The Romance of Modern Chemistry

NATURE’S STORES OF FUEL petroleum, and natural gas—a question of the utmost importance arises, to which reference has already been made. We are using up these fuels at an enormous rate, and there is no reason to suppose that the stores are being replenished at anything like the rate at which they are being consumed. In this respect we are, in fact, living on our capital, and, moreover, we do not know what is its amount Estimates have indeed been made of the probable duration of our coal supplies, and Royal Commissions have dealt with the subject The authorities are divided, but, on the whole, it seems we may reckon on our coal lasting for the matter of five hundred years or thereabouts, even when allowance is made for the probable increase in the con- sumption. It must be remembered also, for our comfort, that new coalfields are occasionally discovered, as was the case recently in the county of Kent. The Kentish collieries mean a substantial addition to our coal capital, and they may outlast the older ones in the north, so that some day it may be necessary to carry coals even to Newcastle. Estimates like the foregoing are based on the actual inspection of the seams of coal which have been dis- covered, their thickness and extent, but who will be bold enough to say how long the subterranean reservoirs will keep us supplied with oil and gas ? Human eyes have never seen, nor ever will see, what these hidden reservoirs contain. As a matter of fact, signs are not wanting that the stock of petroleum and natural gas is beginning to run short. The output of oil, it is true, is increasing, but this is due, not to any natural increase given by the existing wells, but to an increase in their number. The oil-yielding wells are very short-lived, and as new ones are continually being opened, the available oil-fields will soon be entirely covered. 138