194 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



controlling the undoubted but almost infinitely slow disintegration 

 of the elements, with the view of utilizing their stored-up energy. 



However interesting a detailed discussion of these possible sources 

 of energy might be, time prevents my dwelling on them. Suffice it to 

 say that the Hon. R. J. Strutt has shown that in this country at least 

 it would be impracticable to attempt to utilize terrestrial heat from 

 boreholes; others have deduced that from the tides, the winds, and 

 waterpower small supplies of energy are no doubt obtainable, but that, 

 in comparison with that derived from the combustion of coal, they are 

 negligible; nothing is to be hoped for from the direct utilization of 

 solar heat in this temperate and uncertain climate ; and it would be 

 folly to consider seriously a possible supply of energy in a conceivable 

 acceleration of the liberation of energy by atomic change. It looks 

 utterly improbable, too, that we shall ever be able to utilize the energy 

 due to the revolution of the earth on her axis, or to her proper motion 

 round the sun. 



Attention should undoubtedly be paid to forestry, and to the utiliza- 

 tion of our stores of peat. On the Continent the forests are largely 

 the property of the State ; it is unreasonable, especially in these latter 

 days of uncertain tenure of property, to expect any private owner of 

 land to invest money in schemes which would at best only benefit his 

 descendants, but which, under our present trend of legislation, do not 

 promise even that remote return. Our neighbors and rivals, Germany 

 and France, spend annually £2,200,000 on the conservation and utili- 

 zation of their forests ; the net return is £6,000,000. There is no doubt 

 that we could imitate them with advantage. Moreover, an increase 

 in our forests would bring with it an increase in our waterpower; for 

 without forest land rain rapidly reaches the sea, instead of distributing 

 itself, so as to keep the supply of water regular, and so more easily 

 utilized. 



Various schemes have been proposed for utilizing our deposits of 

 peat. I believe that in Germany the peat industry is moderately prof- 

 itable; but our humid climate does not lend itself to natural evapora- 

 tion of most of the large amount of water contained in peat, without 

 which processes of distillation prove barely remunerative. 



We must therefore rely chiefly on our coal reserve for our supply 

 of energy, and for the means of supporting our population, and it is 

 to the more economical use of coal that we must look, in order that our 

 life as a nation may be prolonged. We can economize in many ways: 

 By the substitution of turbine engines for reciprocating engines, there- 

 by reducing the coal required per horsepower from 4 to 5 pounds to 

 1£ or 2 pounds; by the further replacement of turbines by gas engines, 

 raising the economy to 30 per cent of the total energy available in the 

 coal, that is, lowering the coal consumption per horsepower to 1 or 1$ 



