The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-04-29
MANKIND NOT
APT TO STARVE
SUCH A DISASTER" HAS
BEEN PREDICTED.
The Modern Prophet is Singu.
larly Unreliable, and in His
Latest Theory He Has Not
Taken Into Account
Methods Of Scientific g
Farming.

- 49, A&N@~@9s
Universal and Overwhelming disas-
ters have been predicted so often and
with such exultant confidence, and
have so invariably failed to come off,
at least in modern times, that man.
kind should be rather immune from
panic on this account, writes the
Washington correspondent of the
New York Post. Perhaps the Del
uge is the single instance in which an
expected cataclysm or general wind
up has been realized "as advertised" "
There have been ingenious calcu-
lations as to the end of the world,
based on Biblical chronology and
prophecies which were affirmed to be
the result of direct inspiration; and
in both cases the prophets and their
trusting followers have given away or
sold their substance, put on their as
cension robes, and, like Darius Green
with his flying machine, climbed to
the roof for a good start toward the
skies; but only to be disappointed.
The calculations were demonstrably
correct, and the prophets were in no
way to blame for the failure.
Long-tailed comets have been a
frequent source Of widespread alarm
and even despair. Not all the sa-
wants of the French Academy could
convince the people of France, in
cluding many of tho clergy, that an
especially brilliant comet in the early
part of the present century would not
strike the earth and smash it into
bits.
Not even the solemn persons who
are addicted to science are all above
doing a little in the fortune telling
line. No less parsonage in that
realm than Professor Piazzi Smith,
astronomer royal of Scotland, fore
cast to day the worlds end, basing
his prediction on incontestible meas
urements of the pyramids. His read
ings were far more ingenious and
convincing than were those of Igna-
thus Donnelly on the Shakespeare
Bacon puzzle.
Why the Astronomer Was Wrong.
Like those of Mr.. Pancks in Lit
tie Dorrit," the figures of the astron-
omer were right. 1t was clear that
the world had to end at the time he
noted. Only some change which con-
cerned the earth's endurance can ac-
count for the existence of the pres
ent generation of men, so long after
depopulation and general destruction
should have taken place. Another
person of science in Europe was as
sured that a great tidal wave would
engulf New York and Hoboken soon
after the explosion of Mont Pelee. II
did not.
More scientific and far more seri-
Gus was the prophecy of Sir William
Crooks, president of the British AS
sociation for the Advancement OF
Science. who was backed by the great
body of men versed in the ologies. He
declared that at not distant period
and in the course of single genera
tion the entire human race would
perish by starvation. He held this
to be the inevitable result OF the rap
i'd exhaustion of nitrogen, the vital
element of the soil. This served the
novelist, H. G. Wells, as matter for a
characteristic tale. He fancied that
such calamity, as stupendous as the
great flood, should have its Noah
its wise man of foresight, who would
construct huge steel building with
a reserve of nitrogen which would al
low him to raise food enough to pre-
serve himself and family from the
general fate.
Nobody challenged the melancholy
conclusion of the eminent Sir Will.
lam. Nitrogen is produced in nature
by processes infinitely slow, while
multiplying and every hungry man
consumes 1t in raising foodstuffs with
steadily increasing rapidity. Until
lately he has not thought of restoring
1t by any adequate means. 1t could
be figured with some approach to
accuracy how long the productiveness
OF the soil would be such as to main.
tain the life of the growing race. In
the laboratory the chemist was al
work on the problem of the artificial
production of nitrogen, and happily
he solved 1t. 1t can be done by the
use of electricity, and with few falls
like those of Niagara 1t would be
practicable to obtain an incalculable
supply of that agent at a low price
So the fear of universal starvation
became less distressing.
Then it was discovered that nature
has laboratories by which nitrogen Is
drawn from the air to enrich the soil
The agency in this case is beneficent
bacteria. Alfalfa, red clover, the pea
bean and other legumes are such la.
boratories and to their roots the oac.
terra attach themselves. One of the
most interesting and important de.
velopments of scientific agriculture Is
that 1t is practicable to inoculate the
legumes with bacteria and transfer
than, 70 mar orI o.l,