The Flagstaff sun-democrat., 1897-08-26
THE SUPPLY OF FUEL.


 of Science. on Friday, Lord Kelvin. the eminent English scientist, deliv- cred very interesting address on 1.-The Fuel Supply apd Air Supply of the World" The address was deliv- cred in thsSnss,, hematical and ph sical science seStion, and the dail, -uewspa- per reports says the physical lecture room of University College was not bigPnough to hold the cOwdsl that assembled to listen to 0ue of the most distinguished ,physicists of the age. Lord Kelvin's autograph synopsis of his address is as follows:
 "All the known fuel on the earth is the residue of ancient vegetation. One ton of average fuel takes three tons of oxygen to burn it, and there- fore it's vegetable origin. decomposing carbonic acid and water by power of sunlight, gave three tons of oxygsn to our atmosphere. Every square meter of the earth's surface bears ten tons of air. of which two tons is oxygrn. The whole surface is l24.000. 900. 900 of acres or 510,000, ,0O0, ,0O0, ,000 of square meters. Hence there is mol more than $40. .00Q, ,0O0, ,000. 900 of tons of fuel on the earth. and this is proved the exact amount, because proved by all the oxygen of our atmosphere. which came from primeval vegetation.
 1.-The purely available coal supply of Great Britain (England and Sco- land) was estimated by the coal'suppl! commission of 1881, which included Sir Roderick Murchison and Sir Au- drew Ramsay among it's members, as being l45.OO0. .O0O. .O00 tons. This is approximately six-tenihS of ton per square meter of area ofGGreat Britain. To burn it all would take one and one. eighth trnths of a ton of oxygen, or within tw,rtenihs of a ton of the whole oxy gen of the atmosphere rest. ing on Great Britain (England and Scotlapd). The commission estimated 5000. .0O0, 900 tons more of coal as probably existent at present in lower and less easily accessible strata. If they be, therefore, considered, it is almost quite certain that Great Britain could not burn all it's own coal with its own air, md therefore that the coal of Great B.itain is considrrabl, in excess "f the fuel supply of the rest of the world. rrckoned per equal areas, whether of land or sea-"
 Iu the course of his paper Lord Kelvin brought out other interesting ideas. Did fuel exist before the c,m- ing of plant and animal lif.a Scirn- lists were inclined to discre,lit such a theory. Before life the matter "f the earth came together. The under ground heat If the earth was due to gravity. The concensus of opinion among scientists was that the earth l was once melted matter. or liquid rock. 1t was just p''ssible that gol, melted cr solid might exist far down in the earth. There was no reason why copper, iron or gold should not have slipped down and formed depoc- its in ihr c-ntrr of the earth.
 All fuel. said Lord Kelvin, had the character "f vrgriation. Sunlight did important work in extracting from pianIs certain of their consli,u- snts. in alo"t l46 years. said hr. the world might have to depend upon fire wood again. Other influences were play ing an important part. There vas 'h- power of Niagara. estimated st alm"i 1000 GOO horse power, for sse in ,hr fnt,.rr.
 On ihe whole. he showed that there b more fuel in the world than the air uan bur" up, and that the danger of rMt of material to keep the monster furnaces of the w"rld xblxz~ for the next two or three hundred #r T