The planetary battery: How deep time sequestration made life possible and human combustion is reversing eons of geology

“ All variations in the proportions of land and water; all variations of level; all changes in the combination and distribution of masses or molecules of matter, whether above, upon, or below the surface; all changes in the number, structure, forms, and relations of plants and animals, are to be ascertained as facts, and employed in reasoning, for tracing a general and continuous history of the physical revolutions which the earth has experienced since it became a planet. ”

“ In the light of what he knows of the past history of the earth, the man of science sees with his mind's eye the successive changes that have taken place in it; he sees the globe a mass of incandescent matter rolling through space; he sees the crust cooling [Pg 272] and hardening; he sees the waters appear, the air and the soil appear, he sees the clouds begin to form and the rain to fall, he sees living things appear in the waters, then upon the land, and in the air; he sees the two forms of life arise, the vegetable and the animal, the latter standing upon the former ”

“ Carbon is the same thing, whether you call it wood, or coal, or bread and cheese. A reverend gentleman demurred to this statement, - as if, because combustion is asserted to be the sine qua non of thought, therefore thought is alleged to be a purely chemical process. Facts of chemistry are one thing, I told him, and facts of consciousness another. It can be proved to him, by a very simple analysis of some of his spare elements, that every Sunday, when he does his duty faithfully, he uses up more phosphorus out of his brain and nerves than on ordinary days. ”

“ It is a significant fact that the four chief elements which in various combinations make up living bodies are by their extreme mobility well suited to their purpose. Three of these are gaseous; only the carbon is a solid. This renders them facile and adaptive in the ever-changing conditions of organic evolution. The solid carbon forms the vessel in which the precious essence of life is carried. ”

“ During the past life of the globe, the heat-energy received from the sun upon the earth’s surface was partly expended in the production of great forests, and the storage, in the trunks, branches, and leaves of the trees of which they were composed, of an immense quantity of carbon, which had previously existed in the atmosphere, combined with oxygen, as carbonic acid. ”

“ The cells of all plants need the force of the sun’s rays to separate the carbon from the oxygen contained in the carbonic di-oxide absorbed by the rootlets and stomata of the leaves. Thus the great luminary builds the forests and clothes the earth with verdure. “All flesh is grass,” and therefore to the forces of the sun’s vibrations we must trace not a little of animal growth and strength. The sun gives out more heat than it would if six tons of coal were burnt on every square yard of its surface every hour. ”

“ How completely dependent mankind is upon the sun and its powerful radiations, only the science of the present day can tell us. By means of the sun's heat the forests of early geologic ages were enabled to wrest carbon from the atmosphere and store it in [166] forms later converted by nature's chemistry into peat and coal. Through processes but imperfectly understood, the varying forms of vegetable life are empowered to conserve, from air and soil, nitrogen and other substances suitable for and essential to the life maintenance of animal creatures. Breezes that bring rain and purify the air ”

“ Nature has recorded the fact on tablets of the rock, and left evidences of it in the coal fields and other remains which are scattered through the earth. The light and heat from the anthracite fire, which cheers and warms us in a winter’s day. came from the sun ages and ages ago, and have been bottled away, as it were, in the earth for man’s use, and the present economy of nature and the world. The coal measures of the earth cover many thousand square miles; they, too, are filled by the work of the yellow ray; for it is well known that coal is of vegetable origin. It is almost all carbon. ”

“ Consider the source of nearly all the energy which is used in modern civilisation—coal. The great forests of the Carboniferous epoch now exists as beds of coal. By the burning of coal—a chemical transformation—the heat energy is produced on which at present our whole civilisation depends. Whence is the energy locked up in the coal derived? From the sun. For millions of years the energy of the sun's rays had gone to form the vast vegetation of the Carboniferous era and had been transformed, by various subtle processes, into the potential energy that slumbers in those immense fossilized forests. ”

“ It is entirely to this exuberant vegetation that coal owes its origin. The crust of the vast globe still yielded under the influence of the seething, boiling mass, which was forever at work beneath. Hence arose numerous fissures, and continual falling in of the upper earth. The dense mass of plants being beneath the waters, soon formed themselves into vast agglomerations. ”

