August 5, 1922] 



NA TURE 



173 



Allowing the exclusion of a liquid fuel produced by 

 inorganic agency, he considers that " contemporary 

 vegetation constitutes the only alternative to bitu- 

 minous mineral deposits as a source of motor spirit, 

 and it would seem that it must eventually supply (as 

 alcohol) a large proportion of the world's require- 

 ments." To-day it is a question of the comparative 

 cost of alcohol and petroleum spirit, and alcohol is at 

 a serious disadvantage. In concluding his first chapter 

 Dr. Monier - Williams cogently observes that "the 

 balance of evidence certainly favours the view that 

 before many years have elapsed the supply of petrol 

 will be permanently unequal to the demand, and that 

 power alcohol, considered from the standpoint of a 

 supplementary and not necessarily competitive fuel, 

 has an undoubted future before it." 



The many problems associated with the economic 

 production of fuel alcohol have received a great deal of 

 attention, and the author has given a most complete 

 account of the chemical and economic questions in- 

 volved. In his later chapters he gives very full in- 

 formation on the results which have been obtained in 

 practice with alcohol, and fuel mixtures containing it, 

 and particular mention should be made of the excellent 

 chapter on the chemical and physical properties of 

 alcohol from the motor fuel standpoint. Here are 

 included the important results which have recently 

 been obtained by Ricardo, Tizard and Pye, and 

 Ormandy. 



One of the outstanding problems in connexion with 

 fuel alcohol must be the bearing of excise regulations 

 on its production, and the associated question of de- 

 naturing. When duty-free denatured alcohol was 

 legalised in 1855 tne duty was only 12s. per bulk 

 gallon ; to-day it is 61. 3?. 3d. per gallon of 95 per cent, 

 alcohol. To protect the revenue many onerous con- 

 ditions have to be applied to production, and these 

 necessarily are reflected in the costs, but some relaxa- 

 tion has already been sanctioned since 1921. It is 

 now possible to import power alcohol as bulk cargo at 

 certain ports, denature it in bond with at least 25 per 

 cent, of petrol, benzol, or other approved substance, 

 and to distribute the spirit without further restriction 

 for power purposes alone. Dr. Monier- Williams deals 

 very fully with these questions of excise supervision 

 and denaturation, but concludes, after summarising 

 the ideal requirements of a denaturant, that no sub- 

 stance has yet been found which fulfils satisfactorily 

 all these conditions. 



Whether " Power Alcohol " is considered from the 

 point of view of the chemist, the engineer, or the 

 general reader, it gives a complete and well-balanced 

 consideration to all the problems associated with the 

 production and utilisation. Sooner or later alcohol 

 NO. 2753, VOL. I io] 



seems bound to play no small part in our means of 

 transport, but above all it is necessary to-day to main- 

 tain a proper sense of proportion, and this Dr. Monier- 

 Williams may justly claim to have preserved. En- 

 thusiastic advocates of a new development so often 

 fail to recognise economic limitations. 



J. S. S. B. 



Chemistry and Life. 



La Chimie et la Vie. By Georges Bohn and Dr. Anna 

 Drzewina. (Bibliotheque de Philosophic scientifique.) 

 Pp. 275. (Paris : Ernest Flammarion, 1920.) Price 

 7.50 frs. net. 



BEYOND a short chapter with general statements 

 concerning colloids, nucleoproteids and lipoids, 

 and a chapter insisting upon the specificity of the 

 chemistry of living animals and plants, chemistry 

 plays no more part in the arguments of the authors 

 of " La Chimie et la Vie " than many other sciences. 

 The authors do not deal with pure chemistry, but with 

 chemical physics — the object of which is to determine 

 the influence exerted by physical conditions such as 

 pressure, temperature and concentration of solutions 

 on the progress or change of direction of chemical 

 reactions. They object to the tendency to localise 

 the various properties of plants and animals to 

 particular chemical substances, and suggest that 

 ferments, hormones, antibodies, etc., may not be 

 specific substances so numerous and varied as the 

 effects they produce ; but they may be, on the con- 

 trary, various methods of activity of a limited number 

 of substances resulting for the most part from the 

 disintegration of living matter. 



The main thesis of the book shows how insolubly 

 bound up with one another are all the various branches 

 of biological science. Discussion centres around recent 

 work from practically every branch — chemistry, 

 physical chemistry, zoology, botany, physiology, 

 psychology, general biology, cytology, embryology, 

 medicine, serology. The authors show how fruitful 

 has been the introduction of chemistry to the study 

 of phenomena of life and to what degree chemical 

 physics has restored interest in and revived problems 

 of biology. Some of their own work is recorded 

 briefly. They describe how a double Hydra can be 

 produced from a single Hydra by temporarily depriving 

 the organism of oxygen, and how the symmetry of the 

 Stauridium is altered by a simple change of environment. 



The authors consider that the law of van't Hoff and 

 Arrhenius may be applied to vital actions — develop- 

 ment of the egg, reproduction, respiration, rhythm of 

 the heart, and growth — and that the " law of reciprocal 

 phenomena " holds for sleep, secretion, movement 



F I 



