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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



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Zola's Anthropological Traits. — 



Mr. Arthur MacDonakl has published, 

 originally in the Open Court, a minute 

 anthropological study of the personality 

 of li,mile Zola. Passing all the physical 

 points noted, we select a few only of 

 the most peculiar mental traits men- 

 tioned by the author. Fear is spoken 

 of as Zola's principal emotion, connected 

 in him with the instinct of self-preser- 

 vation. He is not much afraid of the 

 bicycle, but shrinks from a ride through 

 a forest at night. He has no fear of 

 being buried alive, yet sometimes when 

 in a tunnel on a railroad train he has 

 been beset with the idea of the two ends 

 of the tunnel falling in and burying 

 him. Some morbid ideas have devel- 

 oped in him, but they do not cause him 

 pain when not satisfied. He lets them 

 run into their "manias," and is then con- 

 tented. The idea of doubt is one. He 

 is always in fear of not being able to 

 do his daily task, or of being incapable 

 of completing a book. He never re- 

 reads his novels, for fear of making 

 bad discoveries. He has an arithmetical 

 mania, and when in the street he counts 

 the gas jets, the number of doors, and 

 especially the number of hacks. In his 

 home he counts the steps of the stair- 

 cases, the different things on his bureau. 

 He must touch the same pieces of furni- 

 ture a certain number of times before 

 he goes to sleep. Some numbers have 

 a bad influence for him, and there are 

 good numbers. In the night he opens 

 his eyes seven times, to prove that he 

 is not going to die. He is regarded by 

 the author as a neuropath, or a man 

 whose nervous system is painful but 

 does not seem to affect the sound- 

 ness of his mind. " In brief, the quali- 

 ties of Zola are fineness and exactitude 

 of perception, clearness of conception, 

 power of attention, sureness in judg- 

 ment, sense of order, power of co-ordina- 

 tion, extraordinary tenacity of effort, 

 and, above all, a great practical utili- 

 tarian sense." 



The Simplon Tunnel. — The follow- 

 ing facts are taken from a brief account 

 of this great engineering feat in the En- 



gineering Magazine: There is at pres- 

 ent no direct rail connection between 

 western Switzerland and Italy, and to 

 reach Milan it has been necessary to go 

 around to Lucerne and so on through 

 by the St. Gothard route. The distance 

 by rail from Milan to Calais by the 

 Mont Cenis is 665 miles, and by the St. 

 Gothard 680 miles. The distance by 

 way of the Simplon Tunnel will be only 

 585 miles. The Jura-Simplon Railway 

 from Geneva around the lake and up the 

 Rhone Valley ascends to Bricg at an 

 altitude of about 2,300 feet, while on the 

 Italian side the railway from Milan 

 stops at Domodossola, at an altitude of 

 900 feet. Between the two, which are 

 41 miles apart and over an elevation of 

 6,590 feet, lies the famous Simplon Pass. 

 Connection is now made by diligence, 

 the trip occupying a whole day. The 

 plan of the new railway includes the 

 prolongation of the present line on the 

 Italian side to Iselle, at an altitude of 

 about 2,100 feet, where the Italian en- 

 trance to the tunnel was begun in Au- 

 gust, 1898. On the Swiss side the en- 

 trance is at Brieg, and the tunnel will 

 connect these two towns, being 12.26 

 miles long. This is nearly three miles 

 longer than the St. Gothard, but the 

 altitude is only 2,300 feet above the sea, 

 instead of 3,800 feet, as at the St. Go- 

 thard. The tunnel is to be straight lat- 

 erally, but higher in the middle than at 

 either end, the grade being 1 in 143 on 

 the Italian and 1 in 500 on the Swiss 

 side. The principal difference between 

 the Simplon Tunnel and those previous- 

 ly pierced through the Alps is that, in- 

 stead of one single tunnel, two separate 

 tunnels, fifty-five feet apart, are to be 

 constructed, connected by lateral pas- 

 sageways every 650 feet. At first but 

 one of these is to be completed to the 

 full dimensions, the other being carried 

 through at only about a quarter of the 

 ultimate cross-section, and not enlarged 

 and put into use until the traffic de- 

 mands it. Both tunnels are now being 

 bored by the use of the Brandt hydrau- 

 lic rotary drills, water being supplied at 

 a pressure of 70 to 100 atmospheres. 

 The borings are through gneiss, lime- 



