THE CHEMIST IN CONSERVATION 291 



THE WORK OP THE CHEMIST IN CONSERVATION* 



Bt Pbofessob ELBEBT W. ROCKWOOD 



STATB UNITKBSITT OP IOWA 



AMONG business firms it is the custom at regular intervals to stop 

 and take an inventory of the stock on hand, to set opposite one 

 another the income and expenses of the past, and to strike a balance 

 which shall show the condition of the institution. "Within the past few 

 years this country has been engaged in such a stock-taking of its nat- 

 ural resources and we have reports from various quarters as to its con- 

 dition, showing that its affairs, in respect to these resources, have been 

 recklessly managed and that without a change in its methods it is 

 rapidly traveling toward insolvency. 



We learn that the end of our mineral deposits is in sight; that the 

 United States produces every five years as much iron as the whole 

 world in the 350 years previous to 1850; that in 1907 over 100 times as 

 much steel was made as in 1874; that our coal, which was millions of 

 years in formation, is being dissipated in hundreds, and even in tens. 

 We are told that the next generation may see the end of our anthracite 

 coal and that, while the bituminous may last ten times as long, the 

 limit of the amount available can be closely calculated. 



Recent developments in the use of petroleum as a fuel have been 

 rapid. This is also true of its derivative, gasoline, which, up to the 

 present time, is the only satisfactory fuel to furnish energy for aviation 

 and one of the most successful in boats, automobile motors and for 

 many other purposes. Such an enormous demand has been created that 

 the United States Geological Survey predicts that the known supplies 

 of petroleum can not last more than about fifty years. The closely re- 

 lated natural gas is being used at an alarming rate and no scientist 

 claims that its production approaches the rate of its consumption. 

 Charcoal as a source of heat is practically negligible. Our forests are 

 disappearing — half a million acres annually for railroad ties; fifteen 

 acres for a single issue of a metropolitan newspaper ; an estimated total 

 consumption of wood amounting to one hundred thousand million board 

 feet. 



This depletion of our resources is perhaps a necessary accompani- 

 ment to the demands of an increasing national prosperity ; but the case 

 has an even darker side. The waste of material is terrific. The Anthra- 

 cite Coal Waste Commission reported in 1893 that " for every ton pro- 

 '■ An address delivered to the Society of Sigma Xi, State University of Iowa. 



