St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-01
MODERN FIRE wORsHIPING.


coming a veXed question as to whence
the motive power of the future will be
derived. Only a few years ago we
imagined that the coal deposits were in
eXhaustible, but recent Investigations
have demonstrated that the supply has
been reduced with such a waSteful
rapidity that the limit can already be
determined. We are consuming in
years what nature prepared by the slow
work of centuries, and when the deposit
is exhausted the world will be forced to
look somewhere else for its supply of
power. The time was when wood was
the only fuel. Then came the discovery
of coal just in time to meet the ext
gencies of mans necessities. Now
that it is beyond question man will
Outlive coal,w cannot help feeling some
concern for the generations who are TO
come after us. The possible needs of
pOsterity do not affect our material inter-
eSts, yet we do not care to anticipate
that the splendid ediice we have
worked so induStriouSly to rear into
form and beauty shall, after all, only
turn out to be the unSubStantial pageant
of a dream. We are inclined to believe
with CHARLES MORRIS, in the current
number of Lippiuc0tt's Magazine, that
when the present supply is exhausted
man will find new sources of power,
and civilization will continue to advance
with still more rapid strides until it
reaches the splendor and perfection of
the millennial era. Mr.. MORRIS insists
that as long as the sun shines civiliza-
ton is safe. for to the great life-giving
orb we owe all that We have, and upon
it alone must we depend for future re-
sources.
This dependence on solar power is
not new idea, although it seems to
have dawned upon the mind of ERICK-
son aud other modern inventors with
the force of a newborn light away
back in the earliest civilization of
Persia, while the regions OF the Orient
yet embraced the discovered portions of
the human family, the Persian mind
worshiped what it could not cOmpre-
bend, and built affairs and burnt incense
to the sun as the supreme deity. Fire
was thought to he an emanation from
the sun; and hence, it too became an
object of ignorant reverence and dego-
ton. 1t has been justly conceded that
of all the mythology that of the fire
wOrshiper was the most elevated, and
had more visible reasons to an I'M
instructed mind in its support
than any other. They saw the
awakening power of light, which came
from the presence of the great luminary,
and the deathlike influence of darkness
which fell upon the world in its absence.
Under its benign light the meadows
were mantled in green, the fields ripened
for the harvest and the orchards and the
vineyards produced their treasures of
purple and gold. With the fresh break
ing day came the sounds and movements
of busy life, but with the descending
nightfall came silence and sleep-the
counterfeit resemblance of death. 1t is
no wonder, then, that the untutOred
mind of the Persian, with these striking
phenomena forever attendant upon heat
and light constantly present for its con-
temptation, should be led to belief in
the supernatural attributes and powers
of the source whence they came.
If in the absence of scientific knowl-
edge and discoveries the semi-barbarous
tribes of the Orient were impressed
with the display of solar power revealed
i'll nature, it is not surprising that in
this age Of science and invention the
mystery which awaited higher type of
man and nobler development of his
powers should find solution. Modern
science has revealed that the sunlight
does more than to store up carbon in
trees. We now know that it lifts water
from the ocean and dashes it down upon
the earth as rain. We know that it sets
the atmosphere in motion, producing
the al most incesSant winds. Being in
possession of this knowledge, it is but
natural that it should occur to the in
ventors of the age that energy repre-
scented by the action of the sun upon the
waters and the atmosphere could be
stored for the use of mankind. How to
make more direct use of the power of
the sunbeam is now all absorbing study
with some of the most renowned engi-
neerS. In 1882 some French engineers
experimental with solar engine in
Paris, and the experiment was so sue
cesSfu the French government decided
to apply it to certain industrial purposes
in Algeria. But this French machine
was surpassed in efficiency by the solar
engine produced by JOHN ERICSSON.
The eminent Swedish inventor had been
working on it for twenty-five years be-
fore his death, and in his will he made
it obligatory upon his executors that the
experiment should be continued under
the direction of his most trusted assist
ant. In paper published by ERIcs-
SON in 1884, he stated that he had then
obtained an engine speed OF one hum
dred and twenty turns per minute, with
an absolute pressure of thirty-five
pounds per square inch on the working
piston. His faith in the ultimate success
of his solar engine was unbounded.
and the probability is that if death had
not closed his career the solar engine
would have passed hey md the expert
mental stage by this time. Encouraged
by ERICssoN's success, other engineers
and inventors are pursuing the same
line Of study and development, and it is
entirely within the range of probability
that the living generation will see the
solor motor in successful operation.
When it is once understood how to store
and properly utilize the suns energy,
the human race will have no apprehen-
sion about the motive power of the
future.
THE WHEAT SUPPLY.