The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-05

1t may turn out to be. which will sub stitute absolute economy for this im- mense extravaganza.
 Both for domestic and for manufac- turing purposes engineers and men of science are diligently studying the art Of harnessing the direct rays of the sun. They anticipate the time when the worlds supplies of coal. petroleum and other eombustibles will be praeti- eally exhausted. Vast regions of the earth's surface are sunburned to aridi- ty, and everywhere the suns heat is constantly deluging that surface with stores of latent potential energy, which might be made available for the pur- poses of civilized humanity. Water power and wind power both derive their energy from the suns rays, and many clever inventions yet unheard of Will have for their special object the application of each of these sources of activity. But the defect in each case is the lack of certainty. Wind and Therefore, scientists look with great expectations to the perfection of the solar engine, which was produced by Ericsson in an elementary form. Some day there will be discovered a method of gathering and storing the energy of the direct rays of the sun for use fin producing heat motor. But the practical sun engine is still among the uninvented inventions.
 Science will be more and more con- cerned with problems of food supply. Here the chemist comes into evidence. Scientists predict wonderful results as the ultimate rewards of the research now going on quietly in many labora- tory. The way will be found growing strawberries as large as fine apples, and raspberries and biaekberries will be produced of such dimensions that one will suffice for the fruit course Of each person.
 "Cranberries, gooseberries and cur rents will be as large as oranges. One cantaloupe will supply a large family Melons, cherries, grapes, plunls, ap- pies. pears and peaches will be seed- less. All varieties of summer fruits will be such a hardy nature that they will be capable of storage all through the winter, as potatoes now are. Cheap native rubber will be grown, and will be harvested by machinery all over this country Roses will be as big as cabbages, violets will attain the size of fine orchids, and a heart's-ease will be of the sunfiower magnitude. There will be practised the constant transfer of the perfume of any scented flower to another that is naturally in odorous. Plants will be rendered mi- crobe proof How will all these WoGld- CTS in culture be achieved? By the discovery of new methods of applying electric agency in glass gardens, so that at one and the same time cur- rents will be passed through the soil to make plants grow faster and larger, and also to exterminate weeds and to destroy bacteria; while plants will be bathed all night in electric light to stimulate their progress. All this will be done, but the way to bring it to pass has yet to be invented.
 This further brings up the question of the supply of nitorgen, that infinite ly abundant elementary gas on which agriculture is absolutely dependent. Some way must be. devised of restoring to their old fertility the vast worn out fields of the world. The agriculture chemist declares that fixed nitrogen is indispensable for this vital redenp- ton. Now, nitrogen, though every where so plentifully diffused, is exceed ingly difficult to fix. It forms in bulk and weight three-fourth of the atmos- phere, yet it challenges man to bring it into subjection. To catch the elusive and flirtatious floating nitrogen as one of the most cherished objects of pres eTt day explorers among natures se- crets. Experiments conducted under the direction of William H. Bauldin, jr, formerly of Baltimore, seemed to promise a solution of this problem, when 6 disastrous explosion ended the life of the chief engineer of the works. Thus the question is still in abeyance, but undoubtedly, before the great nitre beds of Chill and Peru are exhausted, some means will have been devised of making nitric acid cheaply from the air
 "One of the dreams of medical men is likely to be realized in the near fu- ture. Few drugs will be swallowed or taken into the stomach unless needed for the direct treatment of that organ itself. The methods of administration of healing medicaments will be revolu- tionized in the days of our great grandchildren. With the aid of diag- nosis by X-rays and by the medium of electric currents drugs will be applied to various organs through the skin and flesh, and the treatment will be pain less. It will be easy with the instru- ments that are certain to be invented of which the microscope, the photo- graphic camera and the X-ray appara- tus are but the pioneers-for the pa- thologist, physician and surgeon to see the interior of the body and to explore it's recesses as it is now to survey the exterior. Furthermore, food will be made for travellers in the pemmican style known to our. North American Indians All kinds of nutri- ment will be condensed into tabloids containing in very tiny compass the essentials to sustain life in full vigor for long periods.
 The inventors of the future will revolutionize the culinary department. The kitchen and scullery will no long, CT be repellent or suggestive of domes- tic slavery. Drudgery will be thing of the past for the cook. Electricity will be the cheap handnaid of the din-