SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
might be followed by good results in Australia. The disease, he main- 
tains, attacks rabbits exclusively, and is of common occurrence in Rio. 
When an epidemic occurs, the mortality among rabbits ranges from 90 
to 100 per cent. The accompanying photographs illustrate the nature 
of the disease, the final stage of which is marked by the appearance of 
tumours on the nose, ears, and body of the animal. A report of the 
experimental work carried out by Dr. Aragao was sent to Dr. Breinl, 
Director of the Institute of Tropical Medicine at Townsville, but it had 
not been received at the time of publication of this journal. 
Calcium Carbide. 
CORRELATED INDUSTRIES. 
The following memorandum has been prepared at the request of the Common- 
wealth Board of Trade by the Chemicals Committee of the Institute on the above 
subject :— 
1. Following on the discovery by Willson in America of the commercial pro- 
duction of calcium carbide about twenty-five years ago, it is common knowledge 
that its use for generating acetylene for lighting purposes rapidly grew to enor- 
mous dimensions. 
For some time this was its sole value, but of recent years other processes have 
been developed which are becoming of more and more importance as the earlier 
difficulties are being overcome and more economical factory methods devised. 
2, Although the use of acetylene as an illuminant is being gradually replaced 
by the introduction of electrical lighting systems, particularly for motor cars, 
motor cycles, and country houses, this has been more than compensated for by the 
discovery that its high heat of combustion can be usefully applied for welding 
and cutting iron and steel. This application is making enormous strides in 
many industries, and is specially adapted to repair and construction work in 
machinery shops. 
3. The most important development has, however, been in the use of calcium 
carbide as a “key chemical” from which other compounds may be manufactured 
by various chemical processes. 
The first of these depends on the combination of the carbide with atmospheric 
nitrogen at a high temperature to form calcium cyanamide or nitrolim. This has 
found considerable application in Europe as an agricultural fertilizer, as when it 
comes in contact with the moisture of the soil it gradually becomes converted into 
ammonium salts, and finally into nitrates. The reaction may be checked under 
suitable conditions at the intermediate stage, and, by treating it with superheated 
steam, cyanamide is so used for the manufacture of ammonia itself, Among 
other products of cyanamide may be mentioned dicyandiamide, used in explo- 
sives, and a mixture of cyanides suitable for gold extraction. 
4. Another development of even more far-reaching importance is the conversion 
of acetylene into alcohol. This synthetic manufacture of alcohol is being carried 
out on a large scale in Switzerland and America, where cheap water-power is 
available, with such success that it has been said that this process will in the 
future replace the present methods of producing alcohol. 
Such a cheap source of alcohol will undoubtedly be utilized for making acetone 
and other chemicals, as well as the innumerable other purposes for which it has 
been indispensable in the past. It is, of course, impossible to forecast the extent 
of the demand for acetylene-made alcohol, because this will depend on its price. 
Cheap alcohol (1s. 6d. to 2s. a gallon), besides largely ousting petrol as a 
fuel, would revolutionize many industries dealing with dyestuffs and other 
organic chemicals. 
There is no doubt that several of these manufactures, at present non-existent 
or practically so in Australia, would be conducted on a large scale had they this 
advantage. : 
188 
