THE FUEL OF THE FUTURE. 213 



of a century, seems to increase, greater wells being known in 1884 

 than in any previous year, and prices having fallen from two dollars 

 per bottle for " Seneka-oil " to sixty cents per barrel for the same arti- 

 cle under the name of crude petroleum. Hence we may assume that, 

 as new pipe-lines are laid, the supply of natural gas available for use in 

 the great manufacturing district of Pittsburg and vicinity will be in- 

 creased, and the price of this fuel diminished in a corresponding ratio. 



Natural gas is now supplied in Pittsburg at a small discount on the 

 actual cost of coal used last year in the large manufacturing establish- 

 ments, an additional saving being made in dispensing with firemen and 

 avoidance of hauling ashes from the boiler-room. It is supplied, for 

 domestic purposes, at twenty cents per one thousand cubic feet, which 

 is not cheaper than coal in Pittsburg, but it is a thousand per cent 

 cleaner ; and in that respect it promises to prove a great blessing, not 

 only to those who can afford to use it, but to the community at large, 

 in the hope held out that the smoke and soot nuisance may be abated 

 in part, if not wholly subdued, and that gleams of sunshine there may 

 become less phenomenal in the future than they are at the present 

 time. Twenty cents per thousand feet is too high a price to bring gas 

 into general use for domestic purposes in a city where coal is cheap. 

 Ten cents would be too much, and no doubt five cents per thousand 

 would pay a profit. The fact is, the dealers in natural gas appear to 

 be somewhat doubtful of the continuity of supply, and anxious to get 

 back the cost of wells and pipes in one year, which, if successful, 

 would be an enormous return on the investment. 



There are objections to the use of natural gas by mill-operators 

 that it costs too much, and that the continuity of the supply is uncer- 

 tain ; by heads of families, that it is odorless, and, in case of leakage 

 from the pipes, may fill a room and be ready to explode without giv 

 ing the fragrant warning offered by common gas. Both of these ob- 

 jections will probably disappear under the experience that time must 

 furnish. More wells and tributary lines will lessen the cost and tend 

 to regulate the pressure for manufacturers. Cut-offs and escape-pipes 

 outside of the house will reduce the risk of ex2?losions within. The 

 danger in the house may also be lessened by providing healthful ven- 

 tilation in all apartments wherein gas shall be consumed. 



This subject of the ventilation of rooms in which common gas is 

 ordinarily used is beginning to attract attention. It is stated, upon 

 scientific authority, that a jet of common gas, equivalent to twelve 

 sperm-candles, consumes 5'45 cubic feet of oxygen per hour, producing 

 3-21 feet of carbonic-acid gas, vitiating, according to Dr. Tidy's 

 " Handbook of Chemistry," 348-25 cubic feet of air. In every five 

 cubic feet of pure air in a room there is one cubic foot of oxygen and 

 four of nitrogen. Without oxygen human life, as well as light, would 

 become extinct. It is asserted that one common gas-jet consumes as 

 much oxygen as five persons. 



