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A large number of valuable items, in many instances the personal property of the donors, h a l e also been given to the museum. This honor roll includes the following: Estate of ?*liss Anne Priestley, estate of G. G. Pond, Mra. Frances Priestley Forsyth, Edgar F. Smith, C. -1. 13rowne, and H. 13, Baldwin (from estate of Wallace Goold Levison). I n ad(lition, J. Sewton Friend, Ellwood Hendrick, and G. E. SLtzsche have contributed photographs, the Franklin Inotitute has presented a replica of Priestley's air pump to the niiiseuin, and Josiah Kedgewood and Sons has donated one of the Priestley medallions which was first produced during I'riestley's lifetime. If these people could see their n a y clear to send their prized collections to tlie Priestley Memorial Museum a t Sortliumberland, qurely others will not fail to do likewise, cypecially with the knoiiledge that the importance of the collection will grow 111 direct proportion to Its completenesq.
Battles Royal HE new competition is a term being applied to the effort of different industries to supply a certain popular deniancl with materials equally useful for. a purpose. For example, the various methods of transport ation compete for the traveler's dollar. The mechanical refrigerator competes wit'h the iceman, and there is a wide choice in methods of communication. The chemical industry affords an example of another type of new competitioii-naiiiel~! that in which substantially the same materials made from distinctly different raw products strive for tlie dollar of the ultimate consumer. The outstmiding battle of this sort has already begun with the producers of Chilean nitrate pitted against those who practice the synthesis of ammonia. On the side of Chile we find new systems for mining the caliche in which the most modern mechanical methods have replaced the hand mining hitherto eniployed, and improvements in methods of treating which promise economical working of lower grade caliche than old methods could utilize, as well as a considerable increase in the recovery of nitrate from all ores. While the export duty remains unchanged, new sales niet,liods, in which the policy of concentrated sales gives way to selling in the open market, are expected by its partisans t,o be factors in enabling Chilean nitrate to be marketed. It is also claimed by some that the use of synt'hetic nitrate results in a gradual souring of the soil, particularly where ammonium sulfate is used, which while not immediately noticeable, eventually becomes most objectionable. On the side of the syiithetic process we see aligned great chemical plants already commercially successful in the production of fixed nitrogen in excess of a half million metric tons per year, the erection of additional plants, increased efficiencies in production, and ammonia offered a t prices far lower than would ha1.e been thought possible even a short time ago. The announcements of success in lower production costs of Chilean nitrate followed within a fortnight the declaration of intention on the part of one of' our chemical corporations to produce nitrogen froin the air on a grand scale a t Hopemell, J-a. Another similar battle is now iii the stage of preliminary skirmishes. I t is the battle of methanol produced by the pyroligneous process versus synthet'ic methariol, and this controversy has also loomed large in the chemical forum. Kotwithstanding the full legal increase in the tariff, imports of synthet'ic methanol have continued a t the rate of some half million gallons annually, and now a great domestic cheinical company has aiinounced successful production of synthetic methanol on a coniinercial scale and plans for the
rapid expansion of plant. The pyroligneous method Iiah :I, certain advantage in a variet'y of products aiid iii the f w t that one of its primary product's, crude methanol, so f a r holds undisputed first place as a denaturing agent for illdustrial alcohol. Completely denatured alcohol formulas Xos. 1, 2, and 5, which account for the great bulk of such alcohol sold, require methanol, and this same denaturant is also mentioned in the formulas for specially deuat,urc1xl alcohol, This deinaiid cares for about 30 per cent of tlic: pyroligneous output today. With synthetic methanol lies the advantage of an abuiidant, relatively cheap raw material, the fossil fuel or carbonized forest of geological time. Coal and such other fuels as yield gases which in catalytic action can be macle to produco methanol are indeed abundant. Sufficient data have not been made available on costs of mctintenance, replacement, repairs, and operation, to say how accurate the announced low cost,s may be; yet those maiiufacturiiig synthetic methanol are content to offer their goods a t a price sufficiently low to dispose easily of such quantities as have so far been offered. If produced as a by-product in the manufacture of synthetic ammonia-the American process noted elsewhere in these pages-costs may even become a matter of bookkeeping. The purity characterizing the synthetic product is important in some markets, but debars it from others. Those operating t'he pyroligneous method depend upon iinprovernents in process in present plants to keep them in business, rather than to research looking toward the establishment of a synthetic process. I t will be interesting to see whether eventually they will choose to reinuin iii the trade regardless of the source of the methanol, and whether the market will be supplied mainly from the forest.; of the present or tlie forests of tlie past. All things considered, t'he market of the future may be expected to belong to t'he group that can offer acceptable products at the most advantageous price. Whatever the outcome of this and similar battles royal, the public should be the beneficiary, for this is characteristic of improvements in science and technology. Gentlemen, place your bets, and may the best process win.
A Problem i n Coordination HE Federal Interdepartmental Coordinating Service, acting under inst'ructions froin the President, has undertaken a piece of coiirdination in which t'he chemical industry and chemists generally will be greatly interested. I t has to do with the careful consideration of our old problem: What rights, if any, has a go\-ernment employee t o patents resulting from research work undertaken while iti the federal employ? And if he has rights, what means shall be taken to respect them, a t the same time promoting the public interest? A t present the study is going on as a purely interdepartmental question, beginning of course with a deterinination of the present status of the matter in the several departments, a comparison of the policy aiid procedure now in force, to be followed by a thorough discussion among representatives of the departments before officials of the Coiirdinating Service. Ultimately i t is expected that some definite recommendations may be made to the President and no doubt to the Congress should it be found that' existing laws cannot straighten out the tangle in an equitable iuaiiiier. How- much can be done by executive order remains to I x seen, but it is not likely tliat the views of the public will bo ascertained until the stage of public hearings has been reached. Should the Coordinating Service succeed in finding the way out of this patent maze, it would be another fine, large feather in its cap.
