The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-18
LIVING WITHOUT AIR
LORD KELVIN WARNS HUMANITY
THAT 1T IS GROWING
LESS
BEING DRAINED OF OXYGEN
Man, He Says VIII Become More
Puny With Each Generation
Death VIII Confront
the Race.

thing?
Lord Kelvin. the greatest authority to-
day in mathematical physics asserts that
the oxygen supply of the world will be
exhausted within the next five centuries
oxygen is the real force of the atmos-
phere so far as man and nearly all air
breathing animals are concerned
Lord Kelvin has sounded an alarm
which has created more discussion in sci
entific circles than any other pronounce
ment since Darwin put forth his Origin
OF Species No satisfactory reply has
so far been offered. 1t is admitted that
! theoretically, the oxygen in the atmos-
phere is diminishing Every bueketfuI of
coal in furnace and every stick of
wood in cook stove burns up a portion
OF the world S supply of breathing air.
! no" long will the oxygen hold out?
is there any way in which the extrav-
agant waste of the worlds atmosphere
can be checked?
Lord Ketvin's conclusions were stated
IN lecture recently delivered before the
British Association for the Promotion of
Science. He has made a study of the
subject for many years He is now past
middle age, and ranks as the foremost
living physicist
Inc following is a summary of the i'm
portant points of Kelvin's theory:
The eXtravagent waste of oxygen bv
modern manufacturing processes may
leave the Inhabitants of the earth with
out air for breathing and that withi,,
a snort and calculable time At the
present rate of progress five centuries
VIII exhaust the full supply of the world
rms means the exhaustion of our supply
The sum total of oxygen at our dispo-
sal Is I0D millions of tons
Every ton otsfuel uses three tons of oxy-
burning of 340 600, coo of tons of com
pusubies viii destroy the worlds air for
prealhlng. The population of the earth Is
-I,5C0,G00 persons. Each has to his creC,sF
2G1t99 tons Of combustibles. Burn sthfs
and we die, not from lack of fuel for
EHeplng warm, but from lack of oxygen
ler breath considering the rate at Which
manufacturing and commerce are depict
ing the coal supply, less than SO years
may see the end of the human race
science has rarely offered 50 strangE
ana so terrible picture of the end OF
the world as Lord Keivin's theory sug-
gests. From various scientific autirori-
ties IN New York (Hallock, Woodward,
HoEey, Van Ingen, Burgess and others}
interesting SPECULATION. as to the gradual
approach of the final catastrophe has
been, gathered.
f. with the decrease of oxygen in the air
the heat OF summer would become in
tense rms would not be the pitiless
Pafch1ng heat of the desert. Moisture
would hang heavy in the air. Steam
would rise from the ground and the sun
would be yelled in clouds OF vapor
Plants would spring up and flower in a
day and trees grow almost in a night
7 With time for adjustment, the Verv lux
uriance of vegetation would clear the air
again and furnish breath to famished
lie.
But with the swift rush of Kelvin's
/ calculations the mischief will have been
! accomplished in three centuries. Alarm
+ Will spread TOO late. As oxygen becomes
| precious the entire human race will
! strive madly for some means of increas-
| ing it. Every man will conserve his
| strength, because muscular effort re-
] quires tine expenditure of much oxygen.
! Factories will not smoke any longer.
Huge electric plants will distill the
| seas into air. The banks of the ocean
! will be crowded with the humanity that
| comes to it to turn it by alchemy from
water to breath. Every year the waters
! will recede under the drain of cleo
| trolyZing process.
Man will become more .puny with each
! generation. Death will confront the
! race and pride of power and trade and
achievements in art and learning will
/ give way to desperate struggle for life.
Certain animals, on the other hand, will
thrive apace. Huge and brilliant fishes
will swim the sluggish streams Ser
! penis Will grow to monstrous size and
/ great frogs will croak in the swamps
All of lower nature may reach its flower
again before the death of man, as it did
! before his birth.
The sturdiest of the human species will
/ survive longest Scarcely on the LAST dav
will the last men be able to distinguish
| the faces of each other in the thick va
-por. They will move about in the dense
atmosphere with slower and slower
! steps. A torpor will creep over them,
| and they will die.
| Lord Kelvin civilian Thompson) has
| received more marked honors from his
| own and from foreign countries than auy
| other scientist living. He was born in
| Belfast in 1924, and began life as a
! teacher.
He was knighted by Queen Victoria for
! his share in perfecting the Atlantic cable
in 1866. He was raised to the peerage in
! 1892. England has given him all the med
ais and titles that she has to give.
For hfty-four years he has been pro-
fessor of natural philosophy in Glasgow
university. His earlier work was upon
| the subject of electricity and magnetism
! Since then he has contributed valuable
work to nearly every branch of natural
science. His studies have been remark
able for conservatism and practical ap-
| plicatlon.
Prof. William Hallock, department of
! physics and secretary of the faculty,
columbia university. asked about Lord
! kelvin's theory, said:
Lord Kelyin's contention rests upon a
sound basis. 1t is true that modern
manufactures are consuming fuel in Iarg-
er amounts than the processes of nature
/ Tow produce It,
This combustion locks I'D practically
| that portion of the worlds oxygen which
was freed originally In the slow forma-
ton OF this fuel through unknown ages.
II we continue to use up our known
| supply of oxygen at the present rate,
without In some way getting the stock
reinforced, then our descendants must die
| of asphyxiation. But nature may in some
Hidden way discover a means of increas-
| ing the supply of oxygen. There may be
sources of supply yet unknown to u.s.
| Man may invent an artificial process of
| freeing oxygen from its combinations
/ Or, lastly. man may become a cold-blood-
| ed animal and capable of existing upon
an infiniteSimal supply of oxygen
Vegetation upon the earth would prob
! ably have to be swept away before our
supply of breathing air gives out In
! that case it is a problem whether man
would not Starve to death before asphyx-
I iation came upon him. Personally do
not anticipate any such catastrophe 1t
{ is one of those things interesting to spec
+! ulate upon. because it is remote enough
I not to alarm IT'S a great deal
/ zone can always hope that Sorneth hing
! will happen before worst comes to
! worst.
/ AS animal life is now constituted It
| cannot exist without oxygen. Vegetation,
on the other hand, lives upon carbonic
! acid gas, which is useless to animals.
! This forms the main distinction between
animal and vegetable life. Each SUP
! ports laboratory which works for the
! subsistence of the other.
/ Fish and other cold FLOODED animals
| live upon an infinitesinal amount Of oXy-
! gen. They use 1t only IA muscular effort
! Their body heat is the same as that OF
] the element in which they live. Man. on
i the either hand, is not content with
! 20. 10