of obtaining those desirable ends-1st, the removal of the silt and, 2d, deeper water. Projects for clearing out the Mississippi in place of building retaining banks, or levees, are already attracting attention, and all appliances for raising silt from port and river bottoms thus deserve attention. Among these are two new forms of pneumatic excavators. One of these employs an iron pipe 12.20 meters (40 ft.) long, and 76.2 centimeters (30 in.) in diameter, suspended vertically from a derrick on a steambarge. The top of the pipe is closed air-tight and the bottom is left open. A steam-pipe takes steam from the barge to the top of this pipe, and beside it is a small water-pipe and an air-lock, controlled from the barge. In using the excavator the pipe is lowered into the water till it touches bottom, where its weight causes it to sink in the silt. The air inside is locked in as the pipe descends, and the moment it comes to rest steam is turned on, at once drives the air out through the air-lock. This done, a water jet is opened and the steam contained in the pipe is condensed at once, forming a vacuum into which the silt and water below instantly rise, partly filling the pipe. The pipe is then raised with its load of silt and water to the surface and may be discharged into scows. This excavation is at present employed in raising auriferous gravels for mining purposes. The other form of dredges employs four large iron tanks arranged in pairs on the deck of a steam-barge. These cylinders are air-tight and are connected in pairs at the top with a large pipe that goes overboard, and by means of flexible hose reaches the bottom of the river, fill or dock that is to be excavated. At the bottom, the hose ends in a semicircular nose that may be guided over the surface of the silt as desired. Other pipes connect the tanks with air-pumps, and suitable discharge-doors are placed below each tank. The work is performed continuously in this way: the air-pumps exhaust one of the pairs of tanks, and as soon as a vacuum is obtained the suction-pipe is opened and the loose silt near the pipe is drawn into the pipe and thus into the tanks. As soon as this process begins, the pumps begin to exhaust the second pair of tanks, and by the time the first are filled and discharged they are ready for a load. To facilitate the work a chain may be employed to guide the nose of the suction-pipe, and to loosen up the silt by means of a jet of water from a hose, or the bottom may be stirred up by explosions, and the hose may be guided by ropes from the barge. Novel Method of Book-binding. A NEW process in book-binding is announced that offers a radical departure from the methods usually employed. The sheets of the book are first carefully trimmed at the front and back to secure straight sides, and then the back is cut, reducing the book to single sheets. Vertical lines at equal distances and a diagonal line from corner to corner are drawn on the back to serve as guides. A thin coat of glue is given to the back, and then the binder sorts the leaves into two piles, taking up ten or more sheets at a time and placing them in alternate piles. Each pile is then given four saw-cuts at the vertical marks, two to the right and two to the left in a diagonal direction and at an angle of 45° and a few millimeters deep. The two piles are then laid together in their proper order. The diagonal mark on the back here serves to show if all the heaps of leaves are in their proper order, and it may be seen that, if they are in the right place, the saw-cuts in the sheets will cross each other and leave a hole where they intersect through the entire pile of sheets. Strips of cloth are then pasted to the edge of the first and last pages, and by the aid of a needle the binding-cord is passed through the holes and knotted at the ends and the binding is finished. The fly-leaves and covers may afterward be added in the usual manner. The Electric Candle. THE electric candle, already described in this department, has been reduced to still greater simplicity, and continues to maintain its valuable properties in electrical lighting. The two carbon rods, placed side by side, are now separated by a thin strip of kaolin, and by employing an alternating, in place of a direct, current, the difficulty attending the different rates at which the rods burn is avoided, and they may be made of the same size, and may be burned at either end of the candle. In use, the candles are placed in opal glass dishes and are hung high overhead in the shops or railway stations to be lighted. The candle is designed to burn just below the rim of the dish, so that the direct glare is softened, while the full light shines upon the wall and ceiling, and is thus reflected and diffused, so that the intense shadows that accompany this light may be softened. Six or more candles have been used on one circuit where a "Gramme" or "Alliance" machine has been used, and each light is reported to have a photometric value of about 1,600 common candles. Incised Designs on Felted Fabrics. ALKALINE solutions of caustic soda or potash have been recently employed to cut or eat away parts of the surface of felted woolen fabrics for the purpose of ornamentation. The solutions, mixed with dissolved Irish moss so as to form a thin paste, are laid on the fabrics by means of stencils or engraved rolls, and the fabrics are then dried leaving the solutions to set. The goods are then steamed under a light steam pressure, till the softened paste dissolves away the fabric to the desired depth. The design being thus developed on the fabrics they are thoroughly washed to remove the caustic paste, when the design appears incised on the surface, and the goods may be dyed or otherwise treated as seems desirable. For cotton felts a dissolving solution formed by saturating a strong solution of ammonia with oxide of copper and mixed with a stiffening or paste of glue is used. The figures thus incised in the fabrics are reported to be neat, clear and durable. Effect of Wrapping-Papers on Dyes. IT has been found that woolen fabrics dyed in aniline colors, particularly magenta, have faded or changed color when wrapped in white paper. Investigation has shown that white paper prepared from rags, straw or other materials that have been bleached with chlorine, retains a portion of the chlorine for some time after it is made. Aniline colors are susceptible to the influence of chlorine, and change their shade when in contact with it, and even the exceedingly small quantity of chlorine in a sheet of wrapping paper is reported to be sufficient to change the shade of dyed