were wasting. With more profound knowledge and better instruments for observation and investigation they are patiently unraveling nature's secrets and learning how to turn her forces to human uses. I cited a case of the unavoidable waste of copper ore, of fuel, and of human labor in the treatment of the oxidized copper ores of Arizona twenty years ago. The men who were wasting acted upon their knowledge and skill. So now it often happens that in response to the urgent call which modern society makes by fits and starts for enormously increased productiveness of various commodities, the demand can be met only at the expense of waste of nature's resources, of human energy, and even of human life. If a more staple balance could be maintained between supply and demand; if the current of domestic and economic life would run more smoothly; if wealth were not accumulated so easily and spent so lavishly; if those marvelous improvements to which we have referred were not periodically made, which give these irresistible impulses to world-wide human energy, thereby bringing about these oscillations between. hard times and good times, between labor dearth and labor surplus; if all these disturbing elements were obliterated, certainly there would be less waste, and possibly there would be more happiness. But it is neither our part nor within our power, as mining and metallurgical engineers, to reconstruct society or renovate the world. Yet it is our duty to continue using our best efforts-whether the world recognizes our merits or not-to get the utmost energy out of human life as well as out of the inert material we handle, with the least possible exhaustion of human tissue and the smallest possible waste of mineral or vegetable material.

DISCUSSION OF THE PAPER OF JAMES DOUGLAS, PRESENTED AT THE NEW HAVEN MEETING, FEBRUARY, 1909.

James Douglas, New York (communication to the secretary "): In my paper on the Conservation of Natural Resources I referred to the slow replacement of beehive ovens by the by-product ovens as a most notable instance of waste. And I quoted from Mr. Parker's report for 1906 an explanation given by him in accounting for the small production of by-product coke. It was that the market for the by-products of the coke ovens was so limited that some of the ovens constructed were out of operation. His report on the manufacture of coke in 1908 does not record an improvement, and at

b

• Received February 2, 1910. Reprinted from Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, 1909, pp. 341-343.

Mineral Resources of the United States for 1908, Part II, U. S. Geological Survey (1909).

45745°-SM 1909- -22

tributes the strange fact that we alone of all the industrial peoples delay the adoption of this cardinal improvement from the continuance of the same almost inexplicable cause. To quote again from his report, he says (p. 241):

The year 1908 was not marked by any notable gain in the construction of by-product coking plants, though some new work was done. There was a net increase of 115 in the number of completed ovens in 1908 over 1907, the totals for the two years being, respectively, 3,892 and 4,007. The additional equipment consisted of 140 Koppers regenerative ovens built at Joliet, Illinois, by the United States Steel Corporation, but this increase was partly offset by the dismantling of 25 Semet-Solvay ovens at Sharon, Pennsylvania, the net gain being 115 ovens. Included in the total of 4,007 completed ovens in 1908 are 152 Newton-Chambers ovens at Vintondale, Pennsylvania, but as no recovery of by-products was made at this plant in 1908, the production of coke is included with that from beehive ovens. The 56 ovens of the same type at Pocahontas, Virginia, have not been in practical operation since they were first installed. In addition to these there was one other by-product plant of 120 ovens that was not operated during the year. The number of retort ovens producing coke in 1908 was 3,679, as compared with 3,811 active ovens in 1907. In describing the anomaly he says (p. 249):

It has been contended that the development of the by-product coking industry would have shown more rapid progress if markets for the by-products were assured. This pertains essentially to the coal tar and its products, as there is no difficulty in disposing of the surplus gas, and there is practically at all times a fair demand for ammonia. As to the coal tar, the total value of this by-product from retort ovens at first hand in 1908 was $1,007,613. The value of the coal-tar products imported into this country in 1908, including duty paid, was $8,560,406. The values in all cases of imports are at point of shipment, and do not include ocean freights, commissions, and other expenses. It is probable that these importations have reached the consumer at a total cost of not less than $12,000,000, and in the three preceding years the cost probably reached $15,000,000.

These coal-tar products, however, which are imported into the United States at such a heavy figure, are all chemical extracts from coal tar, such as salicylic acid, aniline dyes, and alkaline salts, the manufacture of which has passed in great measure into German hands. Some peculiar attribute of the German temper, and the thorough character of their technical educational methods, have given them a monopoly of this delicate branch of the chemical industry. Even England, where originated the manufacture of the coal-tar products, and where the first patents were taken out, has been unable to compete with her more precise and painstaking rival.

