Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1883-01-04
Gas and Electricity.

DR.. Siemens in his address 10 the
British association made some almost
startling references to the probabilities
of gas and electricity in the future in its
relation to industrial affairs. DIR. Sic
mems devoted himself to the future and
applied his horoscope to forecast OF
what is to take place in the rapid devel-
opment of science, a work for which no
is peculiarly fitted.
The portion of his address devoted to
coal contains some almost startling in
formation. Taking the coal used in the
manufacture of gas at 100000 tons,
worth 1927 ,O00, 900, DIR. Siemens showed
in the following table tho value OF its
waste products:
Coloring matter for dyes. 10, 600
Manure (suphatc of ammoniaD go. 9,1& ,oW
Pitch 1895, 900 tons) ................ l,o25,JOO
Crcosote (25, 000, 900 gallons) ...... l,040, GOO
Crude carbolic acid. ...........,.... oOo,VVO
Gas coke, at lbs. a ton (4,OOO,ON
tons after allowing 2,OO0OOO tons
for working retorts) ......,..'' E,oVV,OVV
Total. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 'Ct'~iO''ViVOV
The statement shows that the waste
products are Sl5, 1853, 900 more valuable
than the coal itself-a contrast which
will spur up chemistry to Il more thor
ough investigation The doctor went
still further in his review of waste pro-
ducts, and showed that the weight OF
the SCOT hanging over London on win
ter's day was so tons, and the poisonous
carbonic oxide in the air five times that
amount. All this is not only going to
waste, but is making other things 60 to
waste, such as human works and human
ia
lieves could be turned To useful pur-
poses More than this. he believes that
all this waste can be avoided by using
gas as the heating power instead OF raw
coal. A pound of gas gives forth just
twice as much as a.pound OF coal, so
that burning raw coal he claims is
squandering our inheritance. BY quit
ting its use he maintains that science
will 'banish the black pail of smoke
which hangs over our great cities and
restore to them pure air, bright sun
shine and blue skies" and this gas he
claims will be manufactured at the bot
tom of the mine and distributed there
from by pipes, thus doing away with
gasometers altogether
By the union of gas and electricity DIR.
Siemens believes that the steam engine
will be doomed. For time il may be
used to drive large dynamo-machines.
which will take the place of numerous
small steam engines, but ultimately the
steam engine will be superseded by the
gas engine. Gas and electricity may
be mutually hostile, but they are to unite
their forces in order 10 cXtirpate 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 per hour. whereas
when the gas producer has taken the
place of the complex and dangerous
steam boiler it will not take one pound
of coal to develope one horse power for
one hour" As to the competition be-
tween gas and electricity DR.. Semens
believes that the latter will he used for
lighting public places, but that gas will
still be the poor mans friend Elec-
tricity will light our streets, but gas will
be used for almost all our household
purposes, including cooking. He does
not think that electric railways are going
to supercede steam railways for very
long time 10 come, though the electric
motor will be of great advantage TO ag-
riculture, and has great future before