Miscellaneous. 



260 



[March, 1910. 



Despite the facb that the society for 

 extending the Rothamsted experiments 

 were founded in 1904, and notwithstand- 

 ing the activity of this society, the 

 collected donations which it has received 

 amount only to £500 and annual sub- 

 scription to about £150. 



It is impossible to believe that this is a 

 measure of the recDguition by the public 

 of the services which the station is 

 rendering. Rather it must be taken as 

 one of the most striking of many indica- 

 tions that insufficient consideration is 

 given to the pressing need for the in- 

 vestigation of problems which concern 

 the national life and well-being. The 

 State leaves such matters too much to 

 private munificence, and the demands 

 are so varied and heavy that our insti- 

 tutions are apt to suffer. 



If Rothamsted were in any other 

 country of the civilised world, it would 

 receive an adequate measure of State 

 assistance. The fact that it is not under 

 State control should be no bar to its 

 receiving such aid- 



We claim to be a nation of practical 

 men and not of pedants, and yet by 

 heedlessness we fail to invest a few 

 hundreds a year in an enterprise which, 

 even now, handicapped as it is by lack 

 of means, is equal to any experiment 

 station in the world. We hope that 

 before long Rothamsted may receive a 

 substantial grant from the Treasury, 

 and we would urge on the Board of 

 Agriculture the importance of its taking 

 the initiative in securing such a grant. 



To state the objects for which funds 

 are required is to demonstrate the 

 urgency of the need. They include : an 

 increase of land for experimental pur- 

 poses, a permanent endowment for the 

 bacteriological laboratory, equipment of 

 the botanical and pathological depart- 

 ments, and also the investigation of 

 animal nutrition. 



The present staff has proved its capa- 

 city to elucidate in brilliant fashion the 

 problems of the soil in relation to the 

 growth of crops. It is certain that, with 

 more adequate support, it would contri- 

 bute in a notable degree to the solution 

 of outstanding problems in other depart- 

 ments of agriculture and horticulture. 



industrial alcohol and its 

 Possibility as a source op 

 power in the philippines. 



(Prom the Philippine Agricultural 

 Review, Vol. II., No. 11, November, 1909). 



Alcohol can be used as a motor fuel 

 for all purposes for which gasoline is at 

 present employed. Exhaustive tests 



made by the United States Government 

 have demonstrated that any gasoline 

 or kerosene engine of ordinary type can 

 with proper manipulation operate with 

 alcohol without material change in its 

 construction. The engine will give 

 slightly more power (about 10 per cent.) 

 when alcohol is used, but this increase is 

 at the expense of greater consumption 

 of fuel. Experiments of United States 

 Geological Survey have shown that 

 when denatured aicohol is employed the 

 lowest fuel consumption is obtained with 

 the highest practical degree of compres- 

 sion (116 to 13'7 kilograms per square 

 centimeter), but since the vaporization 

 temperature of alcohol is higher than 

 that of gasoline a modified combustion 

 chamber and' carburetor is to be pre- 

 ferred. Some erasoline engines are not 

 sufficiently heavy to stand the desired 

 explosion pressure when alcohol is u sed, 

 and therefore a machine especially de- 

 signed for alcohol is preferable to one 

 planned to operate with gasoline or 

 kerosene. 



The United States Geological Survey 

 made a series of over 2,000 individual 

 tests, comparing gasoline of about - 699 

 specific gravity (73° Baume) and com- 

 mercial fully denatured alcohol. Tests 

 which corresponded in the method of 

 manipulation showed that alcohol was 

 more efficient than gasoline, and they 

 also proved that equal volumes of 

 gasoline and alcohol produced the same 

 power, This result is not usually 

 achieved in practice. Ordiuary com- 

 mercial gasoline engines of stationary 

 or marine type will consume from 1*5 to 

 2 times as much alcohol as gasoline when 

 operated under the same conditions. 



Alcohol is especially suited to air- 

 cooled automobile engines, as the ex- 

 haust is not so hot as when gasoline or 

 kerosene is used, while on the other hand 

 the temperature of the cylinder may be 

 hotter without danger of backfiring. 

 The storage and use of alcohol in engines 

 is much less dangerous than that of 

 gasoline or petrol, and the engines oper- 

 ating on the former run more quietly and 

 produce a less offensive odour. No more 

 skill is required to operate an alcohol 

 engine than one arranged for gasoline 

 or kerosene. 



The relative heat values of gasoline, 

 alcohol, and coal are shown by the fol- 

 lowing approximate numbers :— 



Calories, 



Gasoline ... ... ... 11,100 



Alcohol (100 percent.) ... ... 7,183 



Pennsylvania anthracite ... 7,500 



The calorific value of alcohol is of 

 course lower by impurities, so that 

 commercial (90 per cent.) alcohol has a 



