82 BULLETIN 102, VOL. 1, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The total capacity toward benzol production possessed hj, the coal 

 annually produced in the United States is upward of 1,000,000,000 

 gallons,^ which in terms of gasoline represents about one-half of our 

 annual consumption of the latter. Compared with gasoline, benzol 

 yields better efficiency in the internal combustion engine, but presents 

 a slight disadvantage in respect to use in cold weather. It may be 

 used successfully in the ordinary gasoline motor by admitting a little 

 more air than is customary for gasoline, or by mixing with gasoline. 



Alcohol is familiar to everyone and as a fuel offers the advantage 

 that it can be made from organic products which reproduce them- 

 selves from year to year and include vast quantities of materials that 

 ordinarily go to waste.^ Unlike the mineral fuels, therefore, it does 

 not constitute a drain upon a reserve fixed in quantity. The differ- 

 ence in effectiveness for motor use between alcohol and gasoline is 

 slight; for whereas gasoline yields a trifle more power to the gallon 

 and is easier " starting from the cold," alcohol is safer, cleaner, and 

 more pleasant as to exhaust odors. The capacity of this country in 

 respect to alcohol production can not be closely stated, but if the out- 

 put of alcoholic beverages is any criterion,^ existing distilleries upon 

 conversion could at once produce fuel alcohol to the extent of millions 

 of gallons, whereas the substitution of waste products for grain would 

 effect a great economy over the cost of denatured alcohol as made at 

 present. If, in addition, the perplexing legal difficulties that now 

 hedge in such a development could be circumvented, the use of indi- 

 vidual manufactories on farms could readily furnish a perpetual 

 supply of motor fuel at little cost, where a cheap motor fuel would 

 have its most far-reaching social effect by tending to lower the cost 

 of food.* 



Artificial gas made from coal offers a convenient substitute for 

 gasoline in certain types of stationary internal-combustion engines, 

 while the suction producer plant, with its adaptability to the em- 



1 On the basis of a yield of 2 gallons to the ton of coal. 



2 Alcohol can be made from starches, sugars, wood waste, sulphite liquors from paper 

 manufacture, peat, cornstalks, etc. Its cost in Germany several years ago was as low 

 as 25 cents a gallon ; in England, 33 cents a gallon — prices comparing favorably with 

 the present cost of gasoline in the United States. Rittman estimates on a prewar basis 

 that alcohol would become a commercial fuel in the United States when gasoline exceeded 

 35 cents a gallon. (Journ. Ind. and Eng. Chem., May, 1917, pp. 528-530.) 



* It is worthy of note that the consumption of alcoholic beverages and of gasoline 

 during 1916 in the United States was approximately equal ; each close to 2,000,000,000 

 gallons, equivalent to a per capita consumption of about 20 gallons. 



* Tropical countries will find fuel alcohol very economical because of the practically 

 unlimited supply of raw material available for its manufacture and the decided advantages 

 of its use over gasoline in very hot climates. The Tropics, with their rank growth of vege- 

 tation, offer the most available energy source in sight, after coal, water power, and oil ; 

 and hence may eventually take on a much greater Importance In this respect than they 

 new possess In all other respects. Their capacity for producing fuel alcohol and food offer 

 an Interesting prospect to resource pessimists. The extraction of castor oil from the 

 castor bean and stalk also presents a promising prospect, as several barrels of oil can be 

 obtained per acre and the oil can be made into motor fuel and lubricants. 



