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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



ing the length of the pace ; a difference in 

 height of three and a half inches, with a 

 pace of thirty inches, may be reduced to 

 about an inch and a half if the pace is 

 shortened to twenty inches. If the stretcher- 

 poles are round and too slender, the jolt is 

 aggravated by their bending, sometimes by 

 as much as two inches. A stretcher with 

 square-cut poles, three square inches in sec- 

 tion, weighed twenty pounds, and was found 

 remarkably free from vertical oscillation, 

 and easier to carry than one with lighter 

 poles. The sacking of the stretcher should 

 be six feet long. Legs should be attached 

 to the frame, so that the couch shall be 

 lifted above the ground when at rest. Am- 

 bulances should be made to receive the 

 stretcher, and not compel a transfer. With 

 a truck of five feet two inches, they may be 

 contrived so as to admit two field-stretchers 

 one foot eleven inches wide, and leave space 

 for a partition an inch thick, to prevent the 

 occupants from rolling. The motion of am- 

 bulances, at least in injurious directions, 

 should be reduced as much as possible. 

 Springs inside of the wagon, in addition to 

 the ordinary springs, for the stretchers to 

 rest upon, have been tried, but they have 

 been found to produce discords in motion 

 through the inequality in the rhythm of their 

 vibrations, causing pain and injury to the 

 patient. The wounded man is " most ad- 

 vantageously situated when he is subjected 

 to the motion of the body of the wagon 

 alone, at a point as near the floor as can be 

 managed, and the ease of this motion can 

 only be adequately provided for by careful 

 adaptation of the springs to the weight they 

 have to carry." 



The Electric Light and Health.—" The 



Bearing of Electric Lighting on Health" 

 was the subject of an essay by Mr. R. E. 

 Crompton and a conference at the recent 

 Health Exhibition. Mr. Crompton held that 

 the conditions of health were not so good in 

 any kind of artificial light as in daylight. 

 Even the electric light, diffused, is deficient 

 in intensity and inferior to daylight. All 

 artificial lights except the electric contami- 

 nate the air. At the twelve-candle stand- 

 ard, coal-gas vitiates 348, parafiine-oil 484, 

 composite candles about 650, and tallow- 

 candles 933 cubic feet of air per hour, but 



the electric light none. The amount of 

 heat produced in the same time by the same 

 lights is represented respectively by the num- 

 bers 279, 362, 383, 505, and 14. The criti- 

 cism of the glare of the electric light is not 

 just; we are not supposed to look at it. The 

 real test is the intensity of the difi'used light. 

 The steadiness of the incandescent electric 

 light gives it a great advantage over all 

 others, and the arc-lights are also being 

 made more steady. The eye-sight of the 

 men in the British General Post-Oifice has 

 been greatly improved since the electric 

 lights were introduced. Other advantages 

 of the electric light are the greater pleasure 

 it gives, its greater convenience, and its ab- 

 solute safety. 



How state Moflopoly of Railroads 

 works. — An interesting view of the opera- 

 tion of the state monopoly of railroads in 

 India was given a short time ago by Mr. J. 

 M. Maclean before the British Society of 

 Arts. Of 12,655 miles of railroad which 

 were open in India on the 31st of March, 

 1883, 6,037 miles had been built by the 

 Government, and 7,618 miles by companies 

 working with the assistance or under the 

 guai-antee of the Government. Thus, the 

 whole railway system of the country is in a 

 very large measure controlled by the state. 

 In the case of the guaranteed lines, the 

 Government has contracted to pay the 

 shareholders an annual interest of five per 

 cent, paying two and a half per cent every 

 six months. This arrangement is so car- 

 ried out in practice as to work very unevenly 

 as between the Government and the share- 

 holders. If the net earnings of any line 

 fall below the stipulated rate in a particular 

 half-year, the Government has to make 

 good the deficit, while, if the earnings are in 

 excess, the surplus is divided between the 

 Government and the shareholders. Now, 

 in Western India, the profits of the rail- 

 roads all come in one half of the year ; and 

 while in this half the roads may earn a sur- 

 plus of profits amounting to hundreds of 

 thousands of pounds, of which the Govern- 

 ment gets a half, in the other half year the 

 earnings may not be enough to pay the 

 guaranteed interest, and then the Govern- 

 ment has to bear the whole burden of the 

 loss. During 1882-83, the Government act- 



