148 WALKS AND TALKS. 



the use of natural gas, are of a revolutionary character. In 

 the city and surrounding country, not less than ten million 

 dollars have been invested within a year, said a writer in 

 1884. " A year ago the business was insignificant; to-day, it 

 ranks in importance with the iron, steel, glass, and coal inter- 

 ests of western Pennsylvania. There are at present ten iron 

 and steel mills in this city using this gas in their puddling 

 furnaces and under their boilers ; a dozen more are busy mak- 

 ing arrangements for its introduction, and almost every manu- 

 facturing firm using steam is awaiting the completion of the 

 necessary pipe lines. Six glass factories in the city, and seven 

 others in the immediate vicinity are using it. Every brewer 

 in the city uses it. Two of the largest hotels use it exclu- 

 sively for cooking purposes. For general household use, on 

 account of its cheapness, cleanliness, and convenience of ap- 

 plication, it has no rival." 



The city of Buffalo is also said to be laying pipe lines for 

 gas from the Pennsylvania gas districts. 



Our modern forests are the chief producers of fuel in 

 human times. The sea supports a vast amount of vegetation ; 

 but we have not learned how to apply it to the production of 

 heat. Yet, strange as it seems, the sea-weeds which waved 

 their graceful fronds in the oceans of millions of years ago, 

 are smelting the iron for the pipes destined to bring their 

 transformed constituents to the sites of gigantic industries, 

 and warming the dwellings of the populations which con- 

 duct them. 



Will these marvelous supplies hold out? That is the 

 question which the owners of the millions invested are 

 anxiously asking. Probably, as has been proved with petro- 

 leum, particular wells will gradually diminish in supply; 

 many will cease to yield ; some will continue indefinitely. 

 But probably, also, as in the case of petroleum, new supplies 

 will be discovered, and even increasing demands will be met 

 for many years in the future. 



