570 Transactions of the American Institute. 



9th. That the property on the street will be improved in value 

 to more than the cost of the road, an additional basement story- 

 being added to each building, and that story being rendered the 

 most valuable on account of the facility with which goods can be 

 delivered to and taken from it. The rent of the basement stores 

 thus created would, at the moderate estimate of $2,000 rent per 

 annum, over the worth of the present cellars, yield the property 

 owners more than $3,000,000 per year — an amount sufficient to 

 pay, in a short time, the entire cost of the road. 



10th. That it will be of great benefit to the interior of the State, 

 inasmuch as nearly all the imported goods pass through the city, 

 and the cost of freight and the cost of transacting the business are 

 added to the original cost of the goods, and the consumers pay not 

 only this added cost, but a profit thereon. ' 



11th. While it provides the most abundant means for rapid 

 transit and relief of the streets, it does not block up any part of 

 the city, but, on the contrary, adds enormously to the available 

 street space — in short, adds to the city an immense avenue, which 

 is to traverse the heart of the metropolis, increasing its wonderful 

 attractions, augmenting the value of its property, and giving to the 

 people the great boon of sure, rapid and cheap communication. 



12th. Instead of being ofiensive to the eye and disfiguring the 

 street, as some of the other systems inevitably must, it will, from 

 its open construction, be an ornament to the city, forming an ele- 

 gant arcade, surpassing any other street in the world for the 

 magnificence of its design and the utility of its arrangement. 



May 9, 1867. 

 Prof. S. D. Tillman in the chair; J. Wtatt Reid, Secretary. 



The Chairman opened the proceedings by reading the following 

 notes on scientific progress: 



A NEW THALLIUM MNERAL. 



A selenide of copper, silver and thallium has been found in 

 Norway, and analyzed by M. Nordenskiord. It contains seven- 

 teen per cent of thallium. 



CHINESE SUGAR GRASS. 



It is said that this grass {sorghum tartanciim) is not only per- 

 fectly hardy, and bears from six to eight times the quantity .per 



