1887. | NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 69 
of ten horse power placed beneath the floor. The electricity is 
generated by a fixed Crossley gas engine of twelve horse power, 
which drives a Siemens dynamo, the current from which is 
conducted to the rails by cables under the road. There are two 
steep gradients (1 in 28, and 1 in 14) but the line is generally 
level, running along the beach. ‘The expense of operating, after 
four years’ experience, is said to be far less than that of steam or 
horse power. Over one million of passengers have been trans- 
ported without the slightest injury. A similarly constructed 
railway exists at Ryde, I. W. 
Crossing the channel to Jersey, the speaker was struck chiefly 
by the tides, which rise forty feet, and by the cabbages, which 
grow on stalks eight to twelve feet high. He spoke of the de- 
creasing population, of the picturesque rocky headlands on the 
north coast, of the geological features, and of the flora and 
fauna of the island. Passing to France, he proceeded through 
Brittany to Bordeaux. At Rennes he observed in the handsome 
park “ Le Thabor,” near the Archepiscopal Palace, a long, wide, 
and deep excavation, called by the people ‘‘/’Hnfer;” inquiry 
established the fact that the excavation had been made by 
priests of the adjoining monastery, condemned to do penance 
by digging the hole and throwing up the earth. ‘The banks are 
now surmounted by large and old trees. A case of the earth 
being modified by man, and not a geological phenomenon. 
At Bordeaux, he noticed on the occasion of the National 
Féte, July 14th, a great consumption, in the evening, of barium 
and strontium nitrates. On the railway between Bordeaux Dr. 
Bolton was mistaken by French officials for a German spy, and 
was closely interrogated by a gendarme, but on showing his 
passport was suffered to proceed. 
He alluded to the resemblance between Vichy and Saratoga, 
to the new monument to Ampére at Lyons, of which he was a 
native (born January 22d, 1775), and to some enormous hail- 
stones that fell one hot afternoon in Geneva. ‘This storm was 
followed next day by an atmosphere so pure that Mt. Blanc was 
distinctly and uninterruptedly seen from before sunrise until 
after sunset. At Montreux he examined the works of the 
chemin-de-fer funiculaire ascending to Glion. The line, 
which has an inclination of 57°, is constructed with a central 
cogged rail, into which cogged wheels on each car are adjusted. 
Two cars are so connected by cable that when one is at the top 
of the incline the other is at the bottom, and the motive power 
is the weight of water introduced into a reservoir beneath the 
upper car; the water flows into the reservoir from a stream 
above; as soon as enough enters to overcome resistance, the car 
moves slowly downward, shutting off the water automatically, 
