Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1882-09-28
THE MAGIC OF GAS AND ELEC-
TRICITY.
DR. Siemens' Address Before the Royal
Society.
Pail Mall Gazette. |

dll MAIL odZctIc.I
The prediction that ships will before Ions
be built with such tough wired steel" tina
when they drive against a rock it will only
cause them to bulge several feet" without
springing a Leak brings us nearer DR.. Sic
mems own domain, but the most interesting
part of his forecast relates to the probable
future of electricity and gas. Here he was
on ground that is peculiarly his own.
Whatever else may survive in the future
DR.. Siemens is certain that the steam engine
is doomed. Its fate is first to be confined to
the driving of large dynamo machines, which
will distribute force at present supplied by
a myriad of small and wasteful steam en-
glnes, and then to be superseded altogether
by the gas engine. Gas and electricity may
be mutually hostile, but they are to unite
their forces in order to extirpate the steam
engine. The objectionable sin of the steam
engine is that of waste-even the best of
them consume two pounds of coal per horse
power; whereas, says DR.. Siemens, when the
gas producer has taken the place Of the
complex and dangerous steam boiler it will
not take one pound of coal to develop one
horse power for one hour. But before gas
banishes steam it will supersede coal as the
agent for the development Of steam. A
heat of pound of coal, and even this may
be improved upon. To burn raw coal is to
squander our inheritance. DR.. Siemens gave
some startling figures to prove that the by
products of the coal annually used in gas
making are worth three millions sterling
more than the coal used in producing them,
without allowing anything for the value of
the gas Besides the products already util-
lied, 10000 tons of sulphur are now wasted
every year, which may yet be converted into
a source of income. BY abolishing the use
of raw coal DR.. Siemens maintains that
science, as with some magicians wand, will
danish the black pail of smoke which hangs
over our great cities, and restore to them
pure air, bright sunshine, and blue Skies"
Nor shall we even have to suffer as compen-
sation from the multiplication Of enormous
gasometers The coal will be converted into
gas at the bottom of the mine-a prospect
not altogether to be contemplated without
alarm by the workers in fiery seams-and
the gas carried by pipes wherever it is
wanted. Electricity will also be made largely
serviceable for the distribution of power
Even after allowing so per cent. for loss in
transmission, the gain is still enormous. The
electric light will chiefly be confined to
lighting public places The gaslight will
hold its own as 'the poor mans friend" and
gas heating will become universal. Thus, in
the near future DR.. Siemens unfolds before
our eyes a world in which there will be no
smoke and no steam, and where coal will
only be visible in the immediate vicinity of
the pit Electricity will light our streets,
gas will cook our dinners, and driving power
will be laid on by wire wherever it is want
ed. There will be no pollution of rivers, for
every waste product will be utilized, and the
sulphurous fumes which have converted
whole counties into scenes of dark desolation
will be employed in making the wilderness
to blossom as the rose, and in restoring fer
tility to our exhausted SOIL In short, science
At last will begin to Danish all the manifold
nominations by which "the black age" of
manufactures has defaced the beauty of our
and. It is not before time.