All About Engines

33° All About before. They recommended not realise how rapidly the was to increase as the new at the following figures :— 1903 1911 1912 1913 Engines economy ; but they did amount raised annually century wore on. Look 230 million tons 243 260 ,, ,, 287 In ten years the amount increased by nearly 60 million tons per annum—more than was raised alto- gether in 1861. If the rate remains constant the duration of 4,000 years in 1870 had fallen to 500 in 1913, and in the absence of some scientific discovery which shall render coal unnecessary, all the indus- trial activity of Great Britain will be extinguished before 2400. If the rate continues to increase, the land will, under the same conditions, be desolate by 2050, within the lives possibly of the great grand- children of those who read this book. When you consider this spectacle of a great nation humbled to the dust, its industries decayed, its people forced to emigrate, its towns deserted and in ruins, you will ask, “ Is there no means of avert- ing this calamity, or at least of postponing it until scientific discovery shall have shown how to produce power in other ways ? ” There is. But only a small portion of it lies within the scope of this book. Not a pound of coal should be burnt unnecessarily. But in order to effect this there should be only large engines under men who understand how to get the