FUEL 



2346 



FUJIYAMA 



of water and protection from strong sun- 

 light. If planted in the spring in a partially- 

 shaded place a fuchsia cutting will develop by 

 fall into a fine plant. Some species make very 

 satisfactory indoor winter plants, and will put 

 forth lovely blossoms for many months if 

 kept well watered and out of the direct rays 

 of the sun. 



FU'EL, the name given to numerous sub- 

 stances from which heat is obtained by burn- 

 ing or combustion. When fire was first used 

 by man is not known, but however far back 

 in the distant past it may have been, the ques- 

 tion of obtaining materials to feed fires has 

 ever since been one of great importance. When 

 forests overran the land a supply was always 

 available, but as the value of wood for build- 

 ing purposes constantly increased it was neces- 

 sary to seek other substances. Coal, which has 

 become the standard fuel by which all other 

 fuels are measured, was known to the Greeks 

 at least 300 years before the Christian Era. 

 It possesses the advantage of furnishing great 

 heat, but has the disadvantage of being heavy. 

 Other solid fuels include coke, charcoal, peat, 

 and bricks made from coal dust and tar or 

 other adhesive substance. Liquid fuels include 

 petroleum and its products, alcohol and many 

 kinds of vegetable and animal oils. The chief 

 gases for heating are coal gas and natural gas. 



Heat Values. Calculations based on ex- 

 perience show that the relative value of coal 

 and wood is 2 1 / to 1 ; that is, two and one-half 

 pounds of wood must be burned to produce 

 'the same amount of heat as would be ob- 

 tained from one pound of anthracite coal. 

 Oils have nearly double the heat value of coal, 

 and are also less injurious to engines and fur- 

 naces in which they are used. Oil fires may 

 be instantly started or extinguished; the oil 

 produces little smoke and leaves no refuse. 

 On the other hand, there may be danger of 

 explosion, and there is always some loss of oil 

 by evaporation. Three and three-quarter bar- 

 rels of crude petroleum, each containing forty- 

 two gallons weighing six and one-half pounds 

 per gallon, have a fuel value equal to one ton 

 of coal. The use of gasoline is increasing so 

 rapidly that it is evident that the number of 

 engines operated by that fuel will rapidly in- 

 crease. 



Gases. Natural gas is an ideal fuel, with 

 fifty per cent greater heat value than coal gas. 

 It can be obtained only in a few locations, 

 however, so its utility is not widespread. For 

 domestic purposes, coal gas has many advan- 



tages. It prevents waste, as it need only be 

 burned while its heat or light is actually 

 needed, and can be easily extinguished or 

 lighted. To the consumer the gas costs from 

 seventy-five cents to one dollar and fifty cents 

 per 1,000 feet. The heat value of 1,000 feet 

 of gas is equal to fifty-nine pounds of anthra- 

 cite coal. 



Charcoal is extensively used in chemistry, 

 industrial arts and for melting metals. It 

 burns quickly and leaves little ash. Coke 

 produces violent heat and possesses qualities 

 very similar to those of charcoal. Peat is a 

 low grade fuel that is used extensively for 

 domestic purposes, especially in Ireland, where 

 the greatest peat bogs abound. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Charcoal Gas 



Coal Gasoline 



Coke Peat 



Forests and Forestry Petroleum 



FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS, statutes passed 

 during the slavery controversy in the United 

 States, providing for the return to their mas- 

 ters of runaway slaves escaping from one state 

 to another. In the Ordinance of 1787 (which 

 see) a clause provided for the return of slaves 

 who had escaped to the free territory of the 

 Northwest. The first fugitive slave law, passed 

 in 1793, allowed an owner upon the presenta- 

 tion of an affidavit to secure the arrest and 

 return of a slave who had escaped to free soil. 

 The runaway slave had no right to trial by 

 jury or to give any evidence in his own behalf. 

 Some of the Northern states, opposed to the 

 operations of this law, passed personal liberty 

 laws forbidding state officers to aid in the re- 

 covery of fugitives. In 1850 another fugitive 

 slave statute was passed, inflicting heavy pen- 

 alties for refusal to aid in the capture of run- 

 away slaves. The owner's oath was made suf- 

 ficient evidence for the slave's return. This 

 law increased the sentiment against slavery 

 throughout the North. The opposition to the 

 law reached its climax in the North at the 

 time of the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin 

 by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and hastened the 

 war between the two sections (see WAR OF 

 SECESSION). 



FUJIYAMA, foo je yah' mah, FUJI-NO- 

 YAMA, or FUJI-SAN, the beautiful sacred 

 mountain of Japan, rising 12,395 feet above 

 the sea, sixty miles west of Tokyo. Each sum- 

 mer thousands of pilgrims from all parts of 

 the empire climb by one of the five paths to 



