Grand Forks daily herald and the evening times. (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1914-1914, 1914-04-28
SCIENCE AND THE PUBLIC
WELFARE.

Out OF the multitude of things
which interested visitors at the uni
versity yesterday evening on the oc-
casion of the fortnightly meeting
there. two things impressed many as
being of especial interest.
One of these was the list Of posi-
bilities contained in the briquettinx
plant which has been devised for the
utilization Of ignite coal. While in
aggregate heat units North Dakota is
by far the greatest fuel state in the
union, certain peculiarities in the lig-
nito coal have prevented it's general
use far from the source of supply. One
of the greatest obstacles with which
it's users have to contend is its ten
dency to disintsgratA on exposure to
air and heat. This makes economical
combustion practically impossible ex-
cept IN specially constructed furnaces.
How to remove the more volatile gases
and TO compress the powdered coal In
such a manner that 1t will not crum-
Bile on the application of heat is a.
problem. to which Dean Babcock has
devoted years of study and experi-
ment. He has solved the problem,
and soA,ed 1t in such a way that the
resultant product, Ignite briquettes,
can be placed on the market in COM
petition with eastern coal Still fur
ther. in the process the gases devel-
oped car be used not only for the
generation at power for the operation
of the plant, but there is large ex-
cess Of powa- which is available for
g, score OF other purposes. In those
bald statements is contained a world
Of matter. and in the conditions indi-
Gated there lie possibilities for COM
mercial and industrial development
which stagxer the Imagination. These
things have been given to the people
Of this state by its university. and
through the persist ence. the courage
and the unswervins faithfulness to an
cock
The other timing Of which brief
mention is made at this time was the
thought running through the address
Of DIR. Abbott. that back of all indus
try lies knowledge. and that no mat
It may become superlntively impor-
atant. The fact that in a. certain
course OF experiments a tiny bubble
remained on a quantity Of water used
in the. tests was carefully noted by a
painstakinE student who did not know
how to account for tt. or what bear
ing it had. His notation Of this fact
led to the Identification Of hitherto
unknown substance In the air. and
made possible a whole series Of VAL
liable and successful experiments. An
other student discovered that by
means Of magnetic excitation it was
possible to spread an electric arc into
a thin disc. TO the n-scientif1c mind
the discovery might have seemed UNI
important. as there was then no spe-
cial reason why ono should want to
give an electric arc that form. But
the discovery of that fact made pos
sihle the withdrawal on a practical
\ comm ercfal scale Of nitrogen from
the unlimited stores Of the air, in a
form suitable for use as fertilizer, and
on that basis there has been built
one Of the great industries Of Norway,
where the fertility which has been
withdrawn from the soil Is being liter
/ ally gathered back from the air. and
an Industry has been built up which
has built cities, employed workmen
by the thousand. and which is provid-
ing cargoeS for q whole feet Of ocean
going ships. And, moro reaching
!. than all this. way has been found
whereby the earth's fertility and its
food-producins powers can be main
famed unimpafred forever