FOREWORD.

Natural gas is the least appreciated, consequently the most abused, of the mineral resources in popular use. The issues involved are of direct concern to some ten millions of the inhabitants of the United States, and their range of influence does not stop even here; for they form a prominent feature in the nation-wide problem of fuel supply which may be solved effectually only through coordinated attention to the component parts. This problem science and technology, working together, can take the initiative in simplifying, by pointing the way and devising means for its solution, but of their own initiative, they are powerless to go further. The responsibility of initiative in carrying forward the actual process of solution rests with the public, and resting with the public is contingent, as a first requisite, upon public opinion genuinely alive to the situation. This condition of affairs, naturally, is most pronounced in industrial connections of the public service order to which the activities comprising the natural gas industry belong; and this particular situation, bad enough from environment, is further aggravated by characteristics inherent in the resource.

The public must look to remedying the situation or within a very few years lose the services of the resource already seriously impaired. The stimulus to action contributed in the form of technical discussions is inadequate and equally so that afforded in appeals to sentiment and sensationalism. The United States National Museum has undertaken the preparation of an exhibit designed to visualize the situation in its true bearing, and the normal order of precedence would be to follow this with publications drawing upon the exhibit. In view of the present emergency, however, with its effect on the question of fuel supply, it is deemed best not to wait upon ceremony but to publish the present paper by Mr. S. S. Wyer, without the delay which would otherwise occur.

The situation is too complex for any simple formula of remedy. It is not only complex but acutely critical as well, and needs all the light that can be thrown on it from all sides. This particular discussion sets forth the technical issues as viewed by a practical engineer who alone is responsible for it in a concise, readable presentation which makes it a distinct contribution toward clarifying the situation. C. G. GILBERT,

Curator, Division of Mineral Technology,

United States National Museum.

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