100 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 25. 



conditions that tlie verj' existence of railway's 

 there depends upon the handling of enormousl}' 

 concentrated traffic with safet}', certaint}', and 

 rapidity ; and the results of tliese labors are 

 probably not far from a perfect solution of the 

 problem, and deserve our most careful studj'. 



(,Tobe continued.) 



FIFTEENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF 

 THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL 

 ENGINEEUa.^ — ll. 



On Thursday the convention again assem- 

 bled at St. Paul, at 11 a.m., and listened to a 

 paper by J. P. Frizzell of St. Louis, upon the 

 water-power at St. Anthony's P^alls. The 

 height of fall, watershed, rainfall, and horse- 

 power utilized were given. He criticised the 

 means taken for preserving the falls, the build- 

 ing of storage-dams at the head waters of the 

 Mississippi, and the method of using the water 

 at Minneapolis. He condemned the waste of 

 power occasioned bj' a gross disregard of the 

 laws of hydraulics, and pointed out the remedy. 

 He stated that three things should be done, — 

 the U. S. government must be induced to with- 

 draw wholly', leaving the work of preservation 

 of the falls to the owners of water-power ; the 

 two companies controlling the power must be 

 united under one management ; the natural 

 width of channels at the falls must be restored. 



Capt. O. E. Michaelis, U.S.A., followed with 

 a short paper on metrological investigations, 

 which he said were brought about b}' the at- 

 tempt to determine how much a certain bullet 

 was ' out of true.' He constructed, and exhib- 

 ited an instrument closelj' allied to the sphe- 

 rometer, to which he gave the name of ' tripod 

 caliper. ' He read results of measurements with 

 this instrument, and applied it further to testing 

 the accuracj' of one turn of a screw-thread. 



Mr. D. J. Whittemore, chief engineer of the 

 Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul railway, 

 read a brief paper on the use of the Nasmyth 

 steam-hammer for driving piles, and gave in- 

 stances of the hindrance which a very slight 

 ' brooming ' of the pile-head offered to the 

 eifective action of the hammer. He also sub- 

 mitted a section from the top of a green Nor- 

 way pine pile, where the friction of the fibres, 

 under the rapid blows of the hammer, had 

 generated sufficient heat to burn the heart of 

 the head of the pile quite across. 



Papers bj' Benjamin Reece, of Toledo, O., 

 upon railwaj'-track repairs, and bj' J. W. Put- 

 nam, upon cause of decay in timber, were read 

 by title, and ordered printed in the proceedings. 



1 Concluded from No. 24. 



In another room, before the persons most 

 directly interested, a paper was read by F. P. 

 Stearns of Boston, upon the current meter, 

 giving a theory for the maximum velocity of 

 water, flowing in an open channel, being found 

 below the surface. 



The society then held a business-meeting, in 

 which a committee for nominating officers of 

 the societj- was elected. Committees on uni- 

 form tests of cement and on the preservation 

 of timber were granted further lime. The 

 committee appointed to procure aid from Con- 

 gress to carr}- on the tests of iron and steel 

 reported progress, and was continued. 



The special committee on standard time 

 made a report through Dr. Eggleston to the 

 effect that they had obtained a general expres- 

 sion of opinion from men prominent as engi- 

 neers, railway managers and operators, and 

 others in all parts of the United States and 

 Canada, and found that exceptional unanimity 

 prevailed with respect to the fundamental prin- 

 ciple which should govern in the adoption of 

 a sj-stem of standard time for the whole coun- 

 try. The benefits of a change from the present 

 lack of system were illustrated, and it was 

 claimed that the time had arrived for action in 

 the matter. The report was accepted, and the 

 committee continued. 



The convention at St. Paul then adjourned. 

 The U. S. engineer officers on duty in this 

 vicinity had an exhibit, in another room, of 

 plans showing the various works of improve- 

 ment under their charge. 



On Fridaj', June 22, the convention met in 

 Minneapolis. The party was carried from 

 Hotel Lafayette across Lake Minnetonka hy 

 steamer, and thence by a narrow-gauge railway, 

 in open cars, to the cit}'. The meeting took 

 place in the opera-house. A welcome was 

 given by ex-Ma3or Rand in behalf of the city ; 

 a repl}' and the annual address, in the absence 

 of President Charles Paine, was read by 

 Director William Metcalf, who took for his 

 subject ' Engineering improvements in the 

 Mississippi valley.' 



Mr. William P. Shinn then read a paper 

 upon the subject, ' How can railways be made 

 more efficient in the transportation of fieight? ' 

 which is a sequel to his paper of similar title 

 read at the annual meeting in 1882, and aims 

 to sum up the discussion, and more particularly' 

 to reply to the criticisms of Mr. O. Chanute 

 thereon. He claims that facts and figures, 

 which he adduces, prove that the present mile- 

 age basis for the adjustment of car accounts be- 

 tween different railroad companies is unjust to 

 the companies furnishing the cars ; that it is 



