THE PROBABLE EXHAUSTION OF COAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 1930, 25 February 1867, Page 3

THE PROBABLE EXHAUSTION OF COAL.

{From the European Times.) Professor W. S. Jevons, M;A-> on the 14th, at the meeting, of;the. Manchester Scientific Students'.. .Association,; read a paper on the above subject,. He spoke of coal as the material basis of modem civilisation and as the .mainspring of all our prosperity. Many causes Were requisite to make a nation great., Different persons were

accustomed to attribute bur .greatness to very .different causes-some to the.religious clp racterof England, othersi-.to the constitutionals form of Government, to self-control, and bo. forth; but heyondaUthese,'itt order that the country should be wealthy and strong, we must have, some: simple mechanical and'matfc rial sources of power and. wealth. For this country, eoal was the: great source of power; We had been in the habit : of under-estimating the power we had behind us. The steamengine was often mentioned, as aii extraordinary source of power, and at a meeting held; to erectthe statue to Watt which, wasnow in. Westminster Abbey speeches.were.made by Mr Huskisson and Sir J. Mackintosh, in which they referred to the steamengine as. an irrewstibie lever for. pushing .forward the. grand eause,-pi .civilisation. .But, the steam engine was only one means of using coal. The wood of England was burnt up a century ago, and now they could scarcely find wood enough for the carpenter, let alone for bum-

ing. Not only was coat, used for the steam' engine, but it was- also that by which we; made iron. In fact, almost.every thing: ■vyas. dopemoreorless.by theuseof coal,_and this .could not them if they looked to what coal was kits chemical: and: physical nature.'lt was a kihdotspring and store; of 1 forces, which they could let go whenever they liked. Sit: Wm.; Thomson, the great electrician, suggested some means which it was •vory'convenient'io\.iisW' ; 'Wh'eK''th«e,waß.a ! ' kind of force which we.could wind upland; . let go at auy'm6merit,h'e.called it "potential energy," thatwas, ithe.power they could turn : into energy whenever they liked,.,aß : in; the case of a clock. Of aU-iorms of potential ' energy, the most valuable and wonderful was ; coal. If they took lib of coal, and let off all its force suddeniyj as they.would let off a spriogjand used this force in raising the coal | up, it,would shoot,up.more than 2000 miles ■ high.evenifthetorceofgravity: acted.the. whole of .the distance, :6r ; it, would raise i1,422,6(J01b of coal brie foot high. This force; 1 was turned ; into use by meansiof; heat, and this was" the .power Jhey. used.in.reducing.

metals, aha for almosteverychymical.cliange that took place, 'and -they only needed ilie. BteanV engine to tum:itinto. mecimmca ; motion. Electricity and magnetic power, and frost and oila, colour ..and odours, .and; eren .flavours: produced/ from coal, bo.me.l people mightiay: that "another; kind of fuel, rrugiit do as well. But y, iny possibility of. such a. thing;.; The only, heat-producing fsubstahce. having a. greater Mer than :carbon.. consisted, of hydrogen, 'which gave four times the heat for the same ■weight. But hydrogen, was the lightest body : m'nature, flight that if they took equal volumes the carbon would produce, 5000 : times as .much as hydrogen, Sothat they could'hot think of replacing carbon by any

othfer fuel. : . It had teen suggested tlmtin .the next hundred, years some substitute.for.-.c0a1,-at anyrate:;some other Bource of ..potential energy,; might be found. This was a matter of but; many -persons overlook the .'fact that the progress of science, upon which they 'depend f or.;.t hat discovery, was J'the increase of the power, of coal., A very, moderate improvement. of: the . : steani ; engine would double thei.power..of:Coal;i and if water power and windmills could not; compete with coat riowiWhat;.were^lie ; clmnces.that in the pro? . griess of scienee ihey ever could do so, when science, was ..eyery'day making .coal.hiore powerful.?.; Besides, by superseding- coal* they would, supersede the material power of Engiaiid; : a 8 they had better coal, and more of .it'/tlianjariy. other nation. The consumption of coal at the present time might practically be stated at 100' millions of tons annually;' Within less than sixty years it' increased seVehfoid, and., the increase of the population ;and wealtli lutd been proportionate. ~;He: thought; the geometrical method of calculation was the only: practical way of expressing; the rate of progress. The question. was, whether this rate of increase would continue; .because if it.did, there,wasno.doubt.that tlie production of;coal would outstrip nllvreasonable bounds. They hiid not yet got to the end of things.;, they had not niade'all thei requisite rattways;; they had : ohly se;en .the beginning .of:isteam .navigation ; in twenty; ■years hence steam pioughingwpuldlprobably l be the rule; and in,their, water supply, iriithe pumping of the sewage;of towns;. and in. twenty.other different'"ways;..steam and; coal wouldcome into use, Nothing but a rise in .'price would.; bring/any serious ; check.,, The result of MrHull's calculations was that there'; was an amount of ,83,000 raillionsbf tons i/but no one;. wa> so absurd as .to suppose that, they/should ever get. to that. depth,: Mr ViyianV:in.h merit on.that.subject,;had.said that thereiwas. no difficulty arising from temperature or pressure; but in the Dukinfleld mine, which ,waß.;the .deepest, perliaps in. pressure made itself felt in.what was called a " creep," arid the : sanie wasthe. case at Monk- . wearmouth... At the latter place the. tempera-. -t'ure of. the rock'was *?0 degrees* and the afc' mospiiere was, 84 degrees; arid occasionally higher. MriVlyian had :giVen them an erro-. neous idea about, thecpst of. sinking, which,

: instead of'a penny tb.a ton j wis, 'calculating the interest: and the'nuinjier of years taken to bring a mine into working order, more like very man j pennies'.'". America had the largest area of coal of ariylotherVcountry, and the : moment England'began to. retreat, -the produce in America and other countries would increase, and pass us in the race of competition. There was no use in denying or blinking the difficulty. We ought to use our present means of wealth to tlie.best .purpose, and if we increased education and diminished pauperism,' and usedour revenues to the best; advantage, we. could, not ■.be : accused;-of wasting ourweajth, and we need not ldok.tpo arixiouslyior a future time. An interesting discussion: followed, in which Mr.J.PJant, Mr E; Hull, Mir iiickerison, and other gentlemen took part.