And another thing to be borne in mind is that as the coal miner goes down to the seam and sees for himself what is there, while the oil producer simply stays at the surface and draws it up with a pump, the coal man knows far more as to how much there is still left than the oil man does. We know that the coal deposits will last for many years to come, even if the production go on increasing, whereas the oil supply may fall off in the near future instead of increasing.
And in both cases we are using up capital. Coal is not being made on the earth now, at any rate in any appreciable quantity. The stage of the earth's history favourable to the formation of coal measures has long gone by. And the same probably applies to oil.
By permission of Dupont Powder Co.
Apple Tree Planted with a Spade
This apple tree was planted in the ordinary way with a spade. Compare its size with that in following illustration at p. 48.
It is interesting in this connection to note that coal itself is to a certain extent, or can be at all events, a source of oil. When coal is heated in order to make it give up its gas, or to turn it into coke, vapours are given off which on cooling become coal-tar. At one time regarded only as a crude sort of paint, this is now the source from which many chemical substances are obtained, varying from photographic chemicals to saccharine, a substitute for sugar. So valuable are these products that there is a brisk demand for the tar, in other directions than the manufacture of oils, but oils of various kinds are also obtained from it.
The first step in the operations is fractional distillation, after the manner just described for petroleum. The first "fraction" is "coal-tar naphtha." Then follows "carbolic oil," after that "heavy" or "creosote oil," anthracene oil, and finally there remains in the still on cooling a solid residue known as coal-pitch. The naphtha, on being distilled again, gives, among other things, benzine, from which the famous aniline dyes are made, and which is useful in many industries. Creosote is largely employed as a preservative for wood, being forced into the timber under high pressure, so that it penetrates right into it and tends to prevent rotting, no matter how wet it may be. Railway sleepers are thus treated, small truck-loads of them being run into a cast-iron tunnel which is then sealed at both ends, while the creosote is forced in by powerful pumps. After such treatment they can lie nearly buried in the damp ballast for a long time without any deterioration.
These coal-tar substances are all very similar to petroleum and its products, hydro-carbons, compounds of hydrogen and carbon in various proportions. Many of them could be used for fuel.
But since they are based upon the supply of coal, which is itself limited, they cannot, however they may be used, do more than stave off the evil day when the supply will be exhausted.
Quite different is it with alcohol, which it seems likely may be the fuel of the future. Some people will be inclined to exclaim "What a pity to burn it!" since to many the word conveys ideas of another sort altogether. There are many nowadays, however, who, like the writer, have none but a scientific interest in it. To such whisky, for example, is but "impure" alcohol, and it is without the "impurities" that it may become of vast use to the world, thereby possibly repaying man for some of the harm which in the past it has inflicted upon him.