January 23, 1919 



NATURE 



4i7 



oplam s, : .s , fuel up.ni sea- 



transport, and this should nol y, or, 



at any rate, onl) iii a partial degree. In the futun 

 merchant ships will probabl) burn oil fuel. VVi 

 have at hand mineral resources from which w ■ 

 product.' mineral oils petrol, fuel oil, lubricating 

 oil*, and paraffin wax. Win do we no ei 



There are, ol course, many difficulties in 

 founding .1 new industry, and one of the greatest 

 difficulties has been Government action or inaction. 

 There is now, however, a stirring among the "drj 

 deal "i experimental work has been 

 d out, much of it on semi-commercial pi 

 and there are now several large schemes under con- 

 sideration, which would involve the putting up of 

 an extensive planl both for retorting and refining the 

 oil and to obtain power from the residuals or domestic 

 fuel. 



The ordinary shale retorl is nol adapted foi dealing 



with caking bituminous material, or, indeed, foi 

 ing cannel and non-caking coals; hence- the larger 

 amount of research work which has been carried out 

 in the endeavour to devise a suitable retort for dealing 

 with bituminous materials which contain a large 

 amount of fixed carbon, and will yield, after extrac- 

 tion of the volatile matter, a good fuel for domestic 

 purpose-.. It mighl be replied: "But this is already 

 obtained in the gasworks, where, when coal is car- 

 bonised to produce gas, a residue of from 68 to 70 pi 1 



.eni. remains in the form ol coke, besides which 



tar and ammonia are produced.'" True, coke is pro- 

 duced, and this coke contains a very low percentage 

 oi volatile matter, and for this reason is no) adapted 

 for burning in the ordinary grate. 1 'oke produced bj 

 low-temperature carbonisation (350°-550° C.) is softei 

 than that produced at high temperatures (above 

 ooo° C), and usually contains from 7 to n per cent. 

 1 1 n er. The preseni e of this volatile 

 matter causes the coke to burn readily, practically 

 without flame or smoke, and to give- out a great heat. 

 consequently, very clean for household purposes, 

 and if it were used instc il the cost for the 



painting and decoration of the house would be consider- 

 reduced. Furthermore, the atmospheres of our 

 large towns and cities would be very much less con- 

 taminated !>\ smoke, and the living conditions would 

 be healthier. 



In producing this smokeless fuel b} low-temperature 



onisation there is produced at thi same time oils 



of the aliphatic series, which on refining yield motor 



spirit, fuel oil for internal-combustion engines or for 



direct boiler firing, lubricating oils, and paraffin wax, 



les which there is .1 small quantity of ammonia 



1 nt gas to fire the retorts and" leave a small 



surplus. 



Now in low-temperature practice there are three 

 possibilities, any of which mighl be a financial success, 

 or they might be combined : — 



111 Thi production of oil and smokeless fuel, 

 (a) The production of oil and the conversion of the 

 fuel residue into power-gas b) gasifying ii in a pro- 

 ducer. 

 (3) rhe production of oil, using a portion of the 



for domestic purposes anil gassifying the 

 remainder. 



In distil, is where power is not required for manu- 

 facturing purposes, but when coal or cannel could 

 rcadih be obtained without having to transport it for 

 lone; distances, then the Grsl proposition would bt 

 mbark on. 



On the other hand, where cheap power in large bulk 

 is require d, thi n (2) would be the process to take 

 up. Probably in all cases a certain proportion of the 

 residue would be sold as fuel. 



Those who dn not know the quality of the low- 

 temperature products have said: "We shall then be 

 able to win back the dye industry from Germany." 

 We nearly lost the- wai from lack of oil: 



land Curzon recently told us that al one time then- 

 stock of only 900,000 tuns i n t |„. country againsl 

 a minimum of 1,500,000 tons which the Adinii ah 



I necessary. The Fleet, in fact, had to restrict 

 iis exercises in order that, if a battle took place, then 

 I he sufficient oil to go round. When we know- 

 more of the internal management of Germany during 

 the war, ii will doubtless be found that tin- Germans 

 produced large quantities of oil by low-temperature 

 carbonisation of bituminous material. The) wee 

 - 1 before the war. 



One of the r.-asons why low-temperature carbonisa- 

 tion has, so to say, hung fire is due to the exag- 

 1 .1 claims made by inventors, backed up by com- 

 pany promoters. In all distillations of bituminous 

 material water is obtained along with the oil, and is 

 at times extremely difficult to separate, as the specific 

 gravity of the crude oil approximates to that of water. 

 In fact, it is not unusual to find 30 to 40 per cent, of 

 water in the crude oil. This has all been lumped in 

 as oil, hence the impossible claims for oil yields which 

 have been made. 



The davs of exaggeration are, it is to be hoped, 

 past, and careful research has taken the place of 

 romance. If the claims are more moderate, at any 

 rate we are working on a sure foundation, and many 

 of us believe that a home oil industry can be founded 

 on business lines, which, although not rendering us 

 self-supporting, will, at any rate, supply a portion of 

 our needs and tend to prevent exploitation. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — A new educational office has been 

 established by the council of St. John's College, with 

 a view to the co-ordination of the college teaching in 

 natural science subjects and the special encourage- 

 ment and direction of scientific research. Dr. 

 W. H. R. Rivers, fellow of the college, has been ap- 

 pointed to this office, with the title of praslector in 

 natural sciences. Mr. R. W'hiddington, fellow of the 

 college, has been appointed to the office of director of 

 studies in physics. 



The compulsory Greek in the Previous Examination 

 was abolished by vote of the Senate on January 17. 

 By a verv large" majority (ibi to 15) the Senate ap- 

 proved a report of the Previous Examination Syndicate 

 containing the recommendation that Greek should be 

 made an' optional subject. Although the final plans 

 for the reconstitution of the examination are not com- 

 plete, since the details of parts ii. and iii., which it is 

 proposed shall consist of papers in mathematics, 

 science, and English subjects, are still under con- 

 sideration, the question of compulsory Greek was 

 regarded as being so urgent that the proposals for 

 pari i. were submitted to the Senate without further 

 delay. In consequence of the approval of this report, 

 .. candidate, after January 1, 1919, is allowed to take 

 as an alternative to the' old classical part i. of the 

 Previous Examination a new' part i., in which ! aim 

 is compulsory, but Greek is mad.- alternative to 

 French German, Italian, or Spanish. The "addi- 

 tional subjects." which hitherto haw had to be taken 

 bj candidates for an honours degree, are abolished. 



M,n who have been engaged on military service an 

 now coming up to the University in large numbers, 

 and lecture-rooms and laboratories have begun to 

 resume something of their pre-war aspei 1. Four terms 



NO. 2569, VOL. I02 1 



