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. SUBTERRANEAN FIRES.
(BY A L Ci)0i ORRESPONDENT.)
-re eminent English geologist has
recently put to his colleagues the
question," Can underground heat be
utilised?'" This is not merely an
academic problem, but one of practical
and present importance in many parts.
of the world, and in the not very dis
tant future one that may be of the
highest interest to the ipeople of the
United Kingdom. When the seniors
of the present generation were at
school and college, it used to be taught
that the coal supply of Great Britain
waspractically inexhaustible. Twenty
years ago Professor Hull submitted
this theory to rigorous examination,
and came to the conclusion that
our coal measures would hold out
for 800 years -. assuming then an
annual average consumption of 100
million tons. The late Professor
Stanley Jevons, looking at the rapid
rand progressive increase in the use of
coal, showed in 1866 that the previous
estimate was far too hopeful, and that
by the end of the next century, on the
same basis of calculation, our coal
would be worked out.. This appre
hension was fully confirmed by the
Royal Commiesion of 1871, which
came to the conclusion that there
were 00,207 million tons of coal in
the mines already opened and about
56,273 millions in as yet unworked
fields, and that in 10?6 years the
whole, 'at the then growing rate of
consumption, would be exhausted.
Long before the last basket of coal
has been brought to bank a time.
must come when this subject will
force itself on the public attention.
The Cologne lcGzete. observed, a few
days ago: " This is not one of those
subjects about which people may differ
-such, for instance,. as whether Eng
land and Russia are to enter on a vast
struggle for supremacy in Central'
Asia. It is certain as the setting of"
the sun that before the youth of the
present generation has passed away
the exhaustion of her coalfields will be
for England a more momentous ques
tion 'than any other." No man of
science believes that a substitute for
coal will be discovered. The condi.
tions of the case render this almost
certain, for to fulfil them we should
require a new material widely diffused,
entering with some existing element;
also plentiful, in such a manner
as to evolve a large supply
of heat. Against such a possibi
lity there is no chemist or
physicist who would not pronounce
with a confidence amounting to moral
certainty. Apparently no coal is
being produced now in any part of the
world; its formation belonged to the
youth of the world. Enough exists,
with the assistance of the rock-oils,.to
supply the wants of the world for some
thousands of years. In India the coal-
fields are half" as large as England, in
Australia they.are five times the extent,.
and in the United States more than
five times the whole area of Grieat
Britain. But if the time ever comes
when England draws her coal from
America, we shall want 2100 ships of"
6000 tons bunrthen for that one purpose
alone-whichy as Euclid would say, is
absurd.
In view of these facts, no questionis
of such vital interest for the future-of.
England- as the economy of heat, andi
he will be' the greatest patriot and'the.
largest benefactor of his country who
can show how a pound of coal can be.
burnt to the greatest possible advan
tage. When all has been done, how..
ever, our last pound will be burnt: in a
century or two; as the reserve
diminishes, the crisis will advance
with aeclerated velocity. What then ?'
Two things are obviously possible.
The powers of nature may be yokedotb
to man's service, the sun's heat, the
force ,of the winds, the energy of- the.
tides, of flowing rivers and waterfalls,
may be stored up as electricity to drive.
ships and works factories; or mankind
may fall back on the inexhaustible
stores of heat underlying the.
crust of the globe. It is- to.
this second point that Mr. Starke.
Gardiner's contribution to the "' Geo
l!ogical Magazine" is directedi when he.
asks, " Can underground heat be.
attilised ?" Almost every naturalist
who has studied the subject has-come.
to the conclusion that the crusa of the.
globe is at most not more than.fifty
miles thick, and very probably not
more than ten miles,. and that below
the concave of the solid root there is a
dense' molten mass-fluid, movable,
ensuporting the solid rock above itj andl
every now and then .causing earth
quakes by its slow contraction or
partial movement. ' 'For' about 'evey,
50ft. we desdeti'd into: the earth it
is found to beconme ldeg. (Fnehiintheit)
warmWr; at lthbe -depth. of 'hader two
miles the springsi wbiuld contain boiling
water; at less than 2(imileR-probably
at less' than half the- distance-we.
should i'rme to a temnperature' at which
iron would melt.' In almost, all coun
tries, the coldest and the hotest. a?ike
from Iceland to Japan-there exist
hot springe, that '.ear witness of these
high undergrouad tetOiperataes, and
the faots in .connection with many of
them shbw 'an intimate' relation
'Sibweei' the boilidg ionaull&eon from.
which they issue, andi earthquakes ?.
TO BiE CONTINUED.
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