April 12, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



273 



SNOW-BROOM FOR USE ON ELECTRIC RAILWAYS. 



Anticipating the usual New England winter, the Thomson- 

 Houston Company designed a snow-broom (shown in the accom- 

 panying cut) for use on the Cambridge division of the West End 

 Street Railway. The truck, which is of the Brill type, and has a 

 five-foot wheel-base, is equipped with a thirty-horse-power motor 

 geared to drive the truck at a speed of twelve miles per hour. 

 The snow-broom is thirty inches in diameter, and set at an angle 

 of forty-five degrees. It is driven by a stationary motor of twenty 

 horse-power, at a speed of one hundred revolutions per minute. 

 But two men are required to operate the broom, the brakes and 

 controlling mechanism being placed in such a position as to render 

 it an easy matter. The broom was used for the first time during 



comprised 96,900,000 inhabitants, — an increase of 19,000,000 since 

 1877 ; and the states where the metric system was legally admitted 

 in principle, or partially applied, as in the customs (Russia, Tur- 

 key, British India), comprised a population of 395,000,000, — an 

 increase of 54,000,000 since 1877. 



The metric system is thus legally recognized throughout the civ- 

 ilized world by 794,000,000 people, — an increase of 126,000,000 

 since 1877. These 794,000,000 represent 60,6 per cent of the popu- 

 lation of the civilized world ; that is to say, of countries which have 

 a census or an official enumeration of the population. These latter 

 contain 1,311,000,000. China, Japan, and Mexico have different 

 systems, decimal but not metric. They represent a population of 

 474,000,000. The other civilized nations not comprised in the fig- 

 ures given above have neither the decimal nor the metric system. 



f 





THE THOJISON-HOUSTON SNOW-SWEEPER. 



the snow-storm of March 31, and performed admirably; and it 

 was also tested by placing bricks and boards in front of it, and the 

 way these were brushed aside to a distance of four or five feet 

 from the track leaves no doubt of the ability of this appliance to 

 cope successfully with heavy storms. The company has also built 

 a much larger machine, with thirty-six-inch wheels, and fitted with 

 two brooms and a scraper, which will be able to deal with the 

 severest storms. 



THE EXTENSION OF THE METRIC SYSTEM. 



The question whether the employment of the metric system is 

 growing or not, was recently discussed in a note presented to the 

 Academie des Sciences by M. de Malarce. An abstract of this 

 appears in " Publications of the American Statistical Association," 

 New Series, No. 4. 



M. de Malarce begins by stating that in 1887 the states where 

 the decimal metric system was obligatory comprised a population 

 of 302,000,000 inhabitants, — an increase of 53,000,000 since 1877 ; 

 the states where the metric system was authorized by law as op- 

 tional (England, certain British colonies, Canada, the United States) 



They represent but a slight fraction of the civilized world, — less 

 than 43,000,000. 



If we pass to the examination of monetary systems, it will be 

 noticed that the five states that formed the monetary union of 1865 



— France and her colonies, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and Greece 



— comprise a population of 111,000,000. Four states — Austro- 

 Hungary (since 1870), Monaco (1879), Finland (1878), Russia 

 (1887) — coined certain pieces in conformity with the French sys- 

 tem, which are receivable, according to a decision of the French 

 Government, at her public banks, and in consequence are legal 

 tender in France. These states represent a population of 144,- 

 000.000. 



Four states in Europe, — Roumania (1867), Spain (1S68), Servia 

 (1873), and Bulgaria (1877), — one state in Africa, — Kongo (1877), 



— one state in Asia, — Persia, — and nine states in America, — the 

 Argentine Republic, Bolivia, Chili, Columbia, Hayti, Nicaragua, 

 Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, — have also coined money accord- 

 ing to the French system ; and these represent a population of 

 56,000,000. The total population, therefore, of the states which 

 have coined money similar to the French system, comprise 311,- 



