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NATUBAL GAS 384 NATURAL SELECTION NATURAL GAS, carburetted hydro- gen, issuing from the earth in springs or wells. The fire damp of coal mines is practically the same gas, which was pro- duced during the formation of the coal from vegetable matter and is set free by the miner's pick. Natural gas is gener- ally found in connection with pools of petroleum. Though natural gas has long been known and is found in abundance at Baku, on the Caspian Sea, its practical development belongs to the industrial history of the United States. Natural gas is found in nearly all sections of the United States. The most important pro- ducing States are West Virginia, Okla- homa, Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, Louisiana, Kansas, Texas, and New York. The first extensive use of this gas was at Fairview, Pa. In 1775 it was first ap- plied to iron smelting; and in 1886 it was brought to Pittsburgh, Pa., from a reser- voir 19 miles distant and introduced as a substitute for all other kinds of fuel, for domestic and economical purposes. The total number of gas wells in the United States at the close of 1917 was 39,277, a gain of 2,000 wells over the previous year. The approximate value of natural gas produced in the United States in 1917 was as follows: California, $6,816,524; Kansas, $5,201,436; New York, $2,499,- 303; Ohio, $18,434,814; Pennsylvania, $28,716,492; Texas, $3,192,625; West Virginia, $59,389,161; Louisiana, $3,262,- 987; Oklahoma, $13,984,656. Totalj $142,- 089,334. This amount does not include value of gas produced in Canada and consumed in the United States. The production in 1919 was about 638,600,000 cubic feet. NATUBAL HISTORY, in the widest sense, and as used by the ancients, that branch of knowledge which included all natural science, and had the Cosmos for its subject. In more recent times its range was limited to zoology; now again, its bounds are extended, and it may be defined as the science which deals with the earth's crust and its productions. Thus it includes geology, mineralogy, pa- laeobotany, and palaeontology, treating re- spectively of the inorganic world and or- ganic remains of past ages. To these succeed biology, or the science of. life, in its widest science (see Biology). Pop- ularly, natural history is synonymous with Zoology (g. v.), and some writers of authority use it in that sense. NATUBALISM, in theology, the name given to all forms of belief or speculation which deny or ignore the doctrine of a personal God as the author and governor of the universe. It is opposed to Theism. NA^TUBALIZATION, in law, the act of placing an alien in the position, or in- vesting him with the rights and privi- leges of a natural-born subject. The naturalization laws of the United States are wholly the fabric of the Federal Gov- ernment, while the privileges attendant, so far as regards suffrage, etc., are left to the discretion and gift of the various State legislatures. For a foreigner to become a citizen of the United States it is necessary for him, first, to declare his bona fide intention to become a citizen, and the declaration must be made at least two years before "'final papers" are taken out. It must be made before a United States Circuit or District Court, or (in a Territory) before the Supreme Court or District Court, or (in a State) before a court having a common law jurisdiction and a clerk and seal. At the time of admission to citizenship, the ap- plicant must have been, at least five years previously, a resident of the United States, and must produce evidence that he is a fit subject on whom to confer the rights of citizenship, and must, further, renounce allegiance to all foreign princes and governments — particularly to the one to which he was last subject. After admission he is, in all respects, a citizen of the United States and entitled, in every regard, to the same protection that the native-born citizen is. In the case of children of a foreigner, who, at the time of their father's naturalization, were not of legal age, the act of the father is considered as conferring citi- zenship on them, and furtKer process is unnecessary. Chinamen cannot be nat- uralized. The children of citizens of the United States, if born abroad, are Amer- ican citizens, and entitled to protection as such. In some of the States a for- eigner who has declared his intention to become a citizen is permitted to vote, while in others none but full-fledged citi- zens are admitted to that privilege. By a law of 1913 all matters relating to nat^ uralization were in the hands of the Bureau of Naturalization of the Depart- ment of Labor. By a law passed by Con- gress in 1919 honorably discharged sol- diers and sailors who served in the World War are exempted from dec- laration of intention, fees, and proof of five years' residence. In biology, the introduction of plants through human agency into new lands or regions. NATURAL SELECTION, a phrase frequently employed in connection with Darwin's theory of the origin of species, to indicate the process in nature by which plants and animals best fitted for