SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
LIQUID FUEL AND FUEL ECONOMY. 
The unsatisfactory position of Australia in regard to her liquid fuel 
requirements has frequently been pointed out. From the defence 
point of view-alone, the situation is extremely serious, since the carrying 
on of motor transport and aviation is entirely dependent on. imported 
fuel. The proposal to manufacture power-alcohol has been exhaus- 
tively inquired into by this Institute from a scientific and technical 
point of view. The question of the benzo] industry in Australia has 
been reviewed by Mr. V. G. Anderson in a series of articles which 
recently appeared in the /ndustrial Australian and Mining Standard. 
The. question as to whether we could produce sufficient benzol to supply 
our domestic requirements of motor spirit is answered by Mr. Anderson 
in the affirmative, that is, provided the whole output of coal in New 
South Wales is carbonized in by-product coke ovens or retorts and the 
benzol is saved. English and American experience over long periods 
has shown that from 2 to 3 gallons of benzol can be recovered’ per ton 
of coal. In Australia, using a blended mixture of coal from different 
fields, we would expect to get, at least, 17,000,000 gallons of benzol 
from 8,500,000 tons of coal. ‘The approximate value of the products 
obtainable from 1 ton of coal carbonized in by-product coke ovens is 
estimated by Mr. Anderson at 17s. 4d.; and, in addition to this, 14 ewt. 
of coke would remain. This is very considerably more than the cost 
of the coal at pit?’s mouth, which averages about 12s. 6d. per ton. 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BUREAU OF STANDARDS. 
A report has recently been issued on the work of the Bureau of 
Standards at Washington for the year ending the 30th June, 1919. 
The Bureau is organized in. 64 scientific and technical sections, and 
twenty clerical and operative sections. During the year, the Bureau 
issued 51 publications, not including reprints, 36 of which were new, and 
fifteén revisions of previous publications. In the various laboratories 
of the Bureau, more than 131,000 tests were made during the year. The 
funds made available for the year amounted to, approximately, £600,000. 
A noteworthy event of the year was the completion of the industrial 
laboratory, in which will be housed the divisions ‘having to do with 
researches of structural timbers. The building also includes a com- 
“modious kiln; for the use, among other apparatus, of the ceramics 
division for the experimental production of new clay products and 
other general’ investigational purposes. 
NEW METHOD OF DEHYDRATING FOOD. 
- Meats, eggs, vegetables, and fruits can now be dried in a manner 
which preserves their original properties and nutritive value and still 
have an appearance of freshness when prepared for the table. Although 
in former years there were dried fruits and vegetables that had a fine 
appearance, it was often found that they had been treated with sul- 
phites and other materials, the use of which had been questioned by 
food experts. Dr. K. George Falk, of the Harriman Research Labora- 
tory, Roosevelt Hospital, New York, explained the new methods in 
an address before the New York Section of the American Chemical 
Society, of which he is a member. He announced that, following the 
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