. E. Groves, 

 F.R.S., and W. Thorp, B.Sc. Vol. I., " Fuel and its 

 Applications." By E. J. Mills, D.Sc, F.R.S., and F. 

 J. Rowan, C.E. (London; Churchill, 1889.) 



THIS work is described as substantially a new edition 

 of the well-known "Chemical Technology" of 

 Richardson and Watts, which in its turn was founded 

 on the German work of Knapp. In its new form, how- 

 ever, it bears about as much resemblance to its prototype 

 as the famous horse of Wallenstein does to the original 

 animal — "The head, neck, legs, and part of the body 

 have been repaired ; all the rest is the real horse." How 

 much of the real Knapp is left in the work takes some 

 time and trouble to discover. We recognize here and 

 there a woodcut — not always in the best state of preser- 

 vation — but the descriptions appended even to these 

 particular cuts are in most cases entirely recast, if not 

 wholly rewritten. As the present work is to all intents 

 and purposes an original production, it would have been 

 better to have so described it. It may be that a sort of 

 good-will has grown up around Richardson and Watts's 

 " Technology " which the publishers desire to retain ; but 

 the connection between the two works is so slight that 

 they are practically independent. 



The present volume deals exclusively with fuel and its 

 applications. The term fuel is employed in its widest 

 possible sense, and its applications are treated of no less 

 generally. The special employment of fuel in chemical 

 manufactures is reserved for future treatment in the 

 volumes which are concerned more particularly with 

 these subjects. The most superficial comparison of this 

 work with that upon which it is assumed to be founded 

 will serve to show how enormous has been the advance 

 in knowledge of the principles upon which the proper 

 consumption of fuel depends. Take, for example, the 

 question of smoke-prevention. In the preface to the 

 1856 edition it was stated that a method of smoke-pre- 

 vention, although much wanted, had not then been dis- 

 covered. The present work shows that we have changed 

 all that. The idea of " consuming smoke " is obsolete. 

 The conditions of complete combustion are to-day so 

 well understood that it is only the indifference of manu- 

 facturers or the apathy of the authorities which prevents 

 the greater part of industrial firing with solid fuel from 

 being practically smokeless. Even if this were not so, 

 gaseous fuel, the use of which is largely extending, is 

 absolutely smokeless. This kind of fuel might be ap- 

 plied to many industries which have not yet adopted it, 

 and without in any way hampering them, and would in- 

 deed be so applied if the authorities could be brought 

 to regard it as coming within the definition of " the best 

 practicable means " (to quote the words of the Act) for pre- 

 venting smoke. We do not, of course, intend by this to 

 insist on the exclusive adoption of gaseous fuel, although 

 the time may come when, partly on economic and partly 

 on sanitary grounds, such adoption may, as the late Sir 

 C. W. Siemens predicted would be the case, become 

 Vol. XLii.— No. 107 i. 



compulsory. How much the community might save, 

 both in health and pocket, by the more systematic adop- 

 tion of smoke-preventing arrangements, has been de- 

 monstrated over and over again, and we may well hope 

 that the various exhibitions of appliances which seek to 

 realize a consummation so devoutly to be wished may 

 bring about this result in a not too distant future. The 

 public may rest assured that efficient smoke-preventing 

 appliances do exist, as the work before us abundantly 

 demonstrates, and it ought to be the duty of the various 

 centres of local government to insist on the more general 

 adoption of these appliances. What can be done by a 

 benevolent despotism in such a matter was well shown 

 by the action of Lord Palmerston in the case of the 

 metropolis, and there is nothing to prevent even such 

 towns as Glasgow, Sheffield, Birmingham, and Newcastle 

 from having atmospheres at least as sootless as that of 

 London. 



The out-put of coal in this country up to 1883 

 practically followed the law of Jevons as modified 

 by Marshall. In that year it attained a maximum of 

 nearly 164 million tons, or about four times the amount 

 raised in 1850. In 1884 the quantity raised was 

 161 million tons, and in the following year it fell to 

 about 159 millions. This diminution is due to various 

 causes, partly natural and partly economic and social. 

 It is, however, safe to say that a more intelligent ap- 

 preciation of the principles which determine the conver- 

 sion of the store of energy existing in coal into actual 

 work has more than compensated for the smaller out-put. 

 The world to-day gets more duty from its coal than it did 

 even six years ago. Authorities differ slightly as to the 

 manner in which the coal raised is distributed. Accord- 

 ing to Peckar, whose estimate seems to be preferred by 

 the authors, it is somewhat as follows : — ^ 



Although it is no necessary part of a treatise which is 

 mainly concerned with the applications of fuel, the authors 

 devote some considerable space to what may be termed 

 the chemistry of coal-getting, e.g. the occurrence and 

 nature of fire-damp, the relations of atmospheric tem- 

 perature and pressure to its escape, fire-damp indicators, 

 the influence of coal-dust on explosions, &c. On the 

 whole, the information given is sound and accurate, and 

 brought fairly well up to date. And the authors steer a 

 very even and judicious course among points on which 

 much difference of opinion still exists. We think, how- 

 ever, that the very careful and remarkable analyses of 

 certain North Country explosions by the Messrs. Atkin- 

 son are worthy of more notice than they have apparently 

 received, as they seem to be absolutely conclusive on the 

 point that explosions can be originated and propagated 

 by coal-dust alone. 



I No explanation is given of the fact that these umbers add up to 103 59. 



C 



