In submarine foundation work, Herr F. Neukirch, a Bremen engineer, has successfully tried the novel plan of solidifying sand under water by introducing powdered cement by a compressed air blast. Iron tubes, somewhat perforated and pointed at the end, are sunk into the sand to the desired depth of a foot or less. The air is then turned on, and by it the cement is ma: le to penetrate a pure sand bottom 4 inches within 30 seconds. The blast thoroughly mixes the cement with the sand as the tube is raised, and thus solidifies the bottom. The mixture remains like concrete for several weeks.
'A Russian physician has found that microbes are always present in great numbers in the fasting stomach of a healthy person, During the earlier part of digestion they are algo quite numerous. The gastric juice, however, tends to destroy the microbes though no effect on digestion appears to be exerted by them.
An Indian technical journal states that the Rangoon oil refinery has been successful in niaking a superior and cheap solid fuel from petroleum by dissolving 3 per cent. of common soap in the heated oil. The slowly, with very little smoke and great product is not easy to ignite, and burns
eat.
Prof. F. A. Forel reports that 55 glaciers of the Alps—including all those of Mont Blancand large proportion in the Bernese and Valois Alps are increasing in size, two of the first renk having commenced a period of gain in 1889, With the exception of the Ortler group, all glaciers of the Austrian and Grison Alps are still receding or are stationary.
The size of an adult Englishman's head is said to average No. 7. The heads of Portuguese average from 6% to7; those of Spaniards are a little larger; and those of nese exceed the English average. Ger-wye round heads, Malays small ones 'The most extensive' electric railway the world is operated by the West End Street Railway Company, of Boston, whose third annual report furnishes these interest ing figures: Total miles of track operated by the company, 256.78 miles; completely equipped with electric overhead system, 68-40 miles; partially 80 equipped, 27.60 box cars owned, 838, of which 164 are electric; open cars, 856, including 173 electric; total miles run during the year, 17,665,360, of which the electric mileage was '3,311,743; total passengers carried, 114,853,081. An increase of 44.1 per cent in travel has followed immediately on the lines where electric power has replaced horse:
Man investigation ofthe lightning strokes during period of 26 years, Here Kastner has found that the number of annual cases has increased about 129 per cent. reaching 1,145 in 1889. He traces four thunderstorm paths. The starting points of all are in the hills, and in their course the woodless areas and flat country, river valleys and low meadows about lakes, are especially liable to be uck by lightning, while the wooded and hilly districts usually escape. Lightning strokes are most frequent in the hottest months (June and especially July), and during or just after the hottest hours of the day.
Surgical science has not only pared down over-long noses, but has succeeded in remedying disagreeable prominence of the ears, In a recent case an oval piece of akin was removed from the back of the ear, a vertical notch cut in the cartilage, and the wound closed by a few stitches. The ear was held closer to the head and no visible scar was left, France is said to be' the only country which has made careful experiments with carrier pigeons on war-vessels. It now has a pigeon service connecting the fest and the shore, while Germany, Austria, Russia, Italy, Spain and Portugal each bassa military pigeon service.
Some 14,000 horses are annually eaten in Paris, and half as many each in Berlin and Vienna.
Electricity has met with great favour in Switzerland. According to statistics lately published by Dr. A. Denzler, there were in that country, at the close of 1889, 351 electric light installations, with 408 dynamos, supplying 61,155 incandescent lamps and 845 are lamps. Power was obtained from hydraulic motors at 177 of the stations, from steam engines at 138, from gas en ines at 32, and from electric motors at 4. In connection with the direct lighting, 41 batteries of accumulators were used. There were 24 installations for the transmission of power, employing 75 dynamos and motors, and conveying from 2 to 280 horse power to distances varying from of a mile to 6 miles. These installations include those for operating an electric tramway at Vevey-Moutreux and an electrically-driven cable railway up the Burgenstock. There were also some 45 small dynamos in use for electrochemical, galvanising poses, and laboratory pur-Asa diary burial than cremation, the Rev. Chas, R. Treat proposes entombing the dried bodies of the dead. By a suitable arrangement of buildings, he would pass dry air through the tomb to absorb all moisture and morbific matter, which it would convey toa furnace in a separate structure. This process would preserve, the form of the cly, while cremating all that is subject to decay.
The new underground electric railway of London is 3} miles in long ti and passes, at a depth of about 60 feet below the surface, through two circular iron tunnels 10 feet in diameter. It is equipped with fourteen 10-ton electric locomotives, each canable of developing 100 horse power, and of running 25 miles per hour. A train has 3 passenger carriages, each senting 34 persons.
Irregularities in' the running of a large cluck in the dock-yard at Chatham, Eng., ye been traced to vibrationa from the incessant hammering on the iron vessels being built. So great was the effect that it became necessary to remove the clock to another part of the yard.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.