Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-08-11
BREAD FROM AIR.
The Modern Miracle of Inventive
Science.

Science.
"a prodigal world is beginning to
discover that it can not indefinitely
continue to despoil the stores of ma
ture without taking thought for the
morrow" writes Mr.. L. G. Chiozza
Money, M. p, in the London News.
Forest, mine and prairie have been
ravaged until in respect of many diff
| ferent commodities world scarcity has
made itself felt at a very early period
in the age Of machinery. Fifty years
/ Of Wanton waste are beginning to
tell; fifty years more would mean
world famine.
"Of the problems Of reparation
which have arisen, none Is more i'm
portant than the nitrogen problem.
Without nitrogen flesh cannot be
formed; without nitrogen man is i'm
possible With the preservation and
rapid multiplication Of men the call
for nitrogenous foods has led to the
rapid exhaustion of soils and manure
beds. The soils of the old world de-
mand payment in nitrogen before they
yield a crop. America has got rid
of the available nitrogen in great
tracts of her lately virgin soil. The
worlds guano beds are practically
exhausted. The nitrate deposits will
be in the same condition within the
lifetime of many now living. This
while the worlds mouths to be fed
are always increasing in number.
| Fortunately for mankind, science
| is proving equal to the occasion. The
daily loaf, endangered by the arts OF
business, is to be preserved for us by
the arts Of the laboratory.
Several scientific processes claim
our attention in this connection. First
let us note that Prof. Ostwald and
Dr. Brauer, two of the brilliant chem
lists whom Germany produces so prolif-
| ically, have made it possible to pro-
duce nitric acid from the ammonia
cal liquor of gas and coke works. 1t
is impossible here to detail the tech
nical process, but it consists essential
ly in the decomposition Of ammonia
vapor by platinum. 1t is a beautiful
method. which depends upon the ex-
posure Of the ammonia to the plati-
| mum for 1-500th part Of a second OF
time. II the exposure were longer
than this unfixed nitrogen would be
created, and, of course, lost. The
ammonia vapor has to pass like gale
of wind so that decomposition goes
far enough to produce nitric acid and
not free nitrogen. The area Of the
decomposer used is but that of tea
cup, but it produces 200 pounds of
nitric acid in a day. The production
of nitric acid from ammonia has been
known as a classroom experiment for
sixty-years, but the Ostwald-B -Brauer
process is economical, and gives cheap
nitric acid.
| Not thus alone is the scientist prov
| ing himself master of the situation.
| Even more fascinating are the meth
ods employed for utilizing the nitro
gen of the air.
"Air is a mechanical mixture of
oxygen and nitrogen, 23 pounds Of the
| former and II pounds Of che latter
making 100 pounds Of air. We have,
then, but to manure the soil with air
and the thing Is done. The farmer
can do it quite easiy-after the scien"
tist has shown him the way. Before
the scientist finds out the way, how
ever, your practical man will make
certain caustic references to dream
ers,' 'faddists' and 'cranks' if you
talk of turning air into quartern
loaves.
I'm Norway, at this moment with
the aid of French and German CAPT.
tai, the power of great waterfalls is
being used to produce nitrogenous
manure from air at prices low enough
for commerce.
1.-The process used in Norway Is
that of Birkland and Eyde, which
employs the electric furnace. The
air Is led into the furnace and submit
| ted to an electric disk flame with a
diameter of about 20 inches. Sweep
|
the air is momentarily heated to
point at which the nitrogen is oxidiz-
ed. Immediately the gas coming
from the furnace is cooled down to
| avoid loss Of nitrogen, and led over
limestone sprinkled with water, with
the result that calcium nitrate, or lime
saltpeter, is obtained. 1t is scien-
| tific triumph which looks prosaic
enough when the stuff leaves the fac
tory in wooden barrels.
I'm another direction, also, science
| is operating in order to utilize the
boundless stores Of atmospheric nitro
gen, 75,000,000 tons Of which are
suspended over every acre of land.
About twenty years ago Hellerel-
gel showed that leguminous plants
| (known from ancient times to fertil-
ize the soil in which they grow. and
always therefore grown in rotation
| before corn) obtain their nitrogen
from the air, and that bacteria, living
| in nodules or tubercles on the roots
Of the plants, are the media by which
the nitrogen Is obtained.
This line Of investigation was con-
tinued until a culture of the root or
ganism was obtained by Beyerinck,
and named the bacillus radicicola.
Prof. Noble Of Germany failed in an
endeavor to prepare the infective cul-
ture on q large scale, but in 1901
the United States department of ag-
riculture took up the work, and by
| 10000 the state department was
sending out tens of thousands Of
packages Of prepared microbes, at
first dried on cotton wool, but now
issued in liquid form. In 1906 the
reports showed that "a per cent Of the