The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-08-26
Science Promises an Abund.
ant Substitute for Soft Coal
1T is LIKE IRISH PEAT e.
The Swanps and Bogs Yield Vast
Quantities ofThls Dccayed vege-
table Matter, Which is Almost
Pure Carbon--lts COST.
Especial to The Tlmes-Dlspatch.)

in the scientific world has been gained
largely from his efforts to prevent fire
and who has been mainly responsible for
the establishment Of insurance engineer
Ing experiment stations and for the
teaching OF insurance engineering as
profession at tho Massachusetts, institute
OF Technology. should be devoting much
Of his present attention to the means OF
making fire might seem strange; but
report No. VI. Just issued from the IN
surance Engineering Station at Boston.
shows such to be the case. Tho investiga-
tors at this unique station, OF which
Professor Charles l. Norton. Of the Massa~
chusetts Institute of Technology Is In
charge, are inclined to think that they
have discovered new fuel, one Of great
commercial value. Its name Is mud, and It
might easily. 80 It Is th5Ight prove 10 be
very valuable as an emergency fuel
should there ever come a recurrence OF
the coal crisis OF the last winter When
people are cold In their houses and when
factories are closing on account OF lack OF
ljooal, almost any tolerable substitute
would be welcomed. Then. too, outside Of
that field OF usefulness, the insurance
engineers believe that tho lump Of mud
has commercial possibilities even III
piping times OF prosperity like the pres
emit when coal Is fairly cheap and plenti-
full. or course, GOAL. particularly that Of
the bituminous variety, is found pretty
we'll distributed throughout tho United
States, but black mud is ever so much
moro common {: In fact, YOU will easily
light upon It, varying in depth from two
or three, OF perhaps thirty feet, almost
anywhere In the world where there are
swnmps or wet meadows, nnd-what IN
moro important-tllere Is a likelihood that
you can utilize 1t asa heat producing
material which needs only to receive
| proper treatment to prove Itself 1nds-
| putably valuable.
A small plant, so It Is believed. could
be put up for two or three thousand dol.
| lars, which would carry out the present
| plan Of ascertainins the probable cost
OF converting mud into brquettes coke,
| gas and other secondary products. St
How apparently feasible this scheme
appears Is. perhaps, most strlkingly
| shown by the remarkable facts about
mud OF vegetable origin which Mr.. At
kinson cites. In the first place. as We
can readily see incipient coal is what
tho experlmenters are dealing with, the
rarity . decomposed vegetable matter
| known In agriculture as "hunaua." which
forms the body Of the large boys or wet
meadows, fresh and salt. that are found
everywhere All this substance Is, so to
speak, nothing less than bituminovs coal
In tho primary process OF formation.
| BY a little assistance rendered to Natures
processes, perhaps by application OF heat
and pressure. the geologic ages can, It
| Ia quite certain, be forestalled and mua
| be made to burn freely and. perhaps,
profItably. At any Irate. there can pc no
! doubt regarding the vast quantities, now
| existing, OF this mud in the meadows and
swamps OF New England and New Jer-
| sew: the Dismal Swamp Of Virginia; the
Everglades of FLORIDA: the Savannahs
| and rice swamps Of Georgia.; the big
10 poons along the Gulf Of Mexico, and the
| swamp land of the West; and the chem
lists, furthermore tell us that 1t regularly
consists In the larger part OF carbon.
! the most important element an coal,
which has been preserved by the wafer
the nitrogenous substances having been
converted into marsh gas during the
process OF gradual decay,
THD SAND s sIRELAND5 PEAT,
| This familiar black mud, It should be
understood, is the same In composition
as much Of tho pent that for genera tlons
has been burned In Ireland; though IN
Scotland the word peat apphes oNls W
the product Of decayed MOSES, heather
and other plants that grow on the upland
moors. The black mud Of this country
| "a nlrnost always wet, and may DO called q
,srass peat'; that ia to say, It Is com-
| nosed almost entirely Of dacayed grasses,
needs and small PUSHES. Examine p't
| Of It from some neighborlng swamp OF
salt marsh and you vii easily aeEeot the
( qualities which have led the insurance
engineers to have almost unlimited con
fidence in 1t as "a fuel possibility. Sand
rrIt stones-in other words, the sub
Stances that especially prevent combus-
! tion-are hardly present In It 1T AL. pn
the other hand, particularly IN the por-
| tions taken from near the surface OF the
half docomposed. It Is, therefore, dls-
tinotly a vegetable product, which may
yvhan dried. be easily deoomposed into
fine powder that has value as q. dlslnfec-
| tant. -. ~,
s1IR1NKAGp IN WEIGHT WHEN
| DRIED,
Professor Norton has discovered that
specimens taken from, swnmps IN easteri
MASSACHUSETTS, weighed Mt first from 4V
| TO 1o5 pounds per cubic loot, ana ina
| fter they had been dried IN the ar to
| periods varying from thgee weeks " w W
months, the weight became reduced y
lnhout IS pounds per cubic FOOT. In
mud, moreover, as you may easily dls
cover. becomes quite hard and tough ate
drying. and this hardness Is easily u. IN
creased by moderate pressure, SO that ~
denser samples beooma quite comparaplt
With pine wood. being difficult to saw
hut ensy to split with an axe, rs
Tho experiments IN cokIng mud havs
Welded some interesting results, It ha!
been found, for example, that sun.driet
muds will not coke propsrly, the produc
nppearlng In little fragments rather thai
In complete briquotte, Even half dried
mud shows q great deal q crumblna
| when cooked; but II an alr-drIed clodr-
| bone dry, as the phrase isis cooked at
high temperature, there results q firm
dense coke, which In appearance, hard
ness and weight resembles the coke de-
rived from soft coal.
ENORMOUS VALUE OF sWAMPs,
On the basis OF these investigations o.
Professor Norton's, which were carried
ont with the aid OF the most accurate
apparatus and methods available at the
Aiassachusetts Institute OF Teehno'o o.
any farmer who owns an acre OF bog tlla1
runs twenty feet deep which is by 10
means a rare depth. has on h|s place .he