EMINENT CEEYISTS WHO DIEDBEFORE THEIR TIME VoL. 3, No. 10 FOUR
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Couper; Kekule's tetravalemy of carbon also helped to make them unnecessary. His work, as well as Laurent's, had not been in vain, for it stirred thought, and caused experimentation which brought about a development of organic chemistry especially, which otherwise would have been slower. The work of Gerhardt, particularly, may be said to have been three-fold: his own investigations, his theories which stimulated thought, and by no means least, his labors as a compiler of books and as a translator of the works of others.
New Texas Potash May Solve Fertilizer Problems. The potash fields recently discovered in Texas are nowbelieved comparable with the famous Gennan ones wbich before the war supplied the world with potash. Dr. John W. Turrentine, in charge of potash investiffationin the U. S. Bureau of Soils, a t the meeting of the American Chemical Sadety, said that there was ground for hope that a potash industry of national importance may be developed here. Incomplete data so far available fail to reveal a workable deposit, Dr. Turrentine said, hut amply justify the thorough exploration of this field. The isolation of the Texas potash fields is a severe drawback to their commercial development, but it can be overcome. Dr. Turrentine believes, by a system of pipelines for the transportation of the concentrated brines from the mines to the nearest seaports. At these places the solution could be chemically dried and shipped by water routes to markets of the southern and middle western states. The potash salts discovered in the Texas fields could be used for fertilizer without refining, but the low concentration, i t is believed, would prohibit its transportation by rail to any great distances. However, it might he used without refining in the southwest where no supplies of cheap potash are now available. These salts could be easily converted into rich potash compounds by simple chemical treatment which would reduce transpartation costs and enable them to compete with the cheap FrenchGerman ata ash on the market today. . . Dr. Turrentine said. Potash recovery. which was formerly a mining industry, is now essentially chemical, through the need of making the final product richer and thereby cutting transportation costs. The Texas potash industry, he believes, will be no exception, and its success will depend on the in&nuity of the c h e m i s t . 4 ~ Seroice ~ Makes Motor Fuel from Tree Stumps. How to make gasoline from the limbs, stumps, knots, and taps of trees as well as from sawdust, shavings, and other wastes a t lumber mills was described a t the meeting of the American Chemical Society by Jacque C. Morrell of Riverside, N.. and Dr. Gustav Egloff of Chicago. Statistics show, Mr. Morrell painted out, that 75 per cent of the standing tree is wasted when it is converted into lumber, and it is in the interest of conservation to find suitable methods of using these waste products. Mr. MamU and Dr. Egloff reduced sawdust and other wood wastes from Douglas 6r into tar by heating in dosed vessels without access to air. Then by means of a chemical process known as "cracking." which is used in the making of gasoline from m d e oil, the wood tar was split up into various products such as light volatile oils suitable for motor fuels, solvents, paint thinners and other substances. A considerable portion of the liquid motor fuels needed in the future could he supplied by the utilization of these wastes, it is believed.-.Scimtu Sctviu
