✍ Scribed by R.H.O.
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CURRENT TOPICS. 767
which are dealt with in a recent issue of Za Industrializatsiu, organ of the Peoples Commissariat of Heavy Industry. One of these is the transportation and storage of fuel for large heat and power stations. Large quantities must be transported and such traffic could not be brought into the center of large cities. Such difficulties could be overcome by burning gas instead of solid fuel. Both Leningrad and Moscow have fairly close at hand low quality fuels which could be gasified and transported through pipes to power stations. True, such gasification is expensive and would require large capital outlay. But for Leningrad and Moscow', considerations of hygiene, transport and convenience may outweigh the cheapness of burning the fuels directly under the boilers. Natural gas also promises to be a great source of fuel. Intensive work is also being carried out to utilize another potential source--underground gasification of coal. This is being accomplished already on a small scale. R. H. O.
Researchers Find New Coal Tar Products.--( National Petroleum News, Vol. XXVIII, No. 42.) A new series of high-boiling solvent oils and a new stable resin have been prepared from light oils derived from by-product coking operations. This work has been done by P. J. Wilson, Jr., and J. H. Wells, at Mellon Institute of Industrial research. These high-boiling oils are mainly aromatic in character, with small percentages of paraffins and of oils soluble in 80 per cent. sulfuric acid. They boil between 18o ° C. and 375 ° C., have a specific gravity of 0.950 to 1.o3 ° , and are excellent solvents for resinates, many natural gums and synthetic resins, rubber, Thiokol, etc. The resin appears to be a mixed polymer of aromatic olefins and cyclic dienes, or compounds containing two separate double bonds between carbons. It is emulsifiable in water, soft at 14 °0 C., contains no free carbon, and is miscible with many gums, resins and asphalt, coal tar pitch, and pine tar. It appears to be suitable for binder and adhesive purposes, floor tile, varnishes, linoleum, battery seals, etc. R. H. O.
No Weather Effect from Lake Mead.--(En~ineering News Rec.,
Vol. 117, No. 17.) Lake Mead, which is the lake formed by Boulder Dam, has been the subject of a number of inquiries with relation to it being a source of precipitation on the surrounding usually dry country. This precipitation, according to calculations made by J. Cecil Alter meterologist for the United States Weather Bureau, is negligible. Mr. Alter concluded that "Utah received in precipita-
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