St. Landry democrat., 1890-05-03
! THE WORLDS FUEL SUPPLY.
1t Is Estimated by Scientist to Be About
Six TriIIiOn Tons.

1t Is Estimated by Scientist to Be Abou
Six TrilIion Tons.
Time was when the carbon and hydro
gen, which form practically the whole
of our supply of fuel and the principa
part of our food, were inorganic-nt
more capable of sustaining combustion
or animal life Gf we except certain mi
croscopic forms which decompose car
bonlc acid than granite or slate.
For vegetable life, however, the sup
ply Of food was at lis maximum. Nege.
table life came, generated in some un-
known way by the solar energy which
poured through the atmosphere and the
heat energy which penetrated the earth's
crust from within.
Through the lnimayinable ages of the
carbOnitcrous period a gigantic fora fed
on the rich atmosphere, assimilating its
carbon and hydrogen, and thereby set
ting free its oxygen, until it could slls-
tain its animal life, at first in the lowest,
then succosSively in the higher forms.
This gigantic flora, with its enormous
potential energy Of chemical separation
from ONNgcn-an energy derived chiefly
from the solar energy Of that period,
easily admitted and tenaciouslv retained
by the atmOsphere-iS now stored up in
the earth as fuel for the future genera
lions of our race. Future, | say, for ire
mendOus as the annual consumption of
coal, petroleum and natural gas for
generation has been, we have as yet only
begun upon the great store. Hitherto
OIL r.,
her childrcn's needs by cxpending only
her current income.
In this latter day. however, their de
1nands have multiplied 50 rapidly that
she has been obliged to draw upon the
capital stored up during the long ages of
her maidenhood. How long will that
capital last at the terrible rate at which
we have begun to squander it? Is her
childrens prOdigality actually making
her poorer? or has she the power to null
lily the effects Of their extravaganza?
and are her diminishing resources due
only to the decreasing energy Of her
natural supporter and protector, the
sun: However prodigal man may be in
his use of earths treasures. he can never
annihilatc one atom of her substance or
transport it beyond her domain.
In his ''wastcful' consumption of fuel
he is only restoring its elements to their
primeval condition as constituents chief
ly of the aerial and aqueous oceans which
surround our globe. 1t follows. then,
that the more rapid the combustion the
richer becomes the atmosphere in its
power to sustain and force vegetable
growth. If it were possible for that pc
riod SO often predicted to arrive, when
the 5000, O,0O0, 100000 tons, more on less,
of fossil fuels now stored up in the earths
coal bins shall have been consumed, the
atmosphere will simply have returned to
its prmeval condition-that which pre-
ceded the carDoniferOus period
The only essential difference, there
fore, which will mark the two remote |
geologic periods, the past and future,
will be due to whatever reduction will |
have taken place in the suns energy.
But whether that condition is destined |
ever to return to earth or not, one thing
is certain: 1t will not be through human
Ages before its arrival
the percentage of carbOnic acid in the
will have passed through
the point possible to the continuance Of
human life. If not through human
agency, then how is it to come: Ger
tainly not by any Of the processes now
in operation. The percentage of carbonc
acid in the atmosphere does not ma
Eerially vary.
This fact means simply that some
where on the earth's surface vegetation
5 taking up the enormous surplus Of
:arbonic acid constantly pouring forth
rom our millions OF furnaces and thus
'estoring it to tho form Of available fuel.
The weight that is constantly sinking is
hus being constantly relifted by the
laily conversion of solar to vital energy.
)nly some stupendOus ConVulsion of ma
ure, like those dreamed of by John of
'atmos and Lord Byron, in which ''the
dement's shall melt with fervent heat"
an undo the work of the carboniferous
ges-somc tremendous upheaval in
which the subterranean stores Of fuel
hall at once be laid bare and given over
o the devouring oxygen. Then would
new cycle begin, another carboniferous
Ia, in which the storehouses would be
gain slowly filled for future generations
men. Again and again might the
ycie return, until the diminishing en-
rgy of the sun should fail to uplift the
allen weight, to reorganize the inor-
p. jackson in North Ameri-
an Review. .