422 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1401 



considerably to its research staS and equip- 

 ment, although endeavoring to cut unnecessary 

 expenses in other directions. 



Industrial alcohol is another chemical indus- 

 try ia the United States which seems suscep- 

 tible of an incomparably wider development as 

 soon as it is less hampered by fanaticism in a 

 more efficient commercial production and easier 

 distribution. The ignorant multitude does not 

 class alcohol as a chemical industry. Mo%t peo- 

 ple can not see in alcohol anything but its use 

 or abuse as a beverage. 



And yet, outside of such uses, there is hardly 

 a chemical susceptible of wider and more bene- 

 ficial application in the arts, the industries and 

 the household economics. Its value as a sol- 

 vent, its use in varnishes, artificial leather, 

 smokeless powder, is well known among chem- 

 ists. But a much more extended use is possible 

 as a liquid fuel. The fact that it is far less 

 volatile than gasoline and mixes readily with 

 water, makes it not only cleaner, but incom- 

 parably less dangerous, whether it be used in 

 the household for heating or illuminating pur- 

 poses, or whether it be used on a motor car or 

 a motorboat, or stationary engine. 



Furthermore, its sources of supply embrace 

 all inexpensive starch- or sugar-containing 

 vegetables, as well as the waste of our sugar 

 refineries, all products of which this country 

 has a prodigious supply. 



Converting our perishable farm products into 

 products like alcohol, which can be stored in- 

 definitely and of which the transportation and 

 handling are easy, is one of the ways of equal- 

 izing the uncertain fluctuations of the yield of 

 our crops. 



Long after every drop of petroleum or gaso- 

 line will have been extracted from our wells, 

 every yearly agricultural crop will insure us a 

 new supply of this valuable liquid fuel obtained 

 by fermentation of starch- or sugar-containing 

 liquids. I know of no country where there is 

 such an abundant source of supply, as well as 

 the industrial opportunities in conjunction 

 with an extensive market within easy reach, 

 provided industrial alcohol can be furnished to 

 the consumer at a low enough price. 



But unintelligent application of the Pro- 



hibition Act will offset all this, whatever good 

 effects it may try to accomplish in other direc- 

 tions, by putting unnecessarily exaggerated re- 

 strictions or handicaps upon the manufacture 

 or distribution of industrial alcohol. 



Few people realize that the price at which 

 alcohol can be delivered to the consumer at a 

 profit is considerably influenced by whatever 

 unnecessary red tape impedes manufacture, 

 transportation or distribution. The well-inten- 

 tioned manufacturer who is endeavoring to 

 lower the cost of production, feels his efforts 

 rather futile when they are wiped out at the 

 selling and distributing end. 



There is opportunity for considerable im- 

 provement in the technical end of this industry 

 in the United States. In this respect, France 

 and Germany were able to furnish better and 

 cheaper alcohol than we were, because in those 

 countries the industrial alcohol situation has 

 always been more considered on its own merits. 

 So has it come to pass that this branch of chem- 

 istry or chemical engineering has attracted 

 fewer of o.ur better scientists or engineers in 

 the United States than in other countries. 

 Justly or unjustly, this whole industry has been 

 under the ban of social prejudice on the part 

 of people who, in their zeal, can not discern 

 between the drink evil and an indispensable 

 chemical industry. 



Yet, no less a man than the great Pasteur 

 counts among the many illustrious chemists, 

 biochemists and engineers, who have con- 

 tributed to the development of the alcohol in- 

 dustry. It was Pasteur, while he was professor 

 of chemistry at the University of Lille, who by 

 undertaking to correct irregularities in the fer- 

 mentation processes of a local distiller, discov- 

 ered the fundamental truths relating to the 

 phenomena of fermentation. Under his genius, 

 the knowledge gained thereby became the start- 

 ing point not only of radical improvements in 

 the manufacture of fermentation processes, but 

 they brought forth a veritable revolution in 

 sanitation, surgery, and medicine. All this has 

 sowed broadcast inestimable benefits on man- 

 kind, and has made the name of Pasteur 

 sacred to every one who is not too ignorant to 



