JUN2 4 19^ 



NOTES AND COMMENT:*, ^<o, 



SCIENCE AND THE WAR. ---^,imi_M_n :i^ 



' If there be one lesson more than another which the war 

 is going to teach us, it is the lesson as to the future place of 

 Natural Science in our education. It is true that there are 

 still military authorities coming forward to say that we do 

 not want science in the education of offtcers. But the military 

 authorities have exhausted their power of surprising us ; and, 

 after all, some rational voices are beginning to be heard even 

 in military circles. Science is coming to be recognised as part 

 of the necessary equipment for modern life. The world is 

 more and more coming to turn on exact knowledge, and 

 science is simply exact knowledge applied to concrete things. 

 As Bacon said, we can only command Nature by obeying 

 her laws. These laws are the rules of the universe in which we 

 live.' 



NATURAL SCIENCE AND EDUCATION. 



The above paragraph may be taken as the key-note of a 

 little volume entitled ' Natural Science and the Classical Sys- 

 tem of Education : Essays New and Old,' edited for the 

 Committee on the Neglect of Science by Sir Ray Lankester.* 

 Its appearance is most opportune ; we only wish it were 

 possible for some superhuman to make every Member of 

 Parliament read it. There are nine essays, some old, some new, 

 but all good, by A. L. Smith, C. S. Parker, E. E. Bowen, 

 Lord Houghton, W. Johnson, H. G. Wells, F. W. Sanderson, 

 and the Editor. 



PRODUCTS OF YORKSHIRE COALS. 



In the recently issued Journal of the Institution of Petroleum 

 Technologists are given the following examples of the products 

 obtained from Yorkshire coals, carbonised at low temperatures : 



Yorkshire Coal (washed smalls). 



17.5 gallons of crude oil per ton of coal carbonised was obtained. 



Yield of sulphate of ammonia — 22 lb. 



The oil 3'ielded, on fractionation : 



Oil distilling up to 150° C... 3.0 gallons. 



Fuel-oil ... ... ... ... ... ii.o 



Paraffin wax ... ... ... ... 8 lb. 



Yorkshire Cannel. 

 Yield of crude oil — 70 gallons per ton of coal carbonised. 

 Yield of sulphate of ammonia — 3.2 lb. 

 The oil yielded, on fractionation : 



Oil distilling to 170° C 7.4 gallons. 



Fuel-oil ... ... ... ... ... 49.3 ,, 



The first fraction was taken up to 170°, instead of 150°, for a 

 special purpose. There was only a small portion of paraffin wax, 

 which was not estimated. 



* London : W. Heinemann. 268 pp., price 2/6 net. 

 1918 Sept. 1 . 



