. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. Geology. ULTIMATE ARTiriCIALIZATION OF WATER 219 power development, irrigation, drainage, and other purposes in such man- ner that each will form a part of an interdependent nation-wide system; (6) to "utilize the natural corrasive and transportative power of streams for their own improvement; and (?) to so exfend navigation and water transportation as to meet the nu;ltiplying needs of increasing population. PRODVCTIOJsl The final stage of water utilization is prospective rather than present; it pertains to hydrogeny—the actual production o
. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. Geology. ULTIMATE ARTiriCIALIZATION OF WATER 219 power development, irrigation, drainage, and other purposes in such man- ner that each will form a part of an interdependent nation-wide system; (6) to "utilize the natural corrasive and transportative power of streams for their own improvement; and (?) to so exfend navigation and water transportation as to meet the nu;ltiplying needs of increasing population. PRODVCTIOJsl The final stage of water utilization is prospective rather than present; it pertains to hydrogeny—the actual production of water through organic decomposition of compound substances: The production of water at vpill promises to mark one of the two greatest steps in the human aspect of planetary development; the earlier step was the conquest of fire (un- doubtedly beginning with mere associative use, passing to diversion, and ending with nearly complete creative control), which separated even the lowest man from the liighest beasts and permitted progressive utilization of natural chemical reactions in which relatively complex compounds Avere reduced to relatively simple form in such manner as to yield useful energy with useless b3'products; the later and largely prospective step is the subjugation of water (already under way through associative use, now passing to diversion, and destined to advance toward complete and perhaps creative control), which will undoubtedly permit eventual utiliza- tion of natural chemical reactions in which relatively complex compounds are reduced to simpler form in siich manner as to yield a useful byproduct with immaterial expenditure of energy. The possibilities are vast, but thus far too vague to be pursued—at any rate beyond such prophetic indi- cations as (1) Burbank's inventions of novel or improved cacti capable of collecting and storing effective quantities of HgO available for the susten- tation of stock in arid regions, and (2) McDougal's novel applicatio
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