396 Chronicles of Science. [July, 
suspension-bridge has also been constructed over the same river, in 
Tennessee, connecting Nashville and Edgefield, to replace the one 
destroyed by the Confederate General Floyd when in possession of 
Fort Doneldson. A bridge is now in course of construction over 
the river Ohio, at Louisville, which is the longest iron bridge yet 
attempted in the United States. It will, when completed, carry 
across the Ohio a line connecting the Louisville and Nashville with 
the Jeffersonville and Indianopolis railroad, and form a connecting 
link between two immense railway systems—the northern and the 
southern, at present divided by the Ohio river. The Boston and 
Providence Railway Company are constructing a bridge from India 
Point over the Seekonk river, on a plan which embraces some new 
features, The whole length of the bridge is 876 feet, and the sup- 
ports in the river are iron cylinders filled with wooden piles and 
concrete. The building of an iron bridge over the Great Miami, 
on the Ohio and Mississippi Railway, is considered a rapid feat in 
railway engineering. The first train crossed on the 15th December 
last, just 120° days from the time the first pile was driven, and 9 
days and 4 hours from the time the last stone was put in place. 
Tunnels.—On the 1st of last November, the heading of the 
Hoosac tunnel had reached a total of 4,382 feet from the east 
opening, and 1,004 feet in the western shaft. On the whole, con- 
fidence is expressed in the future rapid progress of this work. 
T'elegraph.—The English telegraphic system is soon to be con- 
nected with that of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, by a cable now 
in course of construction, and which is to be laid under the North 
Sea. On Ist April, the Chancellor of the Exchequer brought in a 
Bill for giving to the Postmaster-General power to buy up, and 
stg telegraph lines in this country in connection with the Post- 
flice. 
The Indo-European Telegraph Company, for working a line of 
telegraph through Prussia, Russia, and Persia, has recently been 
successtully started ; and the Anglo-Mediterranean Telegraph Com- 
pany, which proposes to effect an independent communication between 
England and India by deep-sea cables through the Mediterranean 
and Red Seas and the Persian Gulf, has also been established, so 
there is now a prospect that before long England will possess two 
separate lines for telegraphic communication with India entirely 
under English supervision and control. 
Mechanical.—A very clever steam flying-machine has recently 
been invented by Mr. Joseph M. Kaufmann of Glasgow, the action 
of which resembles that of the wings of a bird as closely as possible. 
It will appear at the Exhibition of the Aeronautical Society at the 
Crystal Palace in June. 
We must not omit to notice the Steam Stearing-gear, fitted by 
Messrs. George Forrester & Co., of Liverpool. to the Great Eastern 
steamship, from the designs of Mr. J. McFarlane Gray. This 
