Show baat bacteria eila in in coal ac air C potter has recently shown before the royal society in london that in certain conditions ot of exposure to the tr charcoal coal pent peat and other amorphous amor phoua forms of carbon undergo a slow process of oxidation produced by bacteria it Is suggested that this fact may account for the beteri oration of stored coal its gradual loss of weight and its occasional aponta aecus heating in ships bunkers it if tho bacteria are not the sole sola cause of these things they may induce thern them chemical o oxidation dation accompanying and continuing that begun by the organic agents the carbonization of vegetable coals taya says a french writer is duo due to tho the intervention tion of microbes mic robes at the beginning of their fossilization when the coal reaches the air clr again other bacteria take up the work of fermentation that was interrupted millions of years yeara ago youths companion |