478 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1136 



quent lowering of price. The potential 

 value of this hydrocarbon in munitions is 

 too great to allow its sacrifice as a fuel or 

 as an illuniinant, and its storage involves 

 no unusual difficulties. The moral effect 

 alone of its known presence in our midst 

 would in itself justify the investment as a 

 preparedness measure. 



Second, Modern warfare is largely de- 

 pendent upon the successful work of chem- 

 ists, not alone in the direct production of 

 munitions, but, through research, in hus- 

 banding the resources of the country, and 

 in increasing knowledge which in times of 

 stress may be vital to the nation. In view 

 of the now well recognized fundamental 

 character of such work the military author- 

 ities should formulate a definite policy in 

 regard to the chemist, whereby in times of 

 war his services may best be applied to the 

 advantage of his country. The lack of such 

 a policy during the recent enlistment of the 

 National Guard has in several cases inter- 

 rupted lines of research whose successful 

 outcome would prove much more vital to 

 the power of the army than the presence of 

 the individuals bearing arms. England 

 somewhat tardily recognized that her chem- 

 ists were more needed at home than at the 

 front and therefore recalled them. 



EELATIONS TO OUR DAILY NEEDS 



The economic developments of the past 

 two years have emphasized the close rela- 

 tion between normal daily needs and the 

 activity of chemists, particularly through 

 certain shortages which have brought eco- 

 nomic distress. Among these shortages 

 three stand out preeminent — motor fuel, 

 potash for fertilizer and coal tar products, 

 particularly synthetic dye-stuffs. Let me 

 discuss the first and second of these briefly 

 and the third somewhat more at length. 



Motor Fuel. — The enormous annual in- 

 crease of motors using gasoline as fuel. 



together with the largely increased ex- 

 port of this material, has resulted in 

 greatly increased price of this product. 

 To meet the situation chemists have nat- 

 urally turned their attention to the ' ' crack- 

 ing" of the residues of crude petroleum, 

 furnishing thus some relief. In view, how- 

 ever, of the uncertainty of petroleum 

 supply such efforts can not prove the ulti- 

 mate solution of the problem. With the 

 cessation of the war further aid may be 

 expected from the benzol recovered in the 

 by-product coke oven plants. "With this 

 at its maximum, however, it is estimated 

 that it would equal only ten per cent, of 

 the motor fuel now consumed. Plainly 

 we must look further for the permanent 

 supply, and that seems to me to be alcohol. 

 I am fully aware that there is nothing orig- 

 inal in this suggestion. It is mentioned 

 rather for the purpose of urging greater 

 consideration of the problem by chemists, 

 who must solve the problem, by manufac- 

 turers of motors who have such great inter- 

 ests at stake, and by lumbermen who, in 

 their mill waste alone, possess the raw 

 material from which, by processes in opera- 

 tion to-day, alcohol could be produced equal 

 in volume to forty per cent, of our present 

 gasoline consumption. 



What striking advance in this line could 

 be confidently expected if the automobile 

 manufacturers and lumbermen of the na- 

 tion would join forces with chemists in the 

 creation of a great research laboratory 

 where the problems of motor fuel could be 

 vigorously attacked, not by the "green 

 powder" method of recent notoriety, but 

 by common sense, scientific investigation, 

 conducted by the ablest of chemists and 

 chemical engineers, unfettered by tradition 

 and filled with the conviction that the day 

 of genuine new things will never end. 



Potash. — To meet our present shortage 

 of this valuable fertilizer constituent we 