“ A hot-blooded, quickly-respiring animal could not possibly exist in an atmosphere laden with carbonic acid. Anterior to the coal deposit, the fauna was cold-blooded and slow-respiring. The flora thus changed the aërial environment, and this, in its turn, reacting, changed the fauna. ”

“ This potential energy becomes kinetic and available wherever and whenever the powerful chemical affinity of oxygen for carbon is permitted to come into play; and the fossil fuel stored in our coal-beds or the wood of existing forests is, by the familiar process of combustion, permitted to return to the state of combination with oxygen in which it existed in the earliest geological periods. ”

“ Carbon dioxide is in the heart of fundamental processes over millions of years on Earth. It allows stocking solar energy through synthesis, and it is a key molecule for producing fossil fuels and, thus, it is an indicator of the consumption of energy from fossil fuels. Of course, the negative effect of CO2 in the atmosphere is dramatic and contributes to a significant increase in the temperature of our planet, which is becoming alarming. ”

“ When carbonaceous substances are burnt the bulk of the carbon is converted into carbonic acid, and thus our furnaces and fireplaces are continually emitting enormous quantities of carbonic acid into the atmosphere. ”

“ Wherever man moves, his fire, his food, the materials of his dwellings, the soil he disturbs, all add their volatile parts to the atmosphere. Vegetation, death, and decay pour into it copiously substances foreign to the composition of pure air. The combustion of one ton of coal adds at least sixteen tons of impurity to the atmosphere; and when we estimate on the daily consumption of coal the addition from this source alone, the amount becomes enormous. ”

“ Then the bottle is full of gas; and that gas, which will rush out with a spurt when you press the knob, is the stuff that plants eat—the raw material of life, both animal and vegetable. The tree grows and lives by taking in the carbonic acid from the air, and solidifying its carbon; the animal grows and lives by taking the solidified carbon from the plant, and converting it once more into carbonic acid. That, in its ideally simple form, is the Iliad in a nutshell, the core and kernel of biology. The whole cycle of life is one eternal see-saw. ”

“ On a clear summer day the earth receives from the sun in our latitude energy equal to about 1450 horse-power per acre. To keep up this supply by the combustion of coal, we should have to burn for [Pg 29] every square foot of the sun’s surface between three and four pounds per second. A small fraction of this solar energy reaches our earth in the form of radiant heat and light, and it is the latter which enables the plant to perform the work of separating the carbon from the oxygen with which it is chemically combined. ”

“ Under the magic touch of the sun, the carbonic acid of the atmosphere which has entered the leaf through the breathing pores or stomates and is circulating through the air-passages and cells, is decomposed, that is, taken to pieces; the oxygen is poured out into the air along with the watery vapor of the crude sap, while the carbon is combined with the elements of water and other substances which we have mentioned, to form the elaborated sap or plant-material which is now ready to be carried from the leaves to all parts of the plant or tree, to nourish it and continue its growth. ”

“ By a thousand pores in every leaf the carbonic acid which renders the atmosphere unfit for animal life is absorbed, the carbon being separated, and assimilated to form the vegetable fibre, which, as wood, makes and furnishes our houses and ships, is burned for our warmth, or is stored up under pressure for coal. ”

“ By a thousand pores in every leaf the carbonic acid which renders the atmosphere unfit for animal life is absorbed, the carbon being separated and assimilated to form the vegetable fibre, which, as wood, makes and furnishes our houses and ships, is burned for our warmth, or is stored up under pressure for coal. ”

“ The wind carries it through a forest, and the leaves of the trees with their millions of mouths drink it in. By the assistance of light it is decomposed, the oxygen is sent off to make more carbonic acid, and the carbon is retained to form a part of the tree. So long as that tree exists in the form of wood, the carbon will re [Pg 22] main unaltered, but when the wood decays, or is burned, it immediately takes the form of carbonic acid, and mingles with the atmosphere ready to be again taken up by plants, and have its carbon deposited in the form of vegetable matter. ”

“ The carbon, which forms so large an element in the food of plants, is chiefly obtained in this way; and the abundance of the supply of oxygen thus thrown into the atmosphere may be inferred from the fact that a single leaf of the water-lily will in the course of one summer give off nearly eleven cubic feet of oxygen. ”

