New-York tribune., 1901-06-01
GUESSING AT THE FUTURE.
PREDICTIONS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS
IN THE PRESENT CENTURY.
TWENTIETH CENTURY INVENTIONS; A
FORECAST. By George Sutherland. NJ. A.
l2rno. pp. Kill. 2S6 Longmans. Green & Co.

NJ. a.
l2mo. PIP. xiii, 2S6 Longmans, Green & Co.
Predictions like those here offered are not
necessarily without value Few or none of them
may be realized. Yet they based on existing
deficiencies and recognized needs in the realm
of material civilization And the mere state
ment OF such requirements. with reasonably
good guesses as 10 the method of meeting them,
is instructive, particularly since the writer shows
a fair knowledge Of the progress lately made in
the departments Of invention which he surveys.
Mr. Sutherland first considers the possible
sources Of future power. Ertcsson's lack OF
complete success discourages any confident eX-
pectation in regard to utilizing solar heat But
the author is very hopeful that improved wind
mills may make their appearance. He
looks for an air wheel Of less diameter than is
nov common, but with a much longer hub or
barrel If this were wound with a spiral iange
a screw would be secured that would develop
high speed and be better adapted than the
present windmill 10 driving dynamos Mr..
Sutherland believes that more substantial re-
suits are to be obtained from perfecting wave
motor than tidal motor.
AS between the electric accumulation and COM
pressed air. he thinks the former is likely to
prove the more useful agent for storing power.
He looks at calcium carbide another form OF
stored energy that is sure TO prove serviceable.
Cheap acetylene. thus produced. ought to rival
water gas as an explosive in gas engines.
Among the devices for developing power arti-
icially the steam turbine is perhaps the most
revolutionary. Mr.. Sutherland declares that its
greatest efficiency was obtained by modelling
this motor after the vanes of a windmill, rather
than a water turbine.
The suggestions offered concerning automo-
biles are not especially striking. The writer OBJ
jects 10 gasolene on account of the risks Incl
ne
tion OF steam motors for horseless carriages, 1t
is believed, depends chiefly upon having several
cylinders and providing for employing one or
more at will. A combination OF steam and cleo
tricity for the propulsion Of these vehicles is
deemed desirable and feasible. The possibility
Of securing power from the waves 10 assist in
driving ship over the. sea is not considered
unreasonable though remote.
The chief advances which Mr.. Sutherland ex-
poets in agriculture are to come from a wider
dissemination of beneficial microbes in the soil.
the cheap manufacture Of nitrate Of ammonia
for manure, the application of electricity to
mechanical work and a development of rriga-
ton. Mining is to be promoted, he thinks, by
the use of electrical means TO detect the strike"
OF a mineral lode, when the latter has once been
discovered, and by devising ways to conduct ex-
cavations below the surface of water in the
bottom of mines. Great things predicted
from wireless telegraphy and telephony. But II
is recognized that some way must yet be found
by which person call up another by
telephone without exchange. A recording
telephone is another development that may be
safely promised, because il has already been
realized more or less perfectly.
In the household, fuel economies to be
obtained by jacketing a heater that 1t will
not waste much energy by radiation. Comfort
is to be promoted by providing better means for
cooling the air in summer The piano ought to
be improved in such a way that its notes be
sustained much better than at present. and the
conductor OF orchestra may perhaps be
placed. at least in public, by an electric time
beater. Mr. Sutherland evidently does not grasp
all the functions OF the conductor that not
Immediately obvious % the eye. He does not
look for universal peace in the near future, and
accordingly expects the appearance Of q smoke
producing bomb that will cover a cavalry
charge. In marine warfare the greatest reliance,
he thinks will be the torpedo. But he has lit
tie faith in the submarine boat, sharing the
prejudice against that type of craft that was
common in England until recently. Even less
Importance is attached by him to the posi-
bility that bombs may be dropped great
cities from balloons and flying machines