EDITORIAL. 
on which the governing bodies even of research institutions were in- 
clined to frown, because it appeared to lead to nothing profitable. Dr. 
Harden, in London (and at the Lister Institute as a matter of record), 
had done a good deal with the problem up to the outbreak of war, and 
his researches were well known to the German chemists. Among the 
ramifications of his researches it became known that of the transforma- 
tions into alcohol and carbonie acid, acetic aldehyde and glycerine were 
effected in the presence of certain sulphides, and the amount of acetic 
aldehyde left after the conversion was much increased. The fragmen- 
tary quantity of glycerine increased with it. 
' The German chemist Neubauer vigorously prosecuted the inquiry 
from this point during the first two years of the war. He prosecuted 
it to such valuable effect that the 20 per cent. of acetic aldehyde which 
could be got was still further increased, the glycerine increasing with 
it, and, to cut a long story short, eventually the amount of glycerine that 
could be got out of sugar was no less than 30 per cent. That is where 
the Germans got their glycerine during the last years of the war, and 
that is why, though Germany is a country which used to export 
£11,000,000 of sugar a year, they were short of sugar for domestic 
purposes. If it had not been for this chemical reaction, the fruit of an 
inquiry pursued solely for the sake of knowledge by a few isolated 
chemists, Germany would have had to go out of the war after the first 
two years of it—The Chemical Age. . 
a CONSERVATION OF MOLASSES. 
Among the sources of alcohol that lie ready to hand is its distillation 
from molasses, the chief residue of sugar manufacture. The present 
seems an ideal opportunity, not only to stir up the Government to en- 
courage the use of molasses alcohol in industry, but also to educate 
sugar planters and others in the British Empire into the possibilities 
of using their surplus molasses in a new and profitable manner. At 
present the British West Indies can probably utilize all their molasses 
for rum manufacture; but the demand for rum will slacken off before 
long, especially with the spread of prohibition in America and. else- 
Where; so rum manufacturers cannot indefinitely count on a -bumper 
trade such as the war period gave them. But the whole question is one 
that might with advantage be investigated by a central ‘body on behalf 
of planters and distillers, and it should not be left to the Board of 
‘Trade alone to undertake this. We suggest, then, that this is a subject 
that might be advantageously taken up by the British Empire Sugar 
Research Association. If this body would give the problem its early 
‘attention, and investigate all the possibilities, it might be in a strong 
position, not only to make representations to the Government, but also 
‘to direct the planters generally, as to the best steps to take to ensure 
‘a permanent use of their waste molasses. But it may be advisable, first 
of all, for planters to indicate their willingness to be guided by such a 
body; they would do well, then, to come forward and request the British 
‘Empire Sugar Research Association to organize research on their be- 
half,'so that the Association may have some assurance of possessing a 
mandate.—The International Sugar Journal. 
585 