As the utilization of the tars is therefore the function of the chemical manufacturer, and the production of the crude material alone falls to the coke maker, the one industry must keep pace with the other if progress along either line is to be made. As the profits of certain European coking plants collecting the by-products are

generally supposed to be from $0.75 to $1.25 per ton of coke on the by-products alone, it would seem as though capital, skill, and science could not be more profitably employed in the United States than in removing this crying disgrace by turning the waste products from our coking establishments to such profitable use.

With regard to what will happen in the distant future when our coal supply is exhausted, Dr. Robert Thomas Moore, in his presidential address a before the Institution of Mining Engineers in London on May 27, 1909, says (p. 455):

Whether, indeed, it is a profitable matter to attempt to imagine the state of Britain three hundred years after this, with its coal exhausted, or a world, say, two hundred years later when it is all finished, is open to question. It is certainly beyond the scope of the objects of the Institution.

I do not think it commends itself as an economic principle to restrict in any way the legitimate development of our mineral resources. They are a source of wealth to ourselves, and we are helping to develop the world. Is it not more reasonable to trust to the progress of science to discover some fresh method of utilizing the resources of nature to provide a substitute? Who would have expected, even thirty years ago, the immense possibilities for distributing light and heat and power that the development of electricity has opened up? We have the forces of the rainfall, the wind, and the tides to utilize to the utmost. We may even get our heat and power direct from the sun! Those who come after us have a long time in which to consider the problem, and we may safely leave it to them to solve in their own way.

But that of which we should be careful is, that we should use our coal in the best possible manner; that in the working of it and in the using of it there should be no waste, either of men, of material, or of treasure; and it is the duty of an institution such as ours to afford every aid to the presentation of any plan which will further the attainment of these objects.

His remarks upon the ever-increasing consumption of coal, despite the efforts of the engineer to economize, are worthy of quotation. He says (p. 453):

It is a striking fact that notwithstanding all the improvements which have been introduced to economize coal in the various industries, the total consumption has gone on increasing. It seems as if the greater the economy becomes the larger is the consumption.

There have been atmospheric engines, Watt's condensing engines, high-pressure engines, compound engines, triple and qaudruple expansion engines, turbines, and gas engines, each being an improvement on its predecessor, until the coal consumed per horsepower per hour has been reduced from over 10 pounds to three-fourths of a pound; the methods of iron smelting have been improved until the amount of fuel used has been reduced from 8 tons per ton of pig iron to considerably under 2 tons; the processes for the manufacture of gas have been improved; and the whole history of the century has been a long series of savings in fuel. Yet the total consumption goes on steadily increasing. It would seem that the more the cost of power is cheapened, the more are the purposes for which it becomes available.

a Transactions of the Institution of Mining Engineers, vol. 37 (1908–9).

THE ANTARCTIC LAND OF VICTORIA. FROM THE VOYAGE OF THE "DISCOVERY." a

By MAURICE ZIMMERMANN.

It is now possible to measure the full significance of the results obtained by the great British national expedition of the Discovery to the Antarctic Land of Victoria and Ross Barrier during the period from 1901 to 1904. Prior to 1905 fairly abundant but preliminary information was furnished by the Royal Geographical Society of London, faithfully kept up-to-date by its former president, Sir Clements R. Markham, who had been one of the most ardent promoters of the enterprise. Then came the admirable account of the expedition by Capt. R. F. Scott, one of the most sincere, humane, and substantial, which it has been our privilege to read, and the book of Lieut. A. B. Armitage.

Finally, there began to appear in December, 1906, under the direction of the Royal Society of London, the volumes of scientific memoirs. Their publication has been effected with remarkable rapidity, nine volumes having already appeared and an album of maps, of which the Geographical Society of London has assumed the expense of publication. The Royal Society had given the surveillance of elaboration of the various documents into the hands of a special commission and Sir Archibald Geikie, its secretary. The trustees of the British Museum took the collection of natural history in charge. The distribution of the collections and the selection of specialists was the work of Mr. E. Ray Lankaster, director of the Natural History Museum, and of Mr. Jeffrey Bell.

The scientific results appear in very luxurious form. The selection of paper, the beauty of the photographs, the abundant panoramic views and the colored plates, the frequent reproduction of

" Translated by permission from Annales de Géographie, Paris, No. 98, 18th year, March 15, 1909.

Capt. R. F. Scott, "The Voyage of the Discovery," London, 1905, and Lieut. A. B. Armitage, "Two Years in the Antarctic, Being a Narrative of the British National Antarctic Expedition," London, 1905.