THE ORIGIN OF ORGANIC MATTER 25 



rays of sunlight stored beneath the earth for millions of years give birth 

 to a civilization such as the vv^orld has never known. 



Hut this great civilization of coal and steel is at the same time a most 

 squandrous and profligate one ; it is using the principal of its legacy in 

 numberless new ways. A year's consumption of coal at the present rate 

 represents the accumulation of hundreds of years. The quest for further 

 sources of energy in the form of coal and petroleum is being pushed with 

 a feverish intensity revealing at times man's least attractive nature in 

 personal and national greed. Our civilization is dependent upon the 

 amount of available energy in the form of food and fuel. Fundamentally, 

 our source of food and of fuel is the same. Photosynthesis supplies us 

 with food directly. The accumulation of the products of photosynthesis 

 during the past ages represents our present fuel supply. When these 

 accumulations are exhausted or impracticable to utilize, our daily ration 

 of solar energy will represent almost our entire means of livelihood. Our 

 civilization now based upon the inanimate forces, must give way to one 

 in which human physical efifort is again the driving force. 



It is one function of the scientist to care for the material welfare of 

 man. His horizon should extend beyond the domain of the present, his 

 view penetrate the future and by the exercise of his foresight guide us 

 to ever increasing assurance of mastery over the world. And therefore 

 the scientific world is realizing the necessity of considering our available 

 sources of energy. Our ever increasing population and the development 

 of civilization demand an ever increasing supply of energy in the form 

 of food and fuel. National power is pre-eminently dependent upon such 

 commodities. Liquid fuel, especially in the form of petroleum, is rapidly 

 becoming the most prized possession. 



Our main source of energy is coal and, although it is less than one 

 hundred years since it has been put to extensive use as fuel, the present 

 annual consumption is stupendous, about 650,000,000 tons. Each decade 

 has brought a very decided increase in the rate of consumption. 



Another very considerable source of energy is that developed from 

 the water powers. Theoretically, this is virtually an inexhaustible supply 

 and one of relatively high efficiency. The late Mr. Charles P. Steinmetz ^ 

 has calculated on the basis of every raindrop which falls in the United 

 States being collected and all the power it could produce on its way to 

 the ocean being developed, that there would be possible about three hun- 

 dred million horse-power. This enormous figure represents about the 

 amount received from our present total consumption of coal. Thus this 

 theoretical hydro-electric power would just about cover our present coal 

 consumption, but leave nothing for future increased needs nor to cover 

 other sources of energy now in use. Moreover, this figure for hydro- 

 electric power is purely hypothetical, of which only a small fraction repre- 

 sents that actually available, which, when united with other difficulties 



"Steinmetz, C. P., Survey Graphic, 1, 1035 (1922). 



