ON FUEL ECONOMY. 103 



portion of (he coal removed by pyridine be subsequently extracted with 

 chloroform, a complete separation of the resinic from the cellulosic 

 constituents may be effected.* On the other hand, the independent 

 work of Harger^, WahP, Vignon ^, and others raised the question 

 whether the action of pyridine, and other similar basic solvents, is really 

 one of ordinary solution, and much of the evidence obtained by them 

 suggested that it is chiefly a depolymerising one. Professor Bone's 

 recent experiments support this latter view, and point to the conclusion 

 that the action in question affects the coal substance as a whole, and is 

 by no means confined to any one constituent of it. The action is 

 retarded, in a degree which may vary considerably according to the 

 character of the coal, by the presence either of water in the solvent or 

 of oxygen in the atmosphere in which the extraction is earned out. In 

 order to obtain comparable results with a series of different coals it is, 

 therefore, necessary to operate with a carefully dried solvent, and in 

 an atmosphere from which oxygen is excluded. Suitable means and 

 apparatus have been devised for carrying out extractions under such 

 precautions. It has also been shown that the action of pyridine at its 

 boiling point (under atmospheric pressure) upon a particular coal 

 approaches in time a practical limit which, however, may be consider- 

 ably exceeded if the extraction is carried out at higher temperatures 

 (e.g. in sealed tubes under pressure). Professor Bone and his co- 

 workers have also devised a method for extracting in a pure condition 

 the resinic constituents of coal, particulars of which will shortly be 

 published. 



In connection with the Question of the organisation of systematic 

 investigations upon the chemical characters of the principal British coal 

 seams, this Committee desires to reiterate the opinion expressed in its 

 First Report, namely ' that the resources, both of existinsr laboratories 

 which have been established in this country for the special investigation 

 of fuel problems, and of other laboratories where the technique of the 

 subject has been developed, might be utilised more than they are in 

 this connection, and that the time is ripe for the organisation of a scheme 

 of systematic co-operative research aided by national funds in which all 

 such laboratories may participate. ' 



The Committee regi'ets to say. however, that, notwitlistanding the 

 establishment of the Fuel Eesearch Board, with large funds at its dis- 

 posal, no attempt has apparently yet been made to organise any such 

 comprehensive scheme as was recommended in 1916 ; and it wishes again 

 to impress upon both the public and the Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Eesearch the danger of sterilising fuel research by a policy of 

 over-centralisation. On the contrary, it is of the opinion that what is 

 most needed is a broadlv-planned policv which will aim at stimulating 

 and assisting experimental work on the chemistry of coal, fuel economy, 

 and cognate su'bjects everywhere throughout the whole Kingdom. 



4 Dark & Wheeler, Trnn.i. Chew. Snr. 1913. 103, p. 1704. 

 •5 TTarorpr. Journ. Soc. Chem. Tnd. 1914. t). 384. 



6 Wahl, Compt. Rend. 1912. I";*. r>. 1094. 



7 Vignon, Compt. Rend. 1914, 158, p. 1421. 



M 2 



