ccxlii GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



we are indebted to our admirable contemporary, the Rail- 

 road Gazette.* This accident table is the only one of the 

 kind, published at home, for the whole country, and contains, 

 probably, most of the accidents resulting in personal in- 

 jury. For the year ending with December, the record is 

 as follows : 



No. of 



Accidents. Killed. Injured. 



January, 1875 131 10 96 



February, " 211 11 186 



March,' " 122 17 73 



April, " 60 9 67 



May, " 54 6 43 



June, " 61 23 67 



July, " 73 33 50 



August, " 1H 27 110 



September," 116 50 182 



October, " 88 12 74 



November, " 87 24 97 



December, " 84 12 62 



Totals , 1201 234 1107 



Engineering. The most important item in the province of 

 Engineering is the inauguration of the difficult work of im- 

 proving the channel of the Mississippi River at its mouth, so. 

 as to render the same a permanent thoroughfare to the Gulf 

 of Mexico, by which the river ports will be opened to direct 

 ocean traffic for vessels of the deepest draft. After much 

 discussion of the rival merits of plans involving the build- 

 ing of canals (see last year's Annual Record), the subject was 

 finally settled by an appropriation, at the last session of Con- 

 gress, for the construction of a system of jetties and auxil- 

 iary works at the South Pass of the river. The plans adopted 

 are those of Captain J. B. Eads, the constructer of the great 

 steel bridge at St. Louis, under whose superintendence the 

 work has been commenced, and considerable progress already 

 made. By the nature of the contract, the work has been 

 undertaken at the sole risk of Captain Eads and his associ- 

 ates, inasmuch as no payments are to be made by the gov- 

 ernment until certain stipulated depths of water have been 

 secured and maintained. The act of Congress provides that 



* For much of what is of value in the foregoing summary of railroad 

 news we are under obligations to the courtesy of Mr. S. Wright Dunning, 

 editor of the Railroad Gazette. Ed. 



