512 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



In 1870 the net tonnage amounted to 436,609 tons, pro- 

 ducing for the company a revenue of 5,048,944 francs ; in 

 1874 the tonnage reached 1,631,640 tons, producing a reve- 

 nue of 24,748,900 francs. 1 B, July 25, 231. 



THE CHANNEL TUNNEL. 



The recent meeting of the British Association gave an 

 opportunity for the discussion of this gigantic project, and 

 the current of opinion was for the most part favorable to its 

 feasibility, so far as the geological and engineering problems 

 involved therein are concerned. With regard to the actual 

 undertaking of the work, it appears to be admitted on all 

 hands, in view of its enormous cost, and consequently its 

 doubtful character as a financial venture, that it must be 

 made a national work, and executed under the combined 

 auspices of the English and French governments. The legis- 

 lation looking to this mutual division of responsibility has 

 been conceded by both governments involved in the under- 

 taking, and the reports of the joint commission of English 

 and French government officers now engaged in studying 

 the problem will, in all probability, decide the question as 

 to whether the Channel Tunnel is to be a reality. Sir John 

 Hawkshaw, the president of the British Association, and one 

 of the government engineers of the project, in the discussion 

 before that learned body gave the scheme his decided ap- 

 proval. 



ELECTRICITY FOB THE HEAD-LIGHT OF LOCOMOTIVES. 



A series of experiments has lately been made by the Rus- 

 sian government with reference to the use of electricity for 

 the head-light of locomotives, a battery of forty-eight ele- 

 ments making every thing distinct on the railway track to 

 a distance of over 1300 feet. 6 C, October 29, 1874, 438. 



