^s. 



The Review of Reviews, 



March 20, 1906. 



TilE LATEST WONDERS OF APPLIED SCIENCE. 



The Forum, tht- Amtricaii Quarterly, is the only 

 Review which carefully chronicles the triumphs of 

 applied science. In the January number Mr. H. H. 

 buplee records the latest advances made by man in 

 the scientific control and util.sation of matter. 



A NEW HOPE FOR IRELAND. 



The gas engine seems destined to be the regene- 

 jator of Ireland. Mr. Suplee is enthusiastic over the 

 advantages of 



-the suction gas-power system, in wliidi the suction strokes 

 of the gas engine are employed to draw air and ti.e vapour 

 of water tlirough a bed ol incandescent coke, thus producing 

 .a semi-water gas for direct use m the e.igine. In such 

 apparatus tae fuel generally used is anthracite or coke, the 

 vapour of water being supphea by a boiler or evaporator, 

 heated by the gas itself on its way to the engine. The 

 requirement of anthracite or ooke as fuel has materially 

 limited the use of the otherwise advantageous and efficient 

 -suction gas-power plant, but its scope will he materially 

 widened witii the applicaton of peat fuel. The small 

 amount of asii and solid impurity in peat renders it espe- 

 cially suitable for the gas producer, owing to the small pro- 

 portion of slag and clinker formed. The vast deiwsits of 

 peat and lignite in Great Britain and on the Continent 

 may make tnis method of utilisation an important one. 



A NEW SAFEGUARD AGALNST SHIPWRECK. 



It is not generally known that sound travels much 



more rapidly through water than through air. But as 



it is so — 



the sounds given off by a submerged bell would afford an 

 effective warning of a dangerous coast. In practical tests 

 it has been found that bell signals from five to eight miles 

 distant are clearly and distinctly heard through the micro- 

 phone receiver on shipboard; and, in view of tliis success, 

 a number of the lightships on the North Atlantic coast 

 and at some of the North Sea ports have been fit.ed with 

 the submeriied bells; while the larger vessels of the Grer- 

 jnan, British and American lines have been equipped wi.ii 

 receivers. 



NEW FACILITIES FOR IRANSIT. 



To facilitate the rapid movements of men from 



place to place we need — first, bridges; second, 



ships; and third, railways. Mr. Suplee chronicles 



the building of the biggest bridges in the w^orld : — 



The arch of the stone bridge at Plauen, over the valley 

 of the Syra, lias a span of 90 meties, or a little more than 

 J295 feet,' thus exceeding in width its greatest predecessor, 

 the Luxembourg viaduct, by more than 17 feet, and the 

 span of the new cantilever bridge across the St. Lawrence 

 River at Quebec. The central span here is 18J0 feet, making 

 it the lar?e3t yet constructed, being nearly 100 feet greater 

 than the spans of the cantilevers of the Forth Bridge, or 

 -200 feet greater than the suspension span of the Williams- 

 burg Bridge at New York. 



The record in big ships has been broken by the 

 •• Amerika,'' of the Hamburg-American line, which is 

 690 feet long, 74 feet 6 inches beam, and 53 feet 

 deep. Her tonnage is 23,000 tons. The difficulty 

 about these big ships is the lack of harbours into 

 -which they can pass. "• The draught of the average 

 modern ship now closely approximates 30 feet ; and 

 it has been shown that there are but three ports in 

 the world — those of Marseilles, Genoa and Tacoma 

 — which ran admit vessels of such draught at all 

 times.'" 



The underground railway at New York has no 



sooner been opened than it has been found to be 



'n^deqiUTte: — 



The avera^re number of passengers carried has been 

 3H),000 per da v. or 106,OOC,000 dnrin? the year. The line at 

 •JjTe-'eTt in operjttion is practically crowded to its limit 



during the rush hours of the morning and evening, wliile 

 the elevated railway and tlie surface e'.ectric cars have 

 a. most regained the traffic which they lost at the opening 

 of the subwav. There appears to be little doubt that tie 

 traffic has almost overtaken the increased facilities in the 

 couise of a single year. 



WILL JAPAN BE CHRISTIANISED? 



A Japanese Forecast. 



Professor J. Takakusu, who holds University de- 

 grees from Oxford, Leipzig, and Tokyo, writes in 

 the London Quarterly Reviav on ' Japan : Old and 

 Xew."' His article is a valuable synopsis of Japan's 

 history, and especially its religious history. In the 

 space of some thirty-two pages, he says: — 



Generally speaking, it cannot be denied that Japan, old 

 and new, as a nation, owes a great deal to the four systems 

 of religion, which have contributed, each its own share, to 

 the moulding of the national character. It there is any- 

 thing acmirable in the Japanese character, as it exhibits 

 itcselt to-day, it is the result of the joint influence of all the 

 four. If Shintoism and Confucianism cultivated a natural 

 Simplicity, a patriotic spirit, and a sense of responsibility 

 to the nation. Buddhism and Christianity taught self-con- 

 trol, seh-sacrifice, and, above all, the responsibility of the 

 nation to the world at large. The conduct of Japan during 

 lier recent wais is a sufficient illustration of the fact that, 

 as a people, she has been powerfully influenced by the two 

 great missionary religions. 



I'he concluding third of his paper deals with the 

 history and prospects of Christian missions. He 

 joins other witnesses in declaring that when Chris- 

 tian missionaries were the chief teachers of the new 

 Japan, the prospects of the complete conversion of 

 Japan appeared quite roseate; so much so that 

 Bishop Bickersteth, returning from Japan, declared 

 that Japan would be a Christian Empire within fifty 

 vears. An inferior type of missionary and a nation- 

 alist reaction have clouded this outlook. But be- 

 sides the orthodox leaders of Christianity have 

 sprung up other types of native teachers, some re- 

 pudiating dogmatic Christianity altogether and re- 

 taining only its influence ; others swayed by Liberal 

 theology; and a third order of men in favour of 

 institutional Christianit}". The Professor concludes 

 with the following balanced statement, in which 

 occurs an allusion to the progress of Christianity 

 amongst Japanese women which may or may not be 

 a covert pleasantr}' : — 



But a better understanding now exists between the Chris; 

 tians and the people in general, since several men of 

 position in the Church have taken up secular work. The 

 hostility manifested against Chiistianity bv the other reli- 

 eions bodies is riot so strong at present. Earnest workers 

 are doing their utmost to arouse missionarv zeal in the 

 principal centres of the country. Their efforts are be- 

 ginning to yield real fruit on all sides, for I see every- 

 where that amone ladies Christiauiiy is now gaining grow- 

 ing influence. Tlie Mikado's recognition, again, of the ser- 

 vices of the Young Men's Christian Associations in the 

 battle-field during the recent war is a promising sign for 

 the propaganda. Since the churches have not lost 

 many of their converts (though, as I said before, thev 

 have lost some of their leaders), they may be hopeful of a 

 nlenteous harvest in due time. I, for my part, hold that 

 evangelistic work is more promising now than it was when 

 Bishop Bickersteth made his hopeful forecast. If only a 

 few well-qualified teachers, men of high culture and intel- 

 lectual power, will go out to co-operate with the Japanese 

 workers, much better results will be attained than are 

 possible from the separate and disconnected efforts of a 

 grea* many missionaries of mediocre abii'tv. The prospects 

 of christiinising the Mikado's empire, ''lou^h outwardl.v 

 lessened bv the reflex influence of the decadence of reli- 

 p-'o"s fa'th in some Western countries, are, in realit.v, at 

 least as great and as hopeful as ever 



