z8o 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The life of the locomotive, when well cared for, cannot be exactly 

 stated, but may be taken as not far from thirty years. Repairs 

 cost, annually, ten or fifteen per cent, of the first cost. While run- 

 ning each engine requires about four pints of oil and two tons of coal 

 for each one hundred miles. 



71. After their introduction, the growth of railroads and the use 

 of locomotives extended in the United States and in Europe with 

 great rapidity. 



The first railroad in the United States was built near Quincy, Mas- 

 sachusetts, in 1826. 



In 1850 there were about 700 miles in operation; in 1860 there 

 were over 30,000; and there are to-day about 76,000 miles of com- 

 pleted road in the United States, and the rate of increase had risen in 

 1873 to above 7,000 miles per year, as a maximum, and the consump- 

 tion of rails for renewal alone amounts to nearly a half-million tons 

 per year. 



-+*+- 



HEALTH-MATTERS IN JAPAN. 



Br EDWARD S. MORSE. 



THE problem which excites more interest than any other in the 

 larger cities of our country is that in regard to the best dis- 

 position of sewage. People have slowly come to realize that in 

 some w r ay a series of disorders arises from the presence of waste 

 matter in cities. So well ascertained is this fact that diseases which 

 are- attributed to the presence of filth are aptly called filth-diseases, 

 and it is well that they are at last branded by their right name. 

 One has only to consult the valuable reports of the State boards of 

 health for infomation on these matters. In these reports he will find 

 an overwhelming mass of evidence tracing typhoid fever, cholera 

 infantum, and other diseases, to the presence of filth, and to its 



