Coal Utilisation and Research

Abstract

THE Report of the Royal Commission on the Coal Industry, some aspects of which were presented by Prof. Henry Louis in an article in NATURE of March 20, is still under consideration and discussion. It is now generally understood that the report refuses to prescribe for the sick man any tonic or pill with the pleasing promise of a lightning cure, but insists on the necessity for a systematic application of the principles of economic hygiene to daily life as the primary essential to recovery. Even such labels as low - temperature carbonisation and electrification on the medicine bottles are not held to guarantee a cure. It. is not that the spirit of the Commission has been cautious, conservative, or narrow. Its report is, indeed, quite remarkable for breadth of view, and for what appears to be a well-balanced consideration of the very numerous and varied factors which are operative in the problem presented. These characteristics can certainly be claimed for Chaps, iii. and iv. on utilisation of coal, and research, with which the present writer is more immediately concerned.