86 Chronicles of Sctence. [Jan., 
roofing, and the pipe track is finished. The tunnel through the Old 
Red Sandstone seam above Allar’s Mill was completed early in 
November, and the distributing reservoir at the top of Castlegate 
is being proceeded with. The only drawback now is the Castle 
Hill tunnel, which has all along been a source of great anxiety to 
the contractors. 
A company is to be shortly started for giving an improved water 
supply to Lisbon. It is proposed to brmg to Lisbon the waters of 
the river Alviella by a canal 65 miles long. By this means it is 
calculated that a supply of 75 gallons a head per day will be assured 
to the population, which at presents amounts to 220,000 souls. 
It is stated that contracts have already been let for the materials 
for the new bridge over the Niagara river. Its dimensions will be 
as follows:—height of towers 105 feet, width of span 1,250 feet, 
height above the water 175 feet, width of roadway 10 feet. A 
lattice-girder bridge has recently been erected across the Whitadder, 
about four miles from Berwick, the wooden one having been con- 
demned ; the estimated cost was upwards of 3,530/. A new iron 
bridge is also to be erected over the Clyde in room of the Hutcheson- 
town stone bridge. 
The Shipbuilding Trade on the Clyde has recovered in a 
wonderful degree, during the past quarter, from its recent de- 
ression. Several merchant vessels have been launched. Messrs. 
Hsbatt Napier and Co. have commenced the construction of two 
iron-plated ships for the British Government; they have also in 
course of construction one iron ram, with a cupola for carrymg two 
heavy guns, and a monitor for the Danish Government. A gunboat 
for the British Government has also been commenced at the yard 
of Messrs. Randolph, Elder, and Co. Messrs. Palmer and Co., of 
Jarrow, have undertaken the construction of an armour-plated 
monitor for the English Government; this vessel will be fitted 
with engines of 250 horse-power, which will also be supphed by 
the same firm. 
The great event of the quarter with reference to dock con- 
struction has certainly been the opening of one of the Barrow-in- 
Furness Docks on 19th September. ‘The site of the town of 
Barrow is separated by a channel from a small island, called Old 
Barrow Island, which forms the extreme point of the coast against 
the Walney channel, at its narrowest part, opposite the church on 
the Isle of Walney. This channel affords a dock accommodation of 
105 acres in area, and it has been made use of for the construction 
of the new docks made by the Furness Railway Company. The 
first of these, called Devonshire Dock, with an area of thirty acres, 
and a stone quay of 2,500 feet in length, is the only one yet com- 
pleted ; while the second basin, Buccleuch Dock, has only been 
finished as far as the stone quay on one side is concerned. These 
