﻿AIR AND LIFE. 61 



If one observes tliat besides tliis work wiud is capable of tremen- 

 dous effort; that it wrenches from the soil the strongest trees; that it 

 scatters to the ground in crumbling ruins the most solid monuments or 

 buildings; if one considers that it could also effect a much greater 

 amount of work than that which is at present effected, by driving sail- 

 ing vessels or windmills, one can not forego the conclusion that in wind 

 Ave have an enormous source of energy which is hardly utilized from 

 the industrial i^oint of view. 



This is undoubtedly true. Wind is a most powerful force, whose limits 

 can not possibly be estimated ; that it could be utilized for man's benefit 

 could hardly fail to suggest itself. Many centuries have passed since 

 the lirst endeavor, and although some progress has been made, and 

 has been satisfactory enough during a long period, no one will venture 

 to assert that nothing more can be done. 



Wind has been used on land and on sea; windmills have been 

 invented in most lands, and few savage tribes have failed to become 

 aware of the great help sails are to navigation. For centuries civilized 

 nations were content with sailing vessels, and some of the latter were 

 truly splendid achievements, able, it must be remembered, to cross the 

 Atlantic — under favorable circumstances — in eleven days, which is still 

 tbe duration of the trip for average steamships. But for three-quarters 

 of a century steam has been used and defeated sails for long distances. 

 The best steamers of the transatlantic lines are able to run from Queens- 

 town to New York in five days and a half, and from Kew York to 

 Havre in six days and a fraction. Wind has been defeated by steam 

 on land also, and coal has taken the first place as a source of energy. 

 But coal supplies are not inexhaustible, and thoughtful minds are 

 concerned with the important problem of drawing upon those other 

 resources which the movements of the atmosphere still provide, and 

 which are by no means used as much as they might be. Coal is decreas- 

 ing, and no fresh strata of the precious store are in i^rocess of forma- 

 tion as far as we are aware. It is burned at the rate of millions of tons 

 each year, and mines are being steadily emptied of their contents. 

 Forethought demands that future generations be not caught unawares, 

 and that even now the i)roblem of providing fresh sources of energy 

 be considered. These are not wanting. The application of electricity 

 to general uses has developed imi)ortant possibilities, and provided us 

 with a method by means of which energy maybe obtained, transformed, 

 and carried to a distance with the result that with proper apparatus 

 the energy of rivers, of winds, of tides, of solar heat, may be utilized. 

 Some important steps have been made in the required direction, and 

 much has been done to utilize the energy contained in rivers under the 

 form of falls, in Europe as well as in the United States, where the 

 Niagara Falls are the best known instance. But concerning the power 

 contained in wind, little has been done to take advantage of it. Sail- 

 ing vessels are always numerous, to be sure, but windmills are, on the 



