The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-12-10

FUEL AND MANS DOMINION.

FUEL AND MANS DOMINION.
AS posterity is not yet concerned about
us it is somewhat futile to look forward
1000 years to see what legacy posterity will
derive from US. In the epocas of this world
a thousand years form but a short span.
The suns heat will not have diminished in
that period. On the contrary, if Helm
holiz's explanation of its heat by the sur
face condensation of its gases is correct the
sun may be much hotter 1000 years hence
than it is now and both light and heat may
keep on increasing too in the millions of
years to come. The vegetation of the earth
will therefore be maintained in lusty vigor
and the sea will still contain its teeming
life. The food question is therefore not
urgent, unless we were to adopt Mr. Raven
STEMS calculation that in two or three
hundred years there will hardly be stand
ing room on the dry lard for the
earth's millions. Nobody does indorse
that whimsical estimate. There are
checks that keep the increase of
human beings down as we'll as swarms of
locusts and schools of fishes. But another
question arises 20 give man concern. What
is our fuel supply and how long will it last?
There will always be wood while plant life
thrives, but coal is the fuel that most peo
pie think of when the question is put in the
foregoing form. Coal is the fosSiliZed vegeta-
lion Of past 30ns-a peculiar vegetation OF
which only types survive, and existing I'M
der peculiar conditions which converted it
into mineral. We are not likely to nave
any more coal formed on this earth. What
we have may be worked out and consumed,
but can never be replaced.
But biologists give US assurances on the
subject that at least need not bother this
age. In Europe there is comparatively
little coal. There are some thousands of
square miles in Great Britain, and at the
present rate of consumption the supply may
last $50 or 800 years. Ii will not last much
longer unless the miner goes below the
Permian and new red sandstone strata.
France has little, also Belgium, Prussia
and Spain. But Russia has vast fields OF
coal, although developed only to a trifiing
extent. so this fuel is potentiality in reserve.
In the United States there are 10000 square
miles of coal fields, about forty times more
than England has, and many OF the SeaIus
are very thick. Canada's resources are not
yet well ascertsined, bnt there is still
very rich field in Nova Scotia. Wonderful
as are the fuel resources of the United
States, China has still greater resources.
Her coal field is estimated to be
100000 square miles, and although
little worked, in time China's possession
in fuel must prove factor not
to be ignored in commerce and manufac-
turing. India also has large coal fields.
Doubtless Ia Africa aud Australia there are
large deposits. SO really che worlds sup
ply of fuel is tOlersbly cheerful
Some countries will work out their supply
and will have to depend upon others, but
the supplies of all countries may soon be
available in another form than by trans
ference of material bulk. The electrician
looks forward to the time when energy will
be transmitted from the coal fields to the
centers where power is wanted. The trans
ference Of the fuel power of coal from one
country to another is thus possible. Who
knows whether it may rot be possible
across oceans?
Still another supply of fuel is obtainable.
The deposits of petroleum all over the
world are enormous. ln the Caspian region
alone only ten square miles of the petro-
leum area have been tapped, and the wells
are flowing with prodigious force. There
are hundreds OF square miles untapped.
Even beneath the Caspian Sea there may be
Petroleum is found all over Asia and in
Europe. also in South America and Ia
many places in North America. What is
termed natural gas is also abundant. So
mans ingenuity to find fuel will not be
exhausted when the solid seams OF mineral
coal are worked out.
But there must come a time when all this
fuel obtanable from the bowels of the
earth will be exhausted. Ii is not much
more than thousand years since mineral
coal was brought into use at ali. The earth's
supply may last thousands of years yet at an
accelerated consumption, and MacauaY's
New Zealsnder may not be heard Of as
student of antiquities until long after that
epoch. Well, there are substitutes TO con-
sole mankind il the worst comes to the
worst. The civilized man half a thousand
years hence may cook his beefsteak under
sunglass 1t is possible now in climates
which are not f0ggy. The solar radiating
and evaporating power will not be dimin-
Isl ed. There will always be cataracts,
rivers and streams TO develop into electrical
power Niagara alone could supply the
motive power wants of the whole continent
OF America, such as they will be, for a Gen.
tury to come. Niagara Will last for many
thousands of years The sun will not fail
in its heat nor the rock in its resistance DUR
ing that period. And what, after all,
is Niagara to the aggregate force of
thousands OF other rivers and streams
that may be Utilized for electricity to mans
benefit. 10 addition we have the forces of
the tides, utilizable along many thousands OF
miles of shore all the world over. These
forces also depend upon the sun, assisted
by the moon, but heat plays no part. For
every three feet of tide the sun is respon-
sible for one foot of gravitational pull, and
the moon for the remaining two. AS long
as we have seas this available force will
continue. But should a sea or ocean dry
up. as may be the case. for there have been
many such changes in the past, then there
may be more coa-field area to discover.
Some Of the coal fields OF Great Britain in
the Firth OF Forth basin were under sea-
water during the Roman occupation.
Roman anchors have been found at places
far inland, and whale skeletons Of the pres
ent species IS far up the river as Stirling.
There is in fact a field for mans wits In
making living during an indefinitely long
period ahead. The energy OF life on this
earth is far from being in sight of the end.
----------
OUR SOUTHERN NEiGHBORS.