THE FUEL OF THE FUTURE. 207 



THE FUEL OF THE FUTUEE. 



By GEORGE WAEDMAN. 



THE practical application of natural gas, as an article of fuel, to 

 the purpose of manufacturing glass, iron, and steel, promises to 

 work a revolution in the industrial interests of America promises 

 to work a revolution ; for, notwithstanding the fact that, in many of 

 the largest iron, steel, and glass factories in Pittsburg and its vicinity, 

 natural gas has already been substituted for coal, the managers of 

 some such works are shy of the new fuel, mainly for two reasons : 

 1. They doubt the continuity and regularity of its supply ; 2. They 

 do not deem the difference between the price of natural gas and coal 

 sufficient, as yet, to justify the expenditure involved in the furnace 

 changes necessary to the substitution of the one for the other. These 

 two objections will doubtless disappear with additional experience in 

 the production and regulation of the gas-supply, and with enlarged 

 competition among the companies engaging in its transmission from 

 the wells to the works. At present the use of natural gas as a sub- 

 stitute for coal in the manufacture of glass, iron, and steel, is in its 

 infancy. 



Natural gas is as ancient as the universe. It was known to man in 

 prehistoric times, we must suppose, for the very earliest historical 

 reference to the Magi of Asia records them as worshiping the eternal 

 fires which then blazed, and still blaze, in fissures of the mountain- 

 heights overlooking the Caspian Sea. Those records appertain to a 

 period at least GOO years before the birth of Christ ; but the Magi 

 must have lived and woi'shiped long anterior to that time. 



Zoroaster, reputed founder of the Parsee sect, is placed contem- 

 porary with the prophet Daniel, from 2500 to 600 b. c. ; and, al- 

 though Daniel has been doubted, and Zoroaster may never have seen 

 the light, the fissures of the Caucasus have been flaming since the 

 earliest authentic records. 



Tho Parsees (Persians) did not originally worship fire. They 

 believed in two great powers the Spirit of Light, or Good, and the 

 Spirit of Darkness, or Evil. Subsequent to Zoroaster, when the Per- 

 sian Empire rose to its greatest power and importance, overspreading 

 the west to the shores of the Caspian and beyond, the tribes of the 

 Caucasus suffered political subjugation ; but the creed of the Magi, 

 founded upon the eternal flame-altars of the mountains, proved suffi- 

 ciently vigorous to transform the Parseeism of the conquerors to the 

 fire-worship of the conquered. 



About the beginning of the seventh century of the Christian era, 

 the Grecian Emperor Heraclius overturned the fire-altars of the Magi 

 at Baku, the chief city on the Caspian, but the fire- worshipers were 