“ The air, which in the other case received the carbon, delivers it up, now, and receives oxygen in exchange; exactly the reverse of its traffic with animals. In other words, the tree inhales through its leaves the carbonic acid gas thrown into the atmosphere by our lungs. On its own responsibility it breaks through the alliance between the carbon and oxygen contracted in our organs; keeps the carbon for its own use, to restore it to us another day under the form of wood, or, by the aid of the charcoal-burner, in the pure and simple state of charcoal ”

“ Consider the enormous gain in weight during the growth of a plant; compare the acorn, weighing a few grains, with the oak, weighing many tons, which arises from it after centuries of growth. If matter is indestructible, and never comes into existence spontaneously, where does all this carbon come from? It is a matter of common knowledge that the carbon of plants is supplied by the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide—the gas which has already been referred to as resulting from the combustion of carbon. ”

“ Thus we see that there is a continual change from the carbon of plants to air, and from air back to plants, or through them to animals. As each dollar in gold that is received into a country permanently increases its amount of circulating medium, and each dollar sent out permanently decreases it until returned, so the carbonic acid sent into the atmosphere by burning, decay, or respiration, becomes a permanent stock of constantly changeable material, until it shall be locked up for a time, as in a house which may last for centuries, or in an oak tree which may stand for thousands of years. ”

“ All the carbon which is burned in oxygen, or air, comes out as carbonic acid, whilst those particles which are not so burned shew you the second substance in the carbonic acid—namely, the carbon—that body which made the flame so bright whilst there was plenty of air, but which was thrown off in excess when there was not oxygen enough to burn it. ”

“ Uncork a bottle of ginger ale, shake the bottle, and lead the gas that comes off through lime-water.
4. Most portable fire extinguishers depend on the generation of carbon dioxide.
Show the similarity between our bodies and the candle. The candle needs oxygen; it produces heat, and yields water and carbon dioxide. Much of our food is somewhat similar in composition to the wax of a candle; we breathe oxygen, our bodies are warmed by a real burning within, and we exhale water and carbon dioxide.
After exercise why do we feel more hungry? Why do we breathe faster? Why do we feel warmer? ”

“ Heat is always present, remember, in a greater or less degree; and when visible combustion takes place we see light. Invisible combustion goes on in our bodies, and we feel heat; when we get cold we feed the fire by eating, or blow it by exercise and air in our lungs.
Fig. 328.—Gas evolved from flame.
We shall speak, however, of combustion now as it affects us in daily life; our fires, our candles, gas, etc., and under these ordinary circumstances hydrogen and carbon are present. (We shall hear more about carbon presently.) These unite with the oxygen to form water and carbonic acid ”

“ Here is a piece of iron on the charcoal—see what a combustion is going on; and we might go on in this way, burning almost everything we place between the poles. Now, I want to shew you that this power is still chemical affinity—that if we call the power which is evolved at this point heat, or electricity, or any other name referring to its source, or the way in which it travels, we still shall find it to be chemical action. Here is a coloured liquid which can shew by its change of colour the effects of chemical action. ”

“ Heat comes out of it, light comes out of it, and if we could gather together all that goes up the chimney; and all that remains in the grate of a thoroughly-burnt coal-fire, we should find ourselves in possession of a quantity of carbonic acid, water, ammonia, and mineral matters, exactly equal in weight to the coal. But these are the very matters with which Nature supplied the club-mosses which made the coal. ”

“ Does the cell or the organism act like a heat engine or an electric cell, dissipating its energy in one direction, or is it a reversible mechanism, like a dynamo. In the animal body, the food stuffs of high chemical potential, proteids, carbohydrates and fats, are degraded and transformed into substances of low chemical potential (carbon dioxide, urea and water) , the energies passing, as in a Carnot cycle, from a source of high potential to a sink at low potential energy. ”

“ True fatigue is a chemical affair. It is the result of recent effort,—physical, mental, or emotional,—and is the sum of sensations arising from the presence of waste material in the muscles and the blood. The whole picture becomes clear if we think of the body as a factory whose fires continuously burn, yielding heat and energy, together with certain waste material,—carbon dioxide and ash. Within man's body the fuel, instead of being the carbon of coal is the carbon of glycogen or animal starch, taken in as food and stored away within the cells of the muscles and the liver. ”

