June, 1922
THE JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
China has much potential water power but very little organized industry. The development is remote, even though labor and raw materials are plentiful; transportation is most primitive. Manchuria possesses one gas-engine-driven electrochemical plant of Japanese direction. Japan with her limited supplies of fuel is developing her water powers and possesses several important electrochemical plants. Her engineers are alive to the importance of this industry and more can be looked for, as her hydro resources are not nearly exhausted. India possesses great water power possibilities. While no electrochemical industry exists a t present, the governmental programs for comprehensive development mean that only a few years will elapse before nitrogen fixation and electric iron and steel are well established. Labor is cheap, transportation is fair, and a wide variety of raw materials available though scattered. Home markets await the bulk of the possible products. India probably has more available water power than the United States. Australia possesses few potential water powers of note and will not figure in the future competition for the home of the industry. The East Indies, on the other hand, with their wonderful power possibilities and raw materials, will some day possess a t least a nitrogen fixation industry for home consumption, and metals are not excluded. Africa need hardly be considered, the few really great water powers being badly located from the electrochemical standpoint. Markets are few, transportation not particularly good, and raw materials, though probably present in rich variety, are undeveloped. Egypt may some day acquire a nitrogen industry, as also Sduth Africa. The potential water powers ofSouth America are not located conveniently to the sources of raw materials, and the fuel deposits are of questionable value. Transportation is costly, to say the least. This field is, however, being very closely studied and a n electric steel industry is a not very remote possibility. Governmental assistance is very likely to assist development. Mexico and Central America will never be factors in our industry, the limited powers being more profitably turned to public service and mining. Canada possesses many very cheaply developed water powers, but the districts possessing the same contain no fuel. These powers will find their best outlet in the public utility, railroad, and manufacturing fields. Transportation of raw materials and products to market play too great a part in the industry to make for greatly increased developments and the distances are rather great for effective transmission. Niagara power will find increased uses in manufacturing, with electro steel and ferro-alloys as the most important electrochemical industries. A few important hydro developments will at some time make power available on navigable water, and this places Canada in nearly as favorable a position as Norway. Newfoundland is in much the same situation, with power developments close to tide water. I n our own country, its wealth of raw materials, its widely distributed fuels, and its excellent labor and transportation, all have assisted in our electrochemical development, in spite of the fact that really low-priced water power is practically unknown. Our one really great power at Niagara is loaded to the limit of present development with the widest variety of plants. As more and more water is made available to the power plants, not only will local developments increase but transmission will carry the energy to distant fields. Instead of one million horse power we should be generating five million. The great southern power developments will not be available for heavy electrochemical developments in general; they are too expensive considering their distance from market. Public utilities and manufacturing will consume all they can supply in the future. This will not
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exclude participation in smelting and in mechanical power supply in metallurgical industries. Muscle Shoals will never be another Niagara, no matter how the propaganda reads. The far West has attracted much attention in our field. Public utilities will always take a large share of these developments, and transportation may some day demand its proportion, for fuel is scarce. The few possible developments which might yield surplus power are handicapped by the fuel and raw material situation, for distances are great in our West. Nevertheless, a steel industry is possible and in fact badly needed. I n fact the establishment of any electrometallurgical industry is feasible on certain developments if reasonable transmission to transportation is not antagonized. The struggle for supremacy is going to be between the United States, Norway, India, China, and Canada. We are far in the lead now, but our rapidly developing manufacturing industries will gradually attract the cheap power now available to the chemical industry, for they are better able to pay the higherprice. Many continuous hydro powers can only be inefficiently used in most manufacturing industries, and such should be reserved for the continuously operating furnace processes. But regulation of such kind is to-day impossible in our country.
Society of American Bacteriologists The Society of American Bacteriologists at a recent meeting in Philadelphia appropriated a fund for the support of a Research Fellowship in pure bacteriology. The Society believes it the duty of bacteriologists to fill the gaps in our knowledge of fundamental principles which are largely due to the fact that the excellent work now being carried on deals largely with practical applications of bacteriology. Applicants for the fellowship must have the degree of B.S. or its equivalent, and the fellow will receive academic credit for the work done from a university of recognized standing. Approximately half his time will be devoted to details connected with the Society’s collection of bacteria a t the Army Medical Museum. $100 a month is available to cover living expenses. The following committee is in charge of selecting the fellow, supervising the work, approving the problem selected, and passing upon the thesis submitted as the report of the research: Dr. Victor C. Vaughan, National Research Council, Chaivman Captain C. S. Butler, Naval Medical School Dr. Geo. W. McCoy, U. S. Public Health Service Dr. John R . Mohler, Bureau of Animal Industry Mr. I ,. A. Rogers, Bureau of Animal Industry Col. Joseph F. Siler, Division of Sanitation, U. S. Army Dr. Erwin F. Smith, Bureau of Plant Pathology
Bulletin 128 of the Engineering Experiment Station, Vniversity of Illinois, “The Ignition Temperature of Coal,” by R. W. Arms, makes a study of this problem with the object of determining the influence of the temperature of ignition of the various coals upon the liability to fire while in storage. A discussion is given of what point may actually be designated as the ignition temperature and what factors influence that point, the methods for determining the ignition temperature of different coals, and the results of tests upon the various coals used in this investigation.
At the approaching meeting of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry at Lyons, the matter of organizing the work of the Annual Tables of Constants is to be discussed and an effort made to put it upon a solid financial basis. Plans for providing a certain and sufficient budget for the next five years are in preparation, based upon definite annual contributions from the various countries in the International Union. The confederation of French scientific Societies has renewed for 1922 its contribution of 40,000 francs. The total subscription in France during 1921 was 80,000 francs. The National Research Council of’ Japan has appointed a n advisory committee for the Annual Tables, under the chairmanship of Prof. Yukichi Osaka.