fabrics so that the colors are disfigured and spoiled. To avoid this difficulty it is recommended to use blue wrapping papers for such goods, as these papers are colored with ultramarine, which tends to neutralize the effects of the chlorine. New and Cheap Antiseptic. BISULPHIDE of carbon has been recently reported as possessing remarkable antiseptic and preservative qualities, but the offensive smell and inflammable character of this substance make it both dangerous and troublesome. Zöller reports an improved treatment of bisulphide of carbon by mixing it with an alcoholic solution of caustic potash, with which it combines to form xanthogenate of potassium. This salt adds no taste or smell to substances with which it is mixed, and has all the antiseptic qualities of the bisulphide of carbon. A long series of experiments reported by Zöller places this salt among the best preservative agents known, and its cheapness will undoubtedly soon cause its general introduction. In medicine, the xanthogenate of potassium is reported useful as an antiseptic, but if any bad effects are feared from the potassium, the xanthogenate of sodium may be used instead. Memoranda. POWDER paper as a substitute for gunpowder is announced. It is made by impregnating paper with a mixture of potassic chlorate, nitrate, prussiate and chromate, powdered wood charcoal, and a little starch. The dried paper is rolled into cylinders the shape of a cartridge, and, in use, is said to give f more power than an equal weight of powder, with less smoke, and with no greasy residue left in the gun after firing. It can only be fired by direct contact with fire. In coal-cutting machinery, the usual vibrating bar armed with teeth, after the manner of a common field-mower, has given place to a long, horizontal, round bar, covered with fixed steel teeth. This is caused to rotate rapidly, and, at the same time, it is pushed forward laterally by suitable feed-motion machinery. By this arrangement, the machine cuts out a smooth horizontal cavity about 10.2 centimeters (4 inches) high, and 152.5 centimeters (5 feet) long, when the bar is withdrawn, and the miner easily breaks down the coal. The machine is designed to be used with compressed air as a motive power. changed in the English fashion, while the driver and the passengers, like Englishmen, get down to take a glass of English ale; the stage is whirled up to the tavern in regular English style, and, indeed, there is scarcely any difference between one of these New York coaches and an English stage. Now, to a truly American mind, there is something distasteful in all this. If stage-coaches are to be run for the amusement and diversion of our people, why not have some of them based on an American model? It may be well enough to give the people of our large cities an idea of how staging is, or was, carried on in England; but would it not be as well to show them how it is conducted in the far West, where there is a system of coaching which is distinctively American? It would not be difficult, in the vicinity of New York, to make arrangements for running a line of stage-coaches strictly on the American plan. Any of the partly opened streets in the upper portion of the island would do for a starting-place, and a rough bridge, in imitation of those in use in the unsettled portion of the South-west, might be thrown over Spuyten Duyvil creek. The route could then be laid out along some of the least frequented country roads, and some of the low-lying places might be filled in with corduroy. Then one of our Western stage-coaches, with six mules at full gallop, and a driver who was accustomed to guide them with the lines in his teeth and a rifle in his hands, would tear along the road, with all the clatter and bang and wild excitement that you could get on a road down near the Mexican border. The mules would be of the kind that no driver could stop between stations, and if he could keep them in the road it would be all that would be expected of him. At certain points there would be armed men, ambushed by the road-side, whose duty it would be to fire at the stage as it passed, and as each of the passengers would be required to carry a rifle, very pretty sport could be had by peppering the bushes as the stage dashed along. At other points, the stage would be stopped, and each passenger carefully robbed by highwaymen. This part of the exercises might be made very effective. The valuables taken could be returned on application to the stage office, or they could be kept as perquisites by the obliging attendants. Sometimes the services of Indians or Mexicans might be obtained, and an attack on the stage by a small party of either of these would give variety to the proceedings. Refreshments, such as are found at the stations on the prairie roads, would be furnished at the stopping-places, and many persons be thus afforded opportunities, which they could not otherwise obtain, of eating the crust off an immense lump of dough, hastily baked over a hot fire, and put on again after the departure of each coach, to be recrusted for the next load of passengers. Some pork WHEN THE BAND BEGINS TO PLAY. and beans, and hot fried cakes, could also be served, if thought necessary. Miners would be hired to play cards in the coaches and all the cards, knives, and revolvers necessary could be furnished by the company. By careful attention to these and other details, a line of coaches might be established, which should represent, with accuracy and fidelity, some of the characteristic methods of travel in our own country. And it is scarcely necessary to say that this would be a great educational boon to people like the citizens of New York, who will soon begin to believe that there are no stage-coaches excepting those modeled and run upon the English plan. Sleep. ALFRED FORINAND. THE weary portals of the sight we close; And find the same old earth, the same blue skies ANDREW B. SAXTON. Mr. Gently, having heard that there is a mad dog on the premises, goes out with the intention of dispatching him, but is suddenly petrified by the recollection of having recently been chosen to honorary membership in the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. And I have learned what true love means before it was too late. My mother she is dead and my father's sick and Though Martin he is peor and the years may lame, An' if I marry Jaffrey there's nay a' one can blame; For hardship and hunger come creeping in the door, An' if I marry Jaffrey they never will come more. I canno' say yes, an' I will no' say nay! I worship dusky velvets, the sheen of jewels rare; never come |