Show bacteria in coal mr air C potter has recently shown before the royal society in london that in certain conditions of exposure to the ir charcoal coal peat and othor other amorphous forms of carbon undergo a slow process of oxidation produced by bacteria it Is suggested that this fact may account for the deterioration of stored coal its gradual loss of weight and its occasional spontaneous heating in ships bunkers if the tha bacteria are not tho the sole cause of these thesa things they may induce them chemical oxidation accompanying and continuing that begun by the organic agents the carbonization of vegetable coals says lays a french rench writer Is duo due to the intervention tion of microbes mic robes at the beginning of their fossilization when the coal reaches the air again other bacteria talio take up the work of fermentation that was interrupted millions of yearl ago youths companion |