虽然现在发明了许多近代化的机械,但是到地底下去採煤仍然是一件费事的工作,此外把煤送到城市里、电站里和工厂里去,也要花费很大的运输力量。能不能不必把煤从地底下採出来,而仅把储藏在煤里的能量拿出来供人们使用呢? 早在六十年前,俄罗斯伟大的化学家,科学的预见者门德列也夫就曾这样说过: “也许,在煤还没有被开採以前的时候,就可以这样了,在地下,煤能够变成熟的气体,可以用管子输送到很远的地方。” Although many modern machines were invented nowadays, it is still a cumbersome work to go underground and to carry coal to cities, power plants and factories, it also costs a lot to transport. Can not it be necessary to take coal out of the ground, but only to put the energy stored in the coal for people to use it? As early as sixty years ago, Russia’s great chemist, science forecaster Mendeleev on Once said: “Perhaps, perhaps, before the coal has been mined, this is the case, underground, the coal can become mature gas, can be transported by pipe to a long distance.”