Science.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 347, 1 January 1903, Page 7

Science.

J/ ;> A SU||TIfUTE FOR COAL. William Hallock, of iICJI Columbia university, is pursuing i&fe? investigations along the lines recently suggested by the British Association for the Advancement of Science, for ..the purpose of eeeing what can "be done to utilize the internal heat of the#arjih.| I|e haß ture*of*Bonis*bf the deep'hmes which have been made, by nature or art, through the globe's crust. He . expresses himself as .almost Confident that steam can be obtained, for practical mechanical purposes, as a result of these strange and startling experiments. He even goes, so far as to give the elements of. a. plan in some detail. Prof. Hallbckhas lowered thermometers into the wells near Pittsburg and Wheeling and found an increase of one degree for every fifty feet. The temperature of the Pittsburg well at the bottom is 129 degrees. But this test does not establish a uniform standard; Other, experiments elsewhere yield very different results. The temperature at the bottom of the Calumet and Hesla mine, at Houghton, Mich., 4,000 feet below the surface, is not more than 100 degrees. The beat of the 2,500-foot level in the Coinstock lode is 145 degrees. However, though the increase; varies in different localities', the ; fact-is 'clearly demonstrable that l the heat of tho earth's crust grows 'gradually from the (surface inward. Prof. Hallock ijayik, JL^,»; , i«L.l. I ifcJL;' ' There would be sot the slightest difficulty in obtaining steam from the earth's interior, because that involves merely a little extra labor in boring down into the very hot area, and it is aa easy comparatively to bore 10,000 feet as it is to bore 6,000; but in order to give the steam commercial value, a method must be provided for dropping the water to the hot area, allowing k time to heat, and yet having it returned to the surface as steam without for a moment interrupting the flow.' ,v.« ; Jf'i-' r-m'ie*. - 'lO l Prpf; Hallobk'a expertiopinion as tb>thej possibilities iaust j»rbve*' of absorbing interest to all whose minda are impressed by the two-fold fact, that every day the demand for steam power is increasing in almost geometrical ratio, and that every day the known available supply of the world's coal is approaching exhaustion with such increasing rapidity that the end may be said to be already in sight. Prof. Hallock says : ' Suppose two holes were bored directly into the dearth 12,000 feet deep and, say, fifty,, Ifeet •,apart. to the measurements I made in the Pittsburg well, at the bottom there would be a temperature of more than 240 degrees—far. above the boiling point Of water. Now* if very heavy charges of dynamite or some other .powerful explosive were to be lowered |o( tljje,' bottom?oteach hole and exploded simultaneously, and the process repeated many times, I believe the two holes might have a sufficient connection established. The rock would be cracked and fissured in ail directions, as in deep oil wells when they are shot; and if only one avenue were op ned between the holes it would be enough. . ' The. shattering of the rock around the base of the holes would turn the surrounding area into an.immense water ;. heater. ; The, water poured down* one 'hole in the earth w»nld circulate through all the cracks and fissures, the temperature •f which would be over 240 degrees, and in its passage would be. heated and turned into steam, which would pass'through .the second hole jto the earth's surface. The problem-is a mechanical : one, and : the chief difficultyVoutdHoe the connecting or" the holes at the bottom. This accomplished, the water-heater would operate itself,, and a source of power be established that would Burpass anything now in use. - Such a system,might, change the • commercial aspect of the world.' HOW GEYSERS WORE!. By means of a model geyser an inventor aims to show in a simple manner the exact wsy in which a real geyser works. I The instrument is quite simple. A small aspirator,, with a bent glass tube exit, acts as an,intermittent syphon, and the watlc is #■ half-inch • iron • pipe, ji the 'horizontal *limb of* which . measurea-;- about 13 centimeters, s Tne glass syphon tube slips through a rubber ring at: the;-top of the pipe, though a cork would doubtless serve the same purpose, and the lower closed end of the tube ia heated by the equivalent of about four bu.rnej|,.an4 > as described; as, if placed under the exit* steaui would be generated too fast and the water -might be blown'back •;;', aspirator, ' ■' . sj *S $3 ■ S *W' Water drips into the aspirator at such a ratei that in a faw minutes a jet of steam about six feet high, and water about two feet high, appear with many; iappropriate gurglings.

?C; HE4IiTHjA.IW>'XTSiJEtTLNESS. We have beard uracil lately about tie increasing competitiveness of life, not only in the more or less barren countries of Europe' but also, in our own fertile country. The question has a* number of phases, one of which we shall consider here,/ • %&" ■!.,;■,? '*■ ■ $ r' : f I - If you look at trie sporting pages to-day' you will see reports of a multitude of athletic events. The schoolboy is enjoying himself in the baseball field and on the river; his brother may be a. member of some college nine or a candidate for a crew; his sister is perhaps a member of a basket ball team; his father, in odd hours, goas out on the golf links or practices with the sturdy medicine-ball in the gymnasium, and it is not at all improbable that this Bame boy's mamma can ■swing a golf stick as vigorously and ' accurately as she once could swing the slipper that pursues disobedience. So, if the struggle in this vale of tears is growing keener, it seems to us that a good many people are in constant active training for the struggle. There are exceptions to every rule, ef course, but the chances of winning this ancient fight for a decent earthly existence are better with the man who takes care of his body thau with the man who doesn't. Give us our health, and let the richest man in the Union keep his hundreds of millions. and his chronic indigestion. Good health is ha*lMbe v battle. It quickens-the bodjf and sweetens the mind; it promotes ambition; it lightens trouble, and it lengthens the years. Of all worldly possessions it is the chiefest, for the losspf itis what all men, thn rich and the poor alike, most regret.: It is good, therefore, to become habituated to healthiness at an early age; and, barring accident, good health certrainly is a matter of habits, N«r is there any reason why the plagfulaess of these habits should not be wlished in manhood as well as in boyhood.