TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 229 



sumption, tlie fuel coal is given to us once and for all — that we are therefore dealing 

 with a store that knows no renewal — tliat if wo waste it, the sin of that waste 

 will be A'isited upon our children — and that it becomes us to look upon coal as a 

 most precious, valuable, and limited deposit, of which we are the stewards and 

 guardians, j ustified, no doubt, in using all that avo require for legitimate purposes, 

 but most criminal in respect of all that we waste, whether that waste arise from 

 wilful indifference or from careless ignorance, an ignorance culpable as the indilfcr- 

 cuce itself. 



This being so, let us see how we do deal with coal in those cases where coal 

 must be used, how we might deal with it in such cases, and how we might in 

 certain instances substitute other sources of po-wer for the coal which we now 

 consume. 



And let us first of all consider this question of finding sources other than coal 

 for our motive power. 



Before the steam-engine was so extensively used as it now is, the Avind, the force 

 of streams, and the force of the tide were all employed to give motive power. 



With respect to the power of the wind, it is to be feared it is too irregular to 

 enable any manufacturer to rely upon it in competition with the steam-engine. 



AVith respect to the power of our streams, the altered condition of the soil, due 

 to increased dj'ainage and cultivation, has so materially interfered with the regu- 

 larity of their flow, that their efficiency as sources of constant power is seriously 

 diminished, while competition with them by steam has become much greater than 

 it was when^the water-mills themselves were better off. This state of things, how- 

 ever, might be cured, and, in fact, has been cured in certain districts by the union 

 of a large number of mill-proprietors to form storage-reservoirs, from which the 

 water can be delivered with regularity, so as to give a uniform supply to the mills. 



But the third source of water-power, the tide-mill, which at one time was used 

 to a considerable extent, is now almost wholly discontinued. The causes of this 

 discontinuance are sufficiently obvious. 



The tide-miU, as formerly constructed, could work for only a limited period in 

 each ebb ; and, to obtain the full effect, it had to utilize both the night and the 

 day tides. But while tide-miUs laboured under these disadvantages, thej' possessed 

 the great merit that their power, such as it was, was one that could be depended 

 on, and one which, although it fluctuated, fluctuated regularly and within known 

 and definite limits. 



I Avould suggest that in those cases where there are large manufacturing districts 

 within a few miles of the sea, and where there is a large rise and fall of the tide, 

 coupled, in the outset at all events, with natural indentations of the coast, which 

 might be comparatively readily dammed up for the storage of the water, there 

 such storage should be made, that the water should be put to work turbines of 

 the best kind (turbines which will work with very nearly the same percentage of 

 the total power given out by the water at any particular moment, whether they 

 are immersed or whether they are not), that these turbines should be employed 

 in pumping water at a high pressure into Armstrong accumidators, and that pipes 

 should be laid on from those accumulators to the neighbouring manufacturing town, 

 and should there deliver their power to the consumers, requiring it to be used by 

 them in water-pressure engines. 



Suppose a beginning were made with the city of Bristol, which is no doubt a 

 very favourable insf^ance for the application of this suggestion. 



Here the rise and fall of the tide might safely be taken at 24 feet. Half a square 

 mile of water enclosed would, after the most lavish deductions for loss, yield in 

 Bristol at least 5000 horse-power, probably sufficient to replace the whole of the 

 power of the stationary engines now at work in Bristol. 



I will not detain you by further dilating upon this subject ; but it does appear 

 to me, looking at the opportunity which good turbines give of utilizing the power 

 residing in water under constantly varying conditions of head, looking at the fact 

 that by Sir William Armstrong's arrangements this power may be transferred to 

 an extremely small quantity of water under high pressure, and that therefore such 

 water may be transmitted for many miles through pipes at low Aclocities, even 

 although those pipes be of no great size, — looking at these facts, I say, I cannot 



