PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 481 



the following statistics seem to promise them tolerable supply. There are in 

 France to-tlay three million horses, three hundred thousand asses (quadrupeds), 

 three hundred and sixty thousand mules, ten million two hundred thousand 

 neat cattle (of which 300,000 bulls, 2,000,000 oxen, 5,800,000 cows— the rest 

 calves), tliirty-fivc million sheep (of which twenty-six million pure or crossed 

 merinos), a million four hundred thousand goats, as many adult swine and 

 .three million tender suckling piglings. 



To wash down this meat-victual the French folks have wine, got from 

 0,250,000 acres of vineyards, whose average product, as this year for exam- 

 ple, amounts to one thousand three hundred and twenty millions five hundred 

 and seventy-six thousand gallons — multiply by five for the bottles. Of this 

 blessed abundance of drink, to be sure some small rivulets run down foreign 

 throats 4 but that is a detail. The large estimate of exports is only a little 

 over three million hectolitres, or about one-twentieth part of the whole pro- 

 duct,; distillation into brandy takes up say twice as much more; the rgst is 

 drunk in France. And with all that, do you know that we have very good 

 authority for the woful belief that we here in Paris drink one-third, at least, 

 more wine than ever crosses the octroi boundary ; that is, one bottle is com- 

 posed of two parts of grape juice and one part of Seine water, drugs, deviltry 

 and Mackay mixture generally. 



New Steam Omnibus in France. 



Nantes was the birth place of the omnibus, and to this day the arrange- 

 ment of a conductress swinging in a basket at the rear is adhered to. Having 

 been first to apply horses for moving the million, the busy town seems bent on 

 setting aside its own former pet in favor of a new one in the shape of a steam 

 carriage. This invention of M. Latz is said to be a success. It moves at 

 the rate of nine miles an hour, and turns readily, with two carriages attached, 

 within a circle of 30 feet in diameter. 



Boilding Materials in Ceylon. 



Mr. J. AV. Heath stated before the London Institute of Civil Engineers 

 that, during a residence in Ceylon for seven years, his attention had been 

 directed to the materials used in the construction^ of permanent buildings. 

 The habitations of the lower classes are formed of a rude framework of 

 stout bamboos: the sides and roof consisting of reeds closed in with the 

 interwoven leaves of the cocoanut palm, the latter being washed over with 

 the slimy juice of a native fruit which when dr}^ resembles copal varnish. 

 In the huts built of " wattle and dab," the framework is made of rou<rh 

 squared jungle trees, the space between being filled, and both the inside 

 and the outside of the hut being covered with clay and sand, well kneaded, 

 and afterwards plastered over with earth thrown up by the white ants, 

 mixed with a powerful binding substance produced by the ants. Superior 

 houses are built of " cabook," a poft kind of rock found a few feet below 

 the surface. This material has the appearance of a coarse sponge, the in- 

 terstices being filled with soft clay. Before being used, the blocks should 

 be exposed to the rain to allow some of the clay to be washed out. Ca- 

 |_.\m. Inst.J E* 



