An astonishing discovery in regard to the production of electricity is announced, which, if genuine, will do away with the necessity of burning coal. Dr. Borchers, of Driesburg, Germany, says that he has found that electricity is generated by the conversion of hydrocarbon and carbonic oxide into carbonic acid, and as this is the same thing that takes place in burning coal he accomplishes the same end by chemical means by what he calls the wet process. While a steam engine utilizes about 12 per cent. of the theoretical energy and a gas engine 20 per cent., Dr. Borchers claims that his new process gives no less than 38 per cent.
The first puzzle in this article starts not with the scientific claims, but with the location of Dr. Borchers. Driesburg, Germany isn’t on any of the maps I have access to. A couple of geneology-board messages hint that Driesburg may have later become Duisburg, but Duisburg’s very nice-looking tourist website points out that a student of Gerhard [Kremer] Mercator drew up a plan for Duisburg in 1566. Or perhaps the family-tree builders think that Driesburg was a mis-hearing of Duisburg. I’m not so sure about that. I don’t think German has a ie/ui homophone, but I’m drawing on limited experience.
What are the other options? Well, there may have been a Dreisburg that just stopped existing, and it’s history was erased (the alternate universe theory); Driesburg was subsumed by some other town (perhaps even Duisburg); or they got everything wrong and put Driebergen, The Netherlands closer to Germany than it really is. Or maybe it’s a misspelt Diersburg, which is near Strasbourg. I’m open to suggestions.
I see now why the geneology websites are so popular. Once you’ve found out that Town X listed on your great-grandfather’s entry papers is really Town Y, others don’t have to struggle with the same question. Of course, I just struggled with it and decided not to trust the geneology site…
All that and I haven’t even started on the electro-chemistry part of the article. I have no idea how to evaluate the efficiency claims, since I’ve divested myself of all college-chemistry-related information. Dr. Borchers could be talking about the 19th century equivalent to cold fusion for all I know.
In any case, alternative sources of electrical energy are still being sought and promoted. Which alternative you choose depends on your desired objective: highest efficiency, lowest cost, low environmental impact, &c.
And while not really a part of this article, I couldn’t resist sharing this picture.