TRANSACTIONS OF WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE 

 14 



FOOD FROM THE AIR 



The cyanamid process is capable of development which will meet the re- 

 quirements for a cheapened nitrogenous fertilizer source whose form of nitro- 

 gen content is readily converted into nitric acid. The process is already a 

 prominent factor in the economic well-being of most countries of the older 

 civilization, and is capable of similar extension in the United States. 



Gilbert bases his doubt as to the value of the Haber process on the fact 

 that it "involves technical difficulties in the way of manipulation which have 

 prevented the proportionate extension of its use, even in Germany, 



where cheap skilled labor and mihtary exigency have combined 

 to give every advantage over conditions in this country." The history of in- 

 dustrial processes, however, gives ample evidence of the capacity of human in- 

 genuity by "patient search and vigil long" of overcoming technical difficulties, 

 reducing working costs, and securing better and larger yields. 



Note. — At the time this lecture was delivered, the processes of nitrogen- 

 fixation devised by Professor John F. Bucher had not been announced. They 

 are described in connection with Dr. Horn's lecture on "Catalysis in the In- 

 organic Field." 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



The following are recent pubHcations in English which have been used in 

 the preparation of this essay and from which a large amount of data may be 

 obtained by any one specially interested in this important topic. 



The Manufacture of Nitrates from the Atmosphere. Ernest Kilhurn 

 Scott. Smithsonian Institution Report for 1913, reprinted as a separate 

 pamphlet. Publication 2291, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 



Sources of Nitrogen Compounds in the United States. Chester G. Gilbert. 

 Smithsonian Institution, PubHcation 2421. Pubhshed by the Institution. 



Industrial Nitrogen Compounds and Explosives. Geoffrey Martin &' 

 William Barbour. 8vo, 117 pages and indexes. D. Appleton & Co., N. Y. 

 1 91 5. Extensive references to the literature will be found in this work. 



The article by A. W. Crossley, on "Utilization of Atmospheric Nitrogen" 

 in Thorpe's Diet. A pp. Chem. 3, should also be consulted. 



