The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-04-17
A POSSIBLE CATASTROPHE
DIR. BISHOP REVIEWS A QUEER
STORY.
Some Calculations Upon Withdrawing
Cheapening of Future Food Supply

Editor Star: In the April issue of
McClures is a sensational story with
the title, within an Ace of the End of
the World-a Scientific Miscalculation."
The tale is one of events occurring in
the twentieth century. Prof. Crookes
had already sounded the alarm that the
wheat fields of the globe were being ex-
hausted of their nitrogen, so that in
short time 1t would become impossible
to feed mankind, unless new sources of
nitrogen were discovered. So, numerous
inventors are imagined to have set to
work upon the problem. The result
was that early in the new century they
evolved enormous quantities of the
needed nitrogen from the air by means
of electricity which was produced by
the power of falling water. But they
went further, and discovered how to
convert that nitrogen directly into the
most varied and delicious Viands with
out the intervention of agriculture.
Thus mankind were delightfully."- and
cheaply fed.
But in consequence of scientific
miscalculation" two disastrous conse-
quences ensued. The air became grad
ually depleted of the nitrogen which
had so beneficently diluted the acidness
of the oxygen. The evil was increased
by the greediness of the great powers
which proceeded to manufacture and
store up vast supplies of food against
possible consequences of war. The
consequence was that the wholesome
76 per cent of nitrogen in the air be-
came reduced to 80 per cent, and finally
as low as 23.1 per cent.
The first evil resulting was in over
stimulating the nerves of mankind, in
toxicating them by the excess of oxy-
gen, and producing a great increase in
mortality. A final catastrophe also
came in the highly oXygenated air.
From this last disaster, however, a few
wise men and women managed to eX-
empt themselves by living in halls
which they had artihcially nitrogenized.
| Their progeny repeopled the desolataed
earth and told the story.
Thus is depicted to us the awful con-
| sequences of an uncalculating use of
! scientific skill.
The term Scientific miscalculation, "
! however, may have been intended to
warn the more cautious reader against
| credulously accepting the possibility of
| the results narrated. 1t is one of those
| cases where a little arithmetical fig
| ruling proves a safeguard.
! The weight of the atmosphere upon a
| cubic foot of the earth's surface equals
! that of a column of thirty-one cubic
! feet of water which is nearly one ton.
| Then the weight upon one square mile
| will be over twenty million tons,
| anu lue lOLdl Weight VI the dlIuOSpllGIt
upon the whole globe will be nearly ten
! thousand million million tons. If then,
we suppose the extravaganza of great
powers to have stored up one ton of
nitrogen food for every one of the fif-
| teen hundred million people of the
world, what proportion of the whole
store of nitrogen in the air would have
been withdrawn? If nitrogen consti-
| tutes threefourths of the atmosphere,
only one part in five million would have
been taken out. Not a very dangerous
depletion, certainly. In fact, the most
delicate balances of the chemist could
not possibly detect the change.
Verify, we find a scientific miscalcu-
! lation," which the author cynically
leaves the reader to discover.
1t is highly improbable that science
can ever produce nutriment for animal
life directly from nitrogen of the air,
or any other inorganic matter without
the Intervention of vegetable germs
| There is, however, reason to believe
that the action of vegetable life in eX-
tracing nitrogen from the air can be
greatly increased by the aid of suitable
microbes artificially cultivated. 1t is
also conceivable that electric force may
be applied to convert the nitrogen OF
the air into those compounds which
powerfully stimulate food products
The story thus has an interest in sug'
costing possibilities as to increasing an6
cheapening the food supply of the fu'
ture. S. e. BISHOP.