August, 1912.] 



105 



" one of the ea9y communication of our 

 '* days, by means of which contagious 

 "matter can be readily spread from one 

 ?' district, country or continent, to an- 

 " other. 



" The combined effects of these circum- 

 " stances render the research and the 

 " prevention of fungoid diseases a matter 

 " of international importance." 



T. P. 



SYNTHETIC RUBBER. 

 VIEW OF THE FINANCIAL TIMES. 



Another View. 



In the last three days the Bogey of 

 synthetic rubber, which it may be re- 

 membered, was markedly in evidence a 

 few weeks before the commencement of 

 the great rubber boom of 1909-10, has 

 once more been prominently brought 

 forward, as a result of the lecture given 

 by Professor W. H. Perkin, of the Man- 

 chester University before the London 

 Section of the Society of Chemical In- 

 dustry on Monday last followed by the 

 interview on the same subject given by 

 Sir William Ramsay to a representative 

 of the " Morning Post." Coming on an 

 already rather tired market, these de- 

 tailed statements that 



ARTIFICIAL RUBBER 



could be commercially produced at a 

 price much below that at present ruling 

 for the natural article, has caused some- 

 thing like a slump in the shares of plan- 

 tation companies, and we hear that 

 many real holders have hurriedly sold 

 their investments. We have no hesita- 

 tion in saying that, on the statements so 

 far put forward, this slump is altogether 

 unjustified ; and we hope that none of 

 our readers have allowed themselves to 

 be frightened out of desirable holdings 

 by the ipse dixit of a scientist, however 

 eminent. Synthetic rubber is, after all, 

 no new thing ; it has been manufactured 

 in the laboratories again and again, and 

 the only actual step forward which has 

 been taken lies in the claim that the 

 process has been so perfected that it 

 14 



may be possible to market synthetic 

 rubber manufactured from starch at a 

 price of 



SOMETHING UNDER 2s. 6(3. PER LB. 



It is not even claimed, however, that 

 the essential figures with regard to the 

 cost of production are anything more 

 than vaguest estimates and the more 

 recent past has produced plenty of 

 examples of such scientific hopes having 

 been badly disappointed when put to 

 the test of practical experience, the 

 Dunderlan Iron Ore Company being 

 a prominent example. In the present 

 instance the first invention of practical 

 utility is that which Professor Pernbach, 

 of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, claims 

 to have discovered — namely, a method by 

 which 



BUTYL ALCOHOL— A FORM OF FUSEL OIL 



— can be manufctured at a cost of approx- 

 imately £30 per ton. As the cost by ex- 

 isting methods is £130 per ton, this repre- 

 sents a big saving, but we have no in- 

 formation yet as to how the estimate has 

 been arrived at, what was the propor- 

 tion of costs allowed for manufacturing 

 pi'ocesses, or whether any allowance was 

 made for the value of the by-product- 

 Acetone. The other discovery lies in the 



REDUCTION OF ISOPRENB 



—which by a somewhat lengthy chemi- 

 cal process is refined from Butyl alcohol 

 —to rubber by the application of sodium. 

 Sodium is not a widely used commercial 

 product, and is, it may be remarked, 

 so difficult to handle that it has to be 

 protected from the air by a coating of 

 paraffin and secured in closely fitting 

 soldered-up tinned boxes. In a labor- 

 atory such difficulties are easily over- 

 come, but quite a different problem 

 is presented when the material has 

 to be used in comparatively large 

 quantities. Nor are the prices at pre- 

 sent ruling for the different materials 

 required any gauge of what might have 

 to be paid if a big demand were created. 

 In some instances, of course, additional 

 demand tends to lower prices by increas- 

 ing the supply, but in the case of many 

 chemicals sold as by-products the ordi- 

 nary supply is limited, and much higher 



