-active than the simple olefines. . 
January 4, 1917] 
According to the authors “the thermal decomposi- 
‘tion of petroleum into aromatic compounds occurs at 
temperatures considerably in excess of those needed 
for simple cracking, and in consequence much more 
serious losses occur in the shape of carbon and fixed 
gases. Paraffin hydrocarbons at these temperatures 
are almost completely decomposed. The desired pro- 
ducts are not the primary results of cracking; they are 
obtained from them by further decompositions and 
synthesis. Accompanying them are other. character- 
istic bodies, usually classed under the heading of un- 
saturated hydrocarbons, but which are far more re- 
. . Summing up, 
therefore, the effects of temperature on petroleum may 
be said to be: -(1) temperatures up to 500°-600° yield 
in the main mixtures of olefines and paraffins; (2) 
‘temperatures about 700° yield a mixture of olefines, 
diolefines (e.g. butadiene), and aromatic hydrocarbons, 
with little paraffins; (3) temperatures about 1ooo° yield 
mainly permanent gases and a tar similar to coal-tar, 
in that they both contain aromatic hydrocarbons.” 
The effect of pressure on cracking appears in general 
terms to be.that increased pressure favours synthesis, 
whilst diminished pressure promotes dissociation. 
A very interesting development in the thermal decom- 
position of hydrocarbons is the effect of catalysts. 
Moissan first observed the production of liquid hydro- 
carbons (among them being benzene) by the contact 
of acetylene with metals, and in the well-known 
method of reduction of Sabatier and Senderens finely 
divided nickel, cobalt, iron, and other metals have 
been employed with and without hydrogen with very 
noteworthy results. Acetylene on reduction in pre- 
sence of nickel yields both paraffins and cycloparaffins 
in proportion resembling Baku, Galician, and Penn- 
sylvanian petroleum. Coke also behaves as a catalyst. 
At the end of this very informing paper the authors 
give a summary of the mechanism of pyrogenesis, 
which does not admit of abbreviation, and is too long 
for reproduction. Those who are interested in the 
subject will feel that the authors have accomplished 
an important service to the coal-tar and petroleum 
industry in presenting to the public at such an oppor- 
tune moment this valuable and exhaustive memoir. 
J Boe. 
METALLIC TUNGSTEN POWDER AND 
HIGH-SPEED STEEL, 
NE of the most successful of the manufactures 
which have been established in this country by 
reason of the war is that of metallic tungsten. 
This metal occurs naturally in the form of oxide, 
together with the oxides of iron, manganese, and 
calcium. Pure tungsten powder is obtained by first 
isolating the tungstic oxide and then reducing it, 
whilst ferro-tungsten is obtained by reducing the mixed 
oxides. For the production of the best high-speed 
steel metallic tungsten powder is necessary, because 
ferro-tungsten contains impurities which are eliminated 
only when the process of separating the tungstic oxide 
from the ore is employed. Before the war almost all 
the pure tungsten powder was supplied by Germany, 
whilst ferro-tungsten was manufactured in France 
and, on a small scale, in this country. On the de- 
claration of war only a limited stock of tungsten 
existed.in this country, whilst the necessity for a large 
output of high-speed steel was urgent. The way in 
which it was supplied is described in an article in the 
Chemical Trade Journal for December 9. 
An inquiry instituted by the Government showed 
that a factory for the production of metallic tungsten 
powder was essential. The Committee of High-Speed 
Steel-Makers, which took the matter in hand, recom- 
NO. 2462, VOL. 98] 
NATURE 
359 
mended the engagement of the services of Mr. J. L, F. 
Vogel, and a company (High-Speed Steel Alloys, Ltd.) 
was formed, in which thirty firms manufacturing high- 
speed steel became shareholders. A site chosen at 
Widnes was taken over in November, 1914, and build- 
ing was sufficiently advanced in July, 1915, for the 
commencement of production. The factory, which 
occupies a site of about six acres, is divided into eight 
departments. The first department comprises a ware- 
house for the storage of the ore, grinding and mixing 
plant, and the magnetic separator. The second de- 
partment contains furnaces for roasting the mixed ore 
with soda, whereby all the tungsten is converted into 
sodium tungstate. In the third department the 
furnace product is broken up and conveyed automatic- 
ally into the next department, where it is extracted 
with boiling water. The solution of sodium tungstate 
passes to the fifth department, where it is treated with 
acid. The resulting yellow tungstic oxide is dried in 
the next department, and prepared for reduction. The 
seventh department contains the furnaces for heating 
the crucibles to reduce the tungsten. The metal: is 
washed and dried in the last department. The product 
has contained on an average 98:5 per cent. pure tung- 
sten, which is one per cent. better than the German 
product. 
The Government took control of all wolfram ore in 
the British Empire on September 1, 1915, but the 
amount being insufficient to meet the full demand, the 
High-Speed Steel Alloys Co., to improve the output, 
has purchased mines in Burma, and has sent out 
Dr. W. R. Jones, formerly of the Indian Survey, to 
take charge of operations. : 
EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCES. 
A the opening meeting of the Conference of Edu- 
cational Associations, the chairman, Sir Henry 
Miers, directed attention to the wide interest aroused 
of late in educational questions, and laid down three 
lines of general agreement: continued education be- 
yond fourteen, an improvement in the position and 
prospects of teachers, and a reorganisation of the 
scholarship system. We need to promote in young 
people a desire for further education and the power 
to carry it on, and to provide facilities for the exercise 
of that power. Mr. A. L. Smith, the Master of Balliol, 
in his inaugural lecture, struck a similar note, That 
all recently published programmes of reform should 
be working in the same direction, that so many sug- 
gestive experiments in the psychology and practice of 
education should be in progress, and that so wide an 
interest should have been aroused among workers, 
employers, and business men he regarded as very hope- 
ful signs. As head of a great Oxford college he wel- 
comed the controversy between classics and science, 
and expressed the opinion that much of the old curri- 
culum should be discarded, that no one could be con- 
sidered fully educated who was ignorant of the pro- 
cesses, standards, and history of natural science, and 
that it was possible to give a general scientific train- 
ing which should provide useful equipment and valu- 
able mental exercise for all. It would be both feasible 
and beneficial for science to enter into all early educa- 
tion, with specialisation later where aptitude was 
shown. Public opinion has not yet put the teacher in 
his right place, or rewarded him sufficiently, yet only 
so can we foster the power for development and hero- 
ism latent in the ordinary man. Educational methods 
have great influence on the efficiency and contentment 
of workers, and a great modern commonwealth needs 
at its centre a democracy which shall be intellectually, 
socially, and morally educated. ; 
The Headmasters’ Conference, 
which is held 
