272 ELLET, ELIZABETH F. L. 



of the Codes which accord execution on unpaid 

 judgments. The advocate for the Govern- 

 ment argued that the money claimed as seiz- 

 able was devoted to the public service, and 

 was therefore protected from seizure. The 

 court adopted the latter view, following the 

 rule of all Continental jurisprudence. 



The unofficial opening of the Ismailia Canal, 

 from Cairo to Lake Timsah, took place on 

 April 15th. It was stated at one time that the 

 Suez Canal Company had become the propri- 



etors of this new work ; but this was after- 

 ward contradicted. When the Egyptian Gov- 

 ernment failed to provide the advances neces- 

 sary to enable the contractor, M. Paponot, to 

 continue the work, the Suez Canal Company 

 advanced him 1,300,000 francs. They then 

 agreed to lend him a further sum of 700,000 

 francs, making M. Paponot's debt 2,000,000 

 francs in all. In addition to the debt, the 

 Viceroy owed the Company about 500,000 

 francs, thus establishing a total charge of two 

 millions and a half. It was agreed that the 

 Suez Canal Company should have the right to 

 appoint a commissioner to take over a portion 

 of the tolls and dues collected from the new 

 canal until this debt was liquidated. This ar- 

 rangement was made with the sanction of the 

 European financial controllers. The Company 

 was to have no power to interfere with the 

 management. Their commissioner should 

 merely draw the money as it was paid into 

 the Treasury. 



Among the works of the year having infor- 

 mation on Egypt are J. C. McCoan's "Egypt 

 As It Is" (London, 1877); E. De Leon's "the 

 Khedive's Egypt " (LondonriS77) ; A. B. Ed- 

 wards's "A Thousand Miles up the Nile" 

 (London, 1877). 



ELLET, Mrs. ELIZABETH F. L., died in New 



ENGINEERING. 



York City, June 3, 1877. She was born at So- 

 dus Point, on Lake Ontario, N. Y., in October, 

 1818. At an early age she was married to Dr. 

 "William H. Ellet, who was Professor of Chem- 

 istry at Columbia College. In her 17th year 

 she published a volume of poems, and about 

 the same time wrote "Teresa Contarini," a 

 tragedy founded on Venetian history. In 1841 

 she published "The Characters of Schiller," 

 and subsequently " Women of the American 

 Eevolution " (1848) ; " Evenings at Woodlawn," 

 " Family Pictures from the Bible," " Domestic 

 History of the American Revolution " (1850) ; 

 " Watching Spirits " (1851) ; " Pioneer Women 

 of the West," " Novelettes of the Musicians " 

 (1852); "Summer Rambles in the West" (1853), 

 " Women Artists in All Ages and Countries " 

 (1861), " Queens of American Society " (1867), 

 and " Courts of the Republic " (with Mrs. R. 

 E. Mack, 1869). She also contributed to the 

 leading magazines. 



ENGINEERING. The improvements in the 

 methods and instruments of engineering have 

 kept even pace with the increased demands 

 which the rapid extension of commerce is mak- 

 ing upon this art. With the same capital and 

 labor, works of triple the magnitude of those 

 which could be built a few years ago, can now 

 be accomplished. It is not, therefore, to be 

 wondered at that the action of the Americans, 

 in constructing steam highways from ocean to 

 ocean, through vast uncultivated expanses of 

 territory, is to be emulated in South America, 

 in Canada, and in Asiatic Russia ; that the Al- 

 pine tunnels and the railroad of the Semme- 

 ring Pass may soon be repeated in the Andes ; 

 that, as the narrow stream which flows through 

 the city of Glasgow has been broadened into the 

 magnificent harbor of one of the first seaports 

 in the world, so the basin for the great Ger- 

 man naval arsenal has been scooped out of the 

 marsh at Kiel. Paris is now to become a sea- 

 port ; and already ocean steamships can anchor 

 before the levee at New Orleans. With every 

 successive great work of engineering, some 

 new plan or invention is devised, which makes 

 still greater triumphs over nature possible, as 

 witness the great iron caissons and the admi- 

 rable excavating apparatus, by whose aid the 

 massive piers of the Tay bridge were founded 

 18 feet down in the earth, under a deep and 

 rushing tide, and raised through 45 feet of 

 water. As regards railroad construction, al- 

 though the systems of Europe are nearly com- 

 plete ; although the great arteries of the Ameri- 

 can system have been built, and the short feed- 

 ing branches are being added at a rate of pro- 

 gression only about corresponding to the in- 

 crease of the population, yet the occupation of 

 the railroad engineer is not gone. The prog- 

 ress of commerce justifies the people and gov- 

 ernments of South America, of the Russian 

 Empire, of India where 5,000 miles of new 

 railways are laid out of Japan, of Canada, 

 of the Australian colonies, of Egypt, in un- 

 dertaking long lines and great networks of the 