“ He could only fix in his mind a few chemical facts not forgotten: that he was using up the existing oxygen by combining it, in his lungs, with carbon to form carbon dioxide, ten per cent. of which, in the air, might be fatal; that the hydrogen which he would make, with his oxygen, was non-poisonous, like the nitrogen of the air, but that, there being less of it as a diluent, he might suffer from a preponderance of oxygen; and that this astringent gas that would also evolve from the salt water was a deadly poison to be got rid of. ”

“ Just what occurs in my lungs—taking in oxygen from another source, namely, the atmosphere—takes place here by a more rapid process.
You will be astonished when I tell you what this curious play of carbon amounts to. A candle will burn some four, five, six, or seven hours. What, then, must be the daily amount of carbon going up into the air in the way of carbonic acid! What a quantity of carbon must go from each of us in respiration! What a wonderful change of carbon must take place under these circumstances of combustion or respiration! ”

“ The wick of every burning lamp draws up the carbon of the oil to be made into carbonic acid at the flame. All matters in process of combustion, decay, fermentation, or putrefaction, are returning to the atmosphere those constituents, which they obtained from it. Every living animal, even to the smallest insect, by respiration, spends its life in the [Pg 20] production of this material necessary to the growth of plants, and at death gives up its body in part for such formation by decay. ”

“ The candle burns away, its matter vanishes from our view; but if we collect the invisible products of the combustion, we find in them the whole substance of the candle in union with the atmospheric oxygen. We may, in imagination, follow the indestructible atoms of carbon in their migrations, from the atmosphere to the plant, which is eaten by the animal and goes to form its fat, and from the tallow, by combustion, back into the atmosphere again. ”

“ Up into the air. If the carbon had been like the lead which I shewed you, or the iron which, in burning, produces a solid substance, what would happen? Combustion could not go on. As charcoal burns, it becomes a vapour and passes off into the atmosphere, which is the great vehicle, the great carrier for conveying it away to other places. Then, what becomes of it? Wonderful is it to find that the change produced by respiration, which seems so injurious to us (for we cannot breathe air twice over) , is the very life and support of plants and vegetables that grow upon the surface of the earth. ”

“ You may know that there are three chief gases in the air: oxygen and nitrogen, which are the important parts for our breathing, and a little carbonic acid gas, which you may remember is breathed out by animals and plants (see p. 6) , and is made of carbon joined with oxygen. As there was no carbon in the food solution, and the plant was surrounded by air containing carbon and oxygen in the invisible form of gas, the idea is suggested that perhaps it is from the air that the plant gets its carbon. ”

“ These leaves are taking up their carbon from the atmosphere, to which we have given it in the form of carbonic acid, and they are growing and prospering. Give them a pure air like ours, and they could not live in it; give them carbon with other matters, and they live and rejoice. This piece of wood gets all its carbon, as the trees and plants get theirs, from the atmosphere, which, as we have seen, carries away what is bad for us and at the same time good for them,—what is disease to the one being health to the other. ”

“ Carbon dioxide is a product of combustion, decay, and animal exhalation. It is poison to the animal, but food for the vegetable. However, the proportion in the air is so small that its baneful influence upon animal life is reduced to a minimum. The nitrogen is an inert, odorless gas, and its use in the air seems to be to dilute it, so that man and animals can breathe it. If all the nitrogen were extracted from the air and only the oxygen left to breathe, all animal life would be stimulated to death in a short time. ”

“ But when in larger quantity than is required for these needs carbon dioxide is poisonous to our tissues, causing fatigue and depression of working power, and for the good of the organism must be expelled. It is, therefore, carried to the lungs and passed into the air. Thus much of the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere represents a waste and poisonous product of protoplasmic activities, of no use to man, however valuable it is to the green plants. ”

“ The plant borrows from the soil; the soil from the rocks and the atmosphere; men and animals take from the plants and from each other the elements which they in death return to the soil, the atmosphere, and the plants. Year after year, century after century, eon after eon, the mighty, immeasurable, ceaseless round of elements goes on, in the stupendous process of chemical change, which marks the eternal life of matter.
To the superficial observer, nature in all her parts seems imbued with a spirit of profound peace and harmony ”