Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-05-07

or Industrial and Engineering Chem.
lstry. Dr. Howe said:
I'VE have frequently contended that
the only insurance against the dis.
aster which comes with the loss of
markets because your competitors
know more Is to be found In the
proper support Of scientific work. For
some time we have heard Of methods
Tor synthesizing methanol from car.
bon monoxide and water. These re.
ports were at first regarded as rumors.
They could not be confirmed .
The incident not only emphasizes the
importance of undertaking research
well in advance Of the time Of need,
but provides an excellent illustration
Of how, in some fields at least. the
laboratory may be counted upon to
supplement our fast-disappearing nat
ural resources. Synthetic methanol is
not the first blow to be received by
the wood distillation industry. .
The synthesis of methanol and the
diminished importance OF charcoal
would seem to indicate that concur.
rently with the curtailment Of natural
resources there has come an i'm.
provement in laboratory procedure
without which many important manu-
featuring processes and products
might have been discontinued"
4 y X
Methanol is made in Germany of
carbon monoxide-a by-product-while
in America it is made Of wood. Some
is made of sawdust. which itself
was a discarded sy-product of saw
mills until few years ago. Soon
there will be no more sawdust, for
our forests are nearing destruction.
With continued progress the chemists
will find new raw materials" but
not by assuming with the self.suf.
ficiency of the witness before the
congressional committee that we are
beyond world competition.
J Until recently 1t was thought neces.
sary to use food-grain-to produce
grain alcohol" or ethyl alcohol
and the chemists look for the day
when the world will annually grow
the materials from which all it's fuel
will be produced. Gasoline will be
exhausted, but, with the manufacture
of dehydrated or absolutely ethyl alec.
hol, which can be mixed with gaso-
line, the supply will be extended
many years. Ordinary alcohol cannot
mix with gasoline. but ethyl alcohol
can, in any percentage-20 or 80 or
40 per cent alcohol. In 1921 we pro-
duced S5,000.000 gallons Of ethyl
(grain) alcohol; in 1928. 1872, 402,850
gallons. If a methanol could be pro-
duced which would mix with gasoline
as we'll as does ethyl alcohol, the
demand would exceed the present use
hundreds Of times.
x x x x
American dyes are already the
eaaaf aof any produced in Germany,
although. at the outbreak of the war
we. were in panic because we pro-
duced no dyes and our textiles were
at the mercy of the German dye
manufacturers. Until recent years
all the world depended upon vegetable
indigo as the basis of all blue, purple
and black dyes. Now synthetic In
digo is universally substituted.
Within the memory Of men still active
aluminium was a curiosity; today we
use 100. 000. 008 pounds of it annually.
We have found way to mine the
great deposits Of sulphur below the
quicksands of Louisiana, so that we
could close all the sulphur industries
of the world. if so disposed toward
merciless competition. We shall soon
cease shipping milk that Is So per
cent water, and shall dry out the
water, ship the dry milk powder and
add the water at it's destination. We
do so now, but imperfectly." The
future Of nearly all industry may be
synthesis.
Copyright, 1925. by Paul " Collins,