June 3, 1898.] 



SCmNGE. 



765 



government recently. The first two firms 

 are English ; the next four are French ; the 

 next two German and Austrian, and the 

 next two American ; the last is Russian: 



All round 

 Price. 9 in. Sin. 7 in. 6 in. 5 in. 4 in. 



£ £ £ £ £ £ £ 



Vickers, Sons, and 



Maxim 117 



John Brown 115 



StChamond 98 99} 108 110 



Schneider etCie... 100 106 111 114 



Chattillon 97^ 99i 103i 113 



Marrel Fieres 106^ 116J 



F. Krupp, Essen.. 112i 



Dillingen 112 • 



Bethlehem Co. ... 106 



Carnegie Co 106 



Witkowitz 90i 



The highest figures are submitted by Eng- 

 lish firms. The American bidders ofier the 

 lowest terms tendered by makers whose 

 work is well-known and of the highest 

 existing quality. They received the last 

 Russian contract at their own figures and 

 in spite of the lower offers of the French and 

 Russian firms and the close figures given by 

 Krupp. No award is yet announced for the 

 present tender. 



French builders and usei-s of ' motor 

 cycles ' are apparently more active and en- 

 thusiastic in that new field of enterprise 

 than are those either of the other European 

 nations or of the United States. Fre- 

 quent reports of competitions in which high 

 speed and long routes have been distinguish- 

 ing characteristics come to us, from Paris, 

 particularly, and in some cases the reported 

 results are exceedingly interesting and sug- 

 gestive. The ' Criterium des Motor Cycles, ' 

 from Etampes to Chartres and return, oc- 

 curred early in the present month. The 

 run was 100 kilometers. There were fifty- 

 three entries, twenty-eight actually taking 

 part in the contest. In fine weather, but 

 in a strong wind, M. Leon Bollee made the 

 run in 1 hr., 57 min., 491 sec, his nearest 

 competitor making the time 2 hrs., 20 min., 



53f sec. The winning vehicle had an 8 h. 

 p. motor with two cylinders. The running 

 speed of the victor was 51 kilometers (32 

 miles) an hour, unequalled by any road 

 carriage to date, though closely approxi- 

 mated by steam-carriage makers sixty years 

 ago in Great Britain. This speed is, of 

 course, regarded as much too high for safety, 

 on the excellent highways of France, even. 

 The overloading of the carriage with power 

 ruled out the motor- cycle of M. Bollee, as 

 it was found to be in excess of the limit of 

 weight ; but this excess of power is consid- 

 ered by the builder to be justifiable for car- 

 riages intended to be employed in hilly 

 countries. 



R. H. Thdkston. 



CUBBENT NOTES ON FHYSIOGBAPHY. 

 PHYSICAL GEOGEAPHT OF NEW JERSEY. 



The Final Report of the State Geologist 

 of Xew Jersey now reaches a fourth volume, 

 which gives a serious discussion of the phys- 

 ical geography of the State by Salisbury. It 

 replaces the first volume of this final series 

 (now out of print) , in which the topography 

 of the State was described by Vermeule, 

 and forms a valuable text for advanced 

 students. After a general account of the 

 physical features of the State, their origin 

 is explained by means of successive cycles 

 of erosion. The first erosion cycle devel- 

 oped the Schooley peneplain, now seen only 

 in remnants on the even uplands of the 

 Highlands, and in the long crestlines of 

 Kittatinny mountain and of certain trap 

 ridges. Next came the Cretaceous and 

 Miocene submergences, separated by an 

 erosion interval of small geographic import, 

 and followed by the uplift which added the 

 coastal plain to the State. An important 

 cycle of erosion was thus introduced, dur- 

 ing which a well-defined peneplain was de- 

 veloped on the weaker strata, leaving the 

 harder as embossed ridges. A late sub- 

 mergence distributed the thin veneer of the 



