80 . A. W. Steivart on 



and pressure prevailing far below the surface level, and that, by 

 reaction with water percolating through the strata, petroleum was 

 formed, as acetylene is formed by the action of water on calcium 

 carbide. 



With the discovery of radio-activity a new reservoir of energy 

 is opened, but at present we cannot direct or control the new 

 force. The energy existing in the atom is so great that it 

 represents a source of power, which if it could be tapped would 

 eliminate all others from competition, and it may be regarded as 

 probable that this will one day be accomplished. It is clear that 

 the actual breaking up of the atom is in progress in the radio- 

 active elements, bnt the process is extremely slow and at present 

 practically beyond onr power of direction or government. 



It may be of interest to give one or two examples of the 

 quantities of energy which are locked up in the radioactive ele- 

 ments. If we were able to obtain an ounce of radium in the 

 ])ure state, we should find, according to measurements made with 

 smaller quantities, that in the transformation described, it would 

 liberate in an hour an amount of heat sufficient to raise rather 

 more than an ounce of water from freezing-point to boiling-point, 

 and this radiation would contiiuie in lessening amount for countless 

 years. Turning to uranium, it has been shown that in one pound 

 of this metal there is a store of energy equivalent to that which 

 is obtained from the combustion of rather over one hundred tons 

 of coal. As to niton, a single cubic inch of this gas, if we could 

 obtain it, woukl radiate energy equal to that emitted by a 

 powerful arc lamp. To procure this cubic inch of niton, 

 however, we should require no less than fifty pounds of 

 radium ; and as at present the total quantity of the element 

 which has so far been extracted from its ores amounts certainly 

 to under an ounce, it is evident that we have still a long way to 

 go before we reach the stage of practical utilisation. In the case 

 of the slowly disintegrating elements like uranium, there is 

 another factor in the prol^lem — time — for these materials decom- 



