NATURE 



[April 3, 1913 



At the present lime two of the most important 

 questions in the public mind are how the enormous 

 demand for motor spirit that has of late developed 

 is to be met, and l he imperial question of securing 

 fuel oil for our Navy in the case of war interfering 

 with our over-sea supply, and it will be of interest 

 to see how far the Scotch shale-oil industry can 

 help in these directions. 



The rapid increase in the number of motor-driven 

 vehicles during the past few years has doubled the 

 consumption of motor spirit since 1908, the amount 

 used in this country during 1912 reaching the 

 enormous total of 80,000,000 gallons, whilst the 

 quantity of motor spirit produced by the Scotch 

 distilleries would be about 600,000 gallons, or 

 °'75 P er cent - °f tne tota ' use d. an amount which 

 is practically negligible. Considerations of safety 

 on board limit the proportion of the oil that can 

 be used for naval fuel, and the total amount of 

 oil of satisfactory character that is at present 

 produced by the Scotch industry and would 

 he available for such purposes would be only 

 about 50,000 tons, which again is only a small 

 fraction of the quantity needed, but the proximity 

 of the shale fields to the new naval base at Rosyth 

 encourages the hope that the Government will 

 secure and accumulate a sufficient quantity of 

 liquid fuel from this source to safeguard the supply 

 in case of war. 



In the portion of the memoir dealing with the 

 chemistry of the oil-shales, Mr. Steuart has col- 

 lected a mass of most interesting facts, not only 

 with regard to the shale oil, but also bearing upon 

 the probable formation of the shale beds, and the 

 whole work is so full of interesting and suggestive 

 points that no one interested in oil or allied sub- 

 jects should fail to read it. 



THE ANALYSIS OF COLOURING MATTERS. 



THE Eighth International Congress of Applied 

 Chemistrv, which was held in New York 

 in September last, adopted a report submitted by 

 a subcommittee of the Commission Internationale 

 d 'Analyses, to which was referred the question 

 of the possibility of unifying the methods of 

 analysis of organic colouring matters. 



The subcommittee was international and very 

 representative in character, the British members 

 being Prof. E. Knecht and Mr. C. Rawson of 

 Manchester. The report, which was presented 

 by the president, Dr. F. Reverdin (Switzerland), 

 in a short historical summary of the subject, states 

 that the first systematic scheme was that of O. N. 

 Witt, who, in 18S6, suggested a differentiation 

 of the various types of colouring matters by their 

 behaviour on reduction. This reaction, developed 

 and improved by other workers, notably by A. O. 

 Green, is now the basis of the usual method of 

 identification. So early as 1874 Kopp proposed 

 the use of the characteristic absorption spectra of 

 dyes as a means of identifying them, and this 

 method has been greatly improved and extended 

 by Formanek, Grandmougin and others. The 

 photo-spectroscopic method proposed in iqn by 

 \o. 2266, VOL. 91] 



Porai-Koschitz and Auschkap has not yet been 

 much used. 



The individual reports from the various national 

 representatives, which constitute the bulk of the 

 report, deal mainly with the analysis of colouring 

 matters for Customs purposes. 



The subcommittee finally reports that the unifica- 

 tion of the methods employed in the analysis of 

 colouring matters is not possible in the present 

 state of the industry, and would not be of much 

 practical use. It considers, however, that an 

 international agreement would be advantageous 

 in certain cases, such as that of the organic dye- 

 stuffs used in colouring foodstuffs, and also where 

 the assessment of Customs duties is required. 



The subcommittee has therefore been re- 

 appointed by the International Commission of 

 Analysis and instructed "to investigate special 

 cases in which the unification of the methods of 

 analysis of organic dyestuffs offers some interest 

 from the international standpoint." 



The committee requests that anyone interested 

 in the subject will communicate information or 

 suggestions to the president (Dr. F. Reverdin, 

 Geneva") or to the British representatives above 

 named. 



NOTES. 

 The death of Lord Wolseley on March 25, in his 

 eightieth vear, should not pass unrecorded in a scien- 

 tific journaL. for he was distinguished among great 

 soldiers bv his devotion to scientific methods. His 

 capacitv for organisation, recognition of the value of 

 knowledge, and regard for accuracy and completeness 

 are attributes not always associated with military 

 careers. His " Soldier's Pocket-Book," now pub- 

 lished by the War Office, is rich in details relating 

 to medical, engineering, and other aspects of field 

 operations which depend upon science for their suc- 

 cess. He held that it was essential for every officer 

 to have a good knowledge of his science in order to 

 be able to apply that knowledge usefully in the field, 

 when cut adrift, perhaps, from civilisation. We share 

 with the rest of the nation the feeling of regret that 

 a life which has brought so much credit to the British 

 Army is now ended. Lord Wolseley 's body was laid 

 to rest in St. Paul's Cathedral on Monday, with im- 

 pressive funeral ceremonies, but his works will long 

 remain a monument to his memory. 



The construction of trustworthy and enduring flying 

 machines has been much encouraged by various large 

 money prizes given by The Daily Mail. When in 

 1906 our enterprising contemporary offered a prize of 

 10,000!. for a flight bv aeroplane from London to 

 Manchester in twenty-four hours, with not more than 

 two stoppages, there was little anticipation that it 

 would be won, yet M. Paulhan accomplished the feat 

 in n,io. A further prize of 10,000/. for a circuit of 

 Great Britain, covering a distance of 1000 miles in 

 nm week, with eleven landing-places, or control 

 stations, at each of which a descent had to be made, 

 was won by M. Beaumont in 10,11. Now The Daily 

 Mai! offers a third prize of 10,000/. for a flight by 



