SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
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Macrozamia Spiralis as a Source of 
Industrial Alcohol. 
By GEORGE HARKER, B.Sc. (Syd.), D.Sc. (London).* 
I.— GENERAL. 
Macrozamia or the Zamia palm (known in New South Wales also 
as burrawang or native pine-apple) is a gymnosperm belonging to the 
Cycad family. There are two main species common in Australia. 
These are Macrozamia spiralis, of New South Wales and Queensland, 
and M. fraseri, of South-west Australia. In New South Wales, the 
palm grows usually to a height of 2 or 3 feet, with a stem 1 or 2 feet 
in diameter. The Western Australian species is decidedly stouter than 
the eastern, and in exceptional cases attains a height of 10 or 12 feet. 
The plant chiefly occurs in poor land of little value for agricultural 
purposes, but is equally at home in damp low-lying soils and on stony 
hillsides.” In, such localities in the coastal regions of both New South 
Wales and Western Australia the plant often forms a dominant element 
of the vegetation. Many thousands of acres are covered by it, for 
example, in the vicinity of Nelligen, near Bateman’s Bay, and in the 
Kancumba district, near Gosford. In Western Australia it is very 
plentiful along the south-western railway line, almost all the way from 
Perth to Busselton, a distance of about 130 miles, whilst it also occurs 
in great abundance on the western slopes of the Darling Range. - 
In connexion with the work of the Special Committee appointed 
by the Institute of Science and Industry to investigate the question of 
the manufacture and use of power-alcohol, it was considered desirable 
to inquire into the possibility of utilizing macrozamia as a raw material 
for the manufacture of alcohol. ‘The investigation to which this report 
relates was accordingly undertaken primarily for the purpose of deter- 
mining the amount of alcohol yielded by Macrozamia spiralis collected 
in different districts of New South Wales at different stages of growth, 
and at varying periods of the year. It was also desired to obtain infor- 
mation regarding the amount of starch present in the plant. It was 
decided to examine the outer, as well as the inner, core of the bulbs. 
as, up to the present, only the inner core has ever been treated. This 
entailed twice as much work, but the results obtained more than justified 
the expenditure of the extra labour. By arrangement with the F orestry 
Commissioners of New South Wales, samples of macrozamia were 
collected from different localities in the State, and at different times of 
the year. These were sent to the Sydney University, where the investi- 
gations were carried out on behalf of the Institute of Science and 
a 
* Department of Organic and Applied Chemistry, University of Sydney. Member of Special 
Committee of Institute of Science and Industry on Power-Alcohol, 
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