Delaware gazette and state journal., 1897-06-03


than j per cent Of the original deposit
remained in the Pennsylvania beds wner
man first came to them.
1t would seem as IL man had striver
to rival nature in this lavish waste
for there is no stage OF the process o
coal handling, from mine to furnace, ID
which there is not the most reckless
disregard OF economy. We are told that
through bad engineering aud careless
working of shafts fully 20 per cent oi
the coal in any region worked remains
in the mine or In the form Of useless
culm banks or slack; in othor words,
that only 30 per cent reaches the con.
sumer. Expressed In tangible figures
this means that whereas about 60g,
000, ono tons represented the world IS
available output of coal in 1895. some-
thing like 1,a0o, 600. 600 tons were
wasted in securing the rest.
Yet, after all, thistle only temporizing,
for il is self-evi3ent that however the
supply Of coal be conserved it must
finally give out altogether and whether
II be in one century or ten the result is
equally sure. Some uay the work OF
the world must be done through some
agency other than coal, il work he done
at all. What other agency may be-
available as substitute?
That question haa besn asked by
thoughtful men over and over, and
several efforts have been made to give
1t practical answer. Theoretically,
the answer is not very difficult. The
sources OF available energy are compare.
lively few and we'll defined. There are,
OF COURSE the great forces Of wind and
running water, used by primitive peoplo
and never Altogether abandoned, to
which we mightturn. But chiefly
Tho investigators have turned their
thoughts toward the vast flood OF energy
that comes to us each day directly from
the sun-that big fire. as John
Ericsson phrased ii (which is hot
enough to run engines at a distance of
90, 100. 600 miles,, TIE heat which
falls on the earth each day from this
"big fire. was estimated by Ericsson
to equal the energy of 2iT, 900, 600 of
l,0Oo. horse power engines working
night and day. vast proportion OF this
energy IS radiated back into space un-
used by man.
II way can be found TO utilize this
vast flood of energy that comes with
tbs sunlight clearly We might snap our
fingers at the coal beds Everybody
knows FROM his own experience how
the heating power of tho sun s
rays are when brought to focus with
magnifying glass, and the classical
story OF Archimedes setting fire to the
Roman fleet off Syracuse with con.
cave system of steel mirrors twhether
true or not) illustrates another way in
which the SUMS rays may be gathered.
This latter way has been thought by
engineers more available for their pt,r-
pose and some very remarkable results
have been attained by various expert
ments with concave mirrors or systems
OF hat mirrors arranged to bring the
light 10 common focus. With such n
system Button sot fire to plank at
distance of $50 feet. More recently
another Frenchman, Villette by name.
has eSperimented with a concaye mirror
~ inches IN diameter. in the focus of
which. when exposed to the sun, Iron
ore was melted in "a seconds, east iron
In Ii seconds, a siveg sixpence in
seven seconds, and tin in four seconds:
while an emerald was melted into a
state like turquoise 6na diamond lost
seven .eiehths of its weight.u
But perhaps the most practical OF
the experiments that have been maze
in this direction are those of NJ. Mou.
rhot In France and of John Ericsson,
the famous builder OF the Monitor, in
America Each of these inventors
'trove to make a sun motor that should
% practically available for running an
,ngine and both were entirely success.
'ul in the effort. Mouchot producing a
'ystem OF mirrors that would rapidly
poll water. and Ericsson one that,
Under clear sky, ran an engine with
perfect regularity at 240 revolutions per
minute, hour after hour. But the
iithculty about the practical adoption
II tnese sun motors was the very
angible one, that counting the cost
If construction, they cannot compete
with the energy stored in coal, even
When the latter is used as waslefully as
se now use it. So the world regarded
hese engines little better than TOYS.
md only mere and there an investigator
las thought it worth while to take up
he work which the death of Ericsson,
n 1883. interrupted, &.
But the recent report which estimates |
he decay OF our anthracite trade in
he next generation serves to recall |
ericsson prophecy that some dav the
coal viii become as rare as diamonds. "
nd that then tie great industrial |
entries of Europe and America will |
ecline in power, while manufacturers
'ill flock to such tropical regions as |
pper Egypt, where .'never- ceasing
un power" would be available for
unning their engines. Should that |
reelection be fulfilled it will no longer
o westward but equaiorward that the
curse of empire will take it's way and
be Egyptian Of the future, fulfilling
lacaulay's forecast, may ransacs the
ulnd of Westminster abbey with tho
ame antiquarian interest with which
ne European archeoogist of to-day
ansacks tho Barcophagi OF Egypt.
But there are two or three other nos
lhlo sources of energy which Ericsson
18th all his imagination. overlooked in
laking this forecast, and it ia not un.
kelly that these may be caiel on to
vert the disaster which the great en-
ineer predicted. Even now, for ex-
nple, engineers are "harnessipp
'issara," and in an emergency this
nd other waterfalls could make amends
u vast deficit in the coal supply.
tut the power OF Niagara is a mere
agatelie compared with another source
water power which until racently
as been utterly neglected. The tides
hich cease!essy oscilate in our
ceans, under stress of the moons
ttraction, have power which, could
Q harness it, would run all tine ma
hinery OF the world MS readily as
could haul Il toothpick. All
lis tremendous power is going to
aste, but of late more than one eu