S//? WILLIAM SIEMENS, F.R.S. 349 



structure was not, however, the consequence of any fault of con- 

 si ruction, but was caused by inroads of the sea upon the rock 

 supporting it. The new lighthouse, designed and executed by 

 }Ir., now Sir, James Douglass, engineer of Trinity House, has 

 bri-n erected in the incredibly short time of less than two years, 

 and bids lair to be worthy of its famed predecessor. Its height 

 above high water is 130 feet, as compared with 72 feet (the height 

 of Smeaton's structure), which gives its powerful light a consider- 

 ably increased range. The system originally suggested by Sir 

 William Thomson some years ago, of distinguishing one light 

 from another by flashes following at varied intervals, has been 

 adopted by the Elder Brethren in this as in other recent lights in 

 the modified form introduced by Dr. John Hopkinson, in which 

 the principle is applied to revolving lights, so as to obtain a 

 greater amount of light in the flash. 



The geological difficulties which for some time threatened the 

 accomplishment of the St. Gothard Tunnel have been happily 

 overcome, and this second and most important sub-Alpine 

 thoroughfare now connects the Italian railway system with that 

 of Switzerland and the south of Germany, whereby Genoa will be 

 constituted the shipping port for those parts. 



Whether we shall be able to connect the English with the French 

 railway system by means of a tunnel telow the English Channel is 

 a question that appears dependent, at this moment, rather upon 

 military and political than technical and financial considerations. 

 The occurrence of a stratum of impervious grey chalk, at a con- 

 venient depth below the bed of the Channel, minimises the engi- 

 neering difficulties in the way, and must influence the financial 

 question involved. The protest lately raised against its accom- 

 plishment can hardly be looked upon as a public verdict, but 

 seems to be the result of a natural desire to pause, pending the 

 institution of careful inquiries. Such inquiries have lately been 

 made by a Royal scientific Commission, and will be referred for 

 further consideration to a mixed Parliamentary Committee, upon 

 whose Report it must depend whether the natural spirit of com- 

 mercial enterprise has to yield in this instance to political and 

 military considerations. Whether the Channel Tunnel is con- 

 structed or not, the plan proposed some years ago by Mr. John 

 Fowler of connecting England and France by means of a ferry 



