NALTORE 
365 

THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1915. 
GERMANY AND THE MUNITIONS OF WAR. 
previous articles we have commented upon 
I the stringency which will undoubtedly be felt 
in time by our enemies in regard to the provision of 
certain raw materials which are absolutely essen- 
tial to the manufacture of munitions of war. All 
accounts which are allowed to lealx through from 
Germany and Austria clearly indicate that this 
stringency is now becoming acute, and with 
the advent of Italy as another of our Allies, it will 
rapidly become almost insurmountable. 
From an article which appears in the last issue 
of the Engineering and Mining Journal of New 
York, based upon a communication made by the 
director of a great German metallurgical com- 
pany to an American correspondent, we gather 
that the shortage is frankly admitted, and some 
account is given of the desperate efforts which 
are being made by our enemies to meet it. 
Germany has evidently summoned to her assist- 
ance all the metallurgical skill and chemical 
knowledge at her disposal in attempts to im- 
provise substitutes for the materials of which she 
has been deprived by the effectiveness of our 
blockade. That she will to some extent succeed 
may be conceded, for ordinary commercial condi- 
tions are no longer applicable to the case of a 
nation which has “its back to the wall,’ and is 
determined to stake everything, regardless of 
human life and treasure, in the struggle to pre- 
serve its existence. But whilst these attempts 
may do credit to the intelligence and resourceful- 
ness of our enemies, and may serve to illustrate 
their undoubted organising capacity, they are 
clear proofs of the straits to which they are 
reduced. 
_ Such attempts: may prolong the duration of the 
struggle, but it is highly improbable that they 
will materially affect its ultimate result. It is 
possible that gun cartridges, rifle cartridges, and 
the fuse-heads of grenades may be made without 
the use of copper or brass, or with alloys con- 
taining only a minimal proportion of copper, but 
it is unlikely that such substitutes will prove as 
efficient as the material hitherto used. It must 
be remembered that the strongest arm of the 
enemy’s service is its artillery, and anything that 
militates against the efficiency of that branch pro 
tanto weakens the enemy’s power. 
Supplies of cotton are almost unavailable to 
Germany and Austria; the closing of the Italian 
ports has effectively cut off some lines of im- 
NO. 2379, VOL. 95] 

Other sources of 
cellulose are, of course, open to them, and other 
portation of this commodity. 
forms of nitro-cellulose than ordinary gun-cotton 
are being made and are said to be in use with 
what is stated to be ‘‘unobjectionable” results, 
which rather sounds like damning with faint 
praise. 
It is admitted that we have also cut off all 
supplies of petrol and petroleum, but as regards 
the use of the former substance in internal com- 
bustion engines, benzene, which is_ obtained 
by the destructive distillation of coal, is claimed 
to be a satisfactory substitute. This may be more 
or less true of ordinary motor-driven vehicles, 
especially in summer; but benzene is apt to freeze 
at low temperatures, and this circumstance has 
undoubtedly led to trouble in air-craft flying at 
high elevations in winter. Ordinary gasolene 
consists largely of pentane and amylene, and no 
doubt these hydrocarbons can be produced syn- 
thetically, if cost is no object. Indeed, it is 
claimed that chemists have worked 
out two synthetic processes which are actually 
German 
in operation, and are said to be so far successful 
that Germany is assured of internal supplies, even 
after the conclusion of the war. Acetylene has 
largely replaced petroleum as an illuminant, and 
is in use even in safety-lamps, and it is possible 
that the substitution may be more or less per- 
manent, unless, which is unlikely, steps are taken 
on the conclusion of peace to reduce the relatively 
high price of burning oil consequent on the import 
duty and the operations of the American, Russian, 
and Dutch Trusts. 
Germany also now claims to be independent of 
any external supply of nitrates. It is stated that 
“within a short time enormous works will have 
been erected, which will convert the nitrogen of 
the air into ammonia, and thence, by its combus- 
tion, into nitric acid ’’—one works alone turning 
out about 80,000 tons of nitric acid yearly. It 
may be confidently asserted that before this con- 
summation is reached the war and all its doings 
will have been relegated to the domains of history. 
Nitric acid can only be made commercially by 
the use of oil of vitriol, and there is ample evidence 
that the growing scarcity of the raw materials 
upon which the manufacture of the latter sub- 
stance depends is causing great perturbation in 
chemical circles in Germany. All outside sources 
of sulphur, whether as such or as pyrites, are 
excluded. The use of sulphuric acid for the manu- 
facture of fertilisers is practically prohibited. 
Attempts are being made to convert ammonium 
carbonate, obtained by the Haber process, into 
P 
