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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cent about halfway to the Eiger Glacier sta- 

 tion, and to twenty-five per cent, the steepest, 

 after passing that station. There are about 85 

 yards in tunnel on the section now opened, 

 but beyond the Eiger Glacier the road will 

 not touch the surface except at the stations. 

 About 250 yards of the long tunnel have 

 been excavated so far. The stations be- 

 yond Eiger Wand will be built within the 

 rock, and will be furnished with restaurants 

 and beds. At the Eiger Wand and Eismeer 

 stations passengers will contemplate the view 

 through windows or balconies from the in- 

 side ; but at the Jungfraujoch station tour- 

 ists will be able to go out and take sledges 

 for the great Aletsch Glacier. The cars will 

 accommodate forty passengers each, and the 

 company expects to complete the railroad by 

 1904. 



Alexander A. Lawes, civil engineer, of 

 Sydney, Australia, suggests a plan of me- 

 chanical flight on beating wings as present 

 ing advantages that transcend all other 

 schemes. He believes that the amount of 

 power required to operate wings and the 

 difficulty in applying it are exaggerated be- 

 yond all measure. The wings or sustainers 

 of the bird in flight, he urges, are held in the 

 outstretched position without any exertion on 

 its part ; and many birds, like the albatross, 

 sustain themselves for days at a stretch. 

 " This constitutes its aerial support, and is 

 analogous to the support derived by other 

 animals from land and water." The sole 

 work done by the bird is propulsion and ele- 

 vation by the beating action of the wings. 

 Mr. Adams's machine, which he does not say 

 he has tried, is built in conformity to this 

 principle, and its sails are modeled as nearly 

 as possible in form and as to action with 

 those of the bird. The aid of an air cylin- 

 der is further called in, through which a 

 pressure is exerted balancing the wings. The 

 wings are moved by treadles, and the author's 

 picture of the aeronaut looks like a man rid- 

 ing an aerial bicycle. 



Carborundum, a substance highly extolled 

 by its manufacturers as an abrasive, is com- 

 posed of carbon and silicon in atomic pro- 

 portions — thirty parts by weight of carbon 

 and seventy of silicon. It is represented 

 as being next to the diamond in hardness 

 and as cutting emery and corundum with 



ease, but as not as tough as the diamond. 

 It is a little more than one and a fifth 

 times the weight of sand, is infusible at the 

 highest attainable heat, but is decomposed 

 in the electric arc, and is insoluble in any of 

 the ordinary solvents, water, oils, and acids, 

 even hydrofluoric acid having no effect upon 

 it. Pure carborundum is white. In the 

 commercial manufacture the crystals are pro- 

 duced in many colors and shades, partly as 

 the result of impurities and partly by surface 

 oxidation. The prevailing colors are green, 

 black, and blue. The color has no effect 

 upon the hardness. Crude carborundum, as 

 taken from the furnace, usually consists of 

 large masses or aggregations of crystals, 

 which are frequently very beautifully colored 

 and of adamantine luster. 



A peculiarity of Old English literary 

 usage is pointed out by Prof. Dr. L. Kell- 

 ner, of Vienna, as illustrated in a sentence 

 like " the mob is ignorant, and they are often 

 cruel." This is considered a bad solecism in 

 modern English, but in Old and Middle Eng- 

 lish constructions of exactly the same kind 

 are so often met with that it is impossible to 

 account for them as slips and mistakes. 

 They may be brought under several heads, 

 as, Number (the same collective noun used 

 as a singular and a plural) ; Case (the same 

 verb or adjective governing the genitive and 

 accusative, the genitive and dative, or the 

 dative and accusative) ; Pronoun (" thou " 

 and " ye " used in addressing the same per- 

 son) ; Tense (past and perfect, or past and 

 historical present used in the same breath) ; 

 Mood (indicative and subjunctive used in the 

 same clause). Finite verb and infinitive de- 

 pendent on the same verb ; simple and prep- 

 ositional infinitives dependent on the same 

 verb; infinitive and verbal noun used side by 

 side ; different prepositions dependent on the 

 same verb, like Caxton's " He was eaten by 

 bears and of lions " ; direct and indirect 

 speech alternating in the same clause. These 

 facts, which are met with as late as 1611 

 (Bible, authorized version), point to the 

 conclusion that what to us appears as a 

 grammatical inconsistency was once con- 

 sidered a welcome break in the monotony of 

 construction. 



Mr. Fischer Sigwart is quoted in the 

 Revue Scientifque as having studied the life 



