£0 china's petrified sun-rays 



On the whole there seems a definite case for a stimulus to be 

 .applied to the development of the local mines. Whether 

 this is to be done by loans on favourable conditions, 

 gratuitous technical advice, machinery at specially cut rates, 

 or government bounties, is open to question. Probably the 

 problem would partly solve itself, were the Nanking-Hunan 

 Railway to be constructed, but in the meantime, local 

 interests should become aware of the situation. 



The romance of coal is one which well pays consider- 

 •ation. All life owes its being to the sun and the Japanese 

 are not so far off the mark in regarding Amaterasu-Omi-Kami 

 as the supreme being. In those early days when the atmos- 

 phere was heavy with carbon dioxide, the sun produced a 

 profusion of vegetable life and separated the elements of that 

 gas, providing on the one hand, coal, and on the other the 

 indispensable oxygen. The two elements yearn to be recom- 

 bined and by harnessing part of the energy of their combina- 

 tion man has attained to powers which a very few centuries 

 since would have been termed magical. Coal is far more 

 valuable than gold since the Matter's value is purely a social 

 convention whereas that of coal is a physical fact which 

 makes a certain quantity of it equal mechanically to> man 

 himself. Petroleum is even more precious for similar reasons 

 but is less likely to serve permanently the demand, especially 

 in China. There are, moreover, other objections to petroleum. 

 Special vessels are required to carry it; it is very inflamm- 

 able ; leakage and evaporation losses are serious ; it is much 

 more localized than coal ; expensive distillation is necessary to 

 purify it ; delicate machinery is required to use it for power. 



There is no immediate prospect of infra-atomic energy 

 becoming available and the direct use of sun-rays is not 

 financially practicable at present. Seeing that coal consists 

 of fixed sun-ray energy, which has taken many centuries to 

 accumulate, it is obviously more efficacious than direct sun- 

 light can be. 



