December 7, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



271 



street-railway whose track extended over a part of the route, they 

 were unable to proceed far with the work at that time. In the 

 Bentley-Knight system the electric current is taken from conduc- 

 tors contained in and protected by sub-surface conduits, — a sys- 

 tem admirably adapted to the crowded thoroughfares of a busy city. 



COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY. 

 The Obi Railroad. 



The question of opening the interior of Siberia becomes more 

 and more important. While hitherto the canals between the large 

 rivers, and projects of navigating the dangerous Kara Sea, were 

 foremost among the plans that seemed likely to be realized, the 

 project of a railroad from the lower Obi to the coast west of Nova 

 Zembla has at present assumed definite shape. The Russian news- 

 papers give the following reports of the project : The Obi Railroad, 

 the most northern road ever planned, will be of the greatest eco- 

 nomic importance to Siberia. It deserves special attention, as the 

 projectors do not demand any subsidy or government guaranties. 

 The river Malaia-Obi, near Obdorsk, is the starting-point of the 

 projected line, which will take a direction towards the foot-hills of 

 the Ural Mountains. The latter will be crossed in one of the 

 transversal valleys, which are not over one hundred feet above sea- 

 level. It will cross the river Ussa near its source, and reach the 

 ocean through the tundra of Bolchesemelsk. Its terminus will be 

 in the Bay of Shainoudir, near Belcoff Nosse. The total length of 

 the line will be 260 miles. The price of construction, including 

 rolling stock, is estimated at forty thousand dollars, or ten million 

 dollars the whole line. The establishment of a port on the Arctic 

 Ocean in the locality mentioned above, with all modern improve- 

 ments for loading and unloading vessels, is estimated at one and a 

 half million dollars. To this must be added the cost of establishing 

 a line of river-boats on the Obi and Irtish, which is estimated at 

 two and a half million dollars. Thus the whole plan requires the 

 e.xpenditure of fifteen million dollars in works of construction. 



It is believed that the line can be worked for six months of the 

 year. The products of the remotest parts of the Obi basin will be 

 carried to the shipping port on the ocean in twelve days, while 

 twelve days more will be sufficient to carry them to London. The 

 price per hundredweight is estimated at $1.30 ; while on the pres- 

 ent route, via Barnaul, Perm, St. Petersburg, London, it is $2.25, 

 the time necessary to accomplish this distance being 130 days. 



The railroad, which has been projected by Mr. Golovacheff, is in- 

 tended as a means for making the transactions of a Siberian com- 

 mercial company, which has been founded recently, profitable. 

 According to the concession granted by the Russian Government, 

 this road will not be open to the public, but will only be used by 

 the grantee, who proposes to export the grain and stock from 

 southern Siberia, and hopes to be able to furnish the London mar- 

 ket with north Siberian fish. On the other hand, the company will 

 import principally machinery, which so far has hardly found its 

 way to Siberia, and other articles which are at present imported by 

 Moscow merchants. ■ 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



Screened from the world by a high fence, and not far from the 

 Edison Laboratory at Orange, N.J., there have gone up two large 

 factory-buildings. In these buildings there are now in operation a 

 hundred thousand dollars' worth of such fine machinery as can be 

 supplied by E. E. Garvin & Sons of New York, Pratt & Whitney 

 and Dwight Slater of Hartford, and Brown & Sharpe of Providence, 

 in the manufacture of the parts of the improved phonograph. The 

 assembling of these will begin at an early date, so that by Jan. I 

 one hundred phonographs should be leaving the works each day. 

 Lieut. F. W. Toppan, U.S.N., is the manager. 



— Lieut. D.Bruun of the Danish army, says Xahire, having had 

 a moss dug out in Finderup, in Jutland, has made some discoveries. 

 In the moss were found trunks of oak, beech, and fir trees from 6 

 to 30 inches in diameter. The branches had in some cases been 

 cut off. but the bark remained. By the side of one of the oak 

 trunks two earthen vessels were discovered, and near another a 

 third, shaped like an urn. In the latter lay a sandal cut from a 



piece of leather, with flaps, and leather straps for tying to the ankle 

 the length of the sandal being 7 inches. It seemed as if the trunks 

 of trees h.id been placed in a certain position for some purpose or 

 other. About 20 feet farther to the south, and at the same depth, 

 viz., 6 feet, a yoke of oak was found, 5J feet long and 3 inches 

 thick, being fairly cylindrically cut out in the centre. At each end, 

 were holes, in one of which remained a strap of leather. Other 

 implements of oak were also found, evidently used for carrying. 

 Some of them seemed part of a wheel. Close to the yoke another 

 earthen urn was discovered, which, like the three referred to, was 

 surrounded with sprigs of heather and bramble. Formerly some 

 horns of bullocks and the skeleton of a man in a fur coating were 

 found in the moss. The various objects are now in the Copen- 

 hagen Museum, and are said to date from the early iron age. 



— Mr. J. W. Osborne of Washington, the well-known inventor of 

 photo-lithography, has presented to the United States National 

 Museum and to the Art Museum in Boston his large and exceed- 

 ingly valuable collection of proofs and specimens illustrative of the 

 development of photo-mechanical printing. All the important and 

 typical processes are fully represented in each by specimens col- 

 lected by Mr. Osborne in all the art centres of Europe and America, 

 and include the works of all who have in any measure achieved 

 success in the graphic arts. As soon as it can be properly classi- 

 fied, the collection intended for the National Museum will be placed 

 on exhibition in the section of graphic arts. Mr. Osborne's con- 

 tribution, the museum authorities assert, has laid a substantial 

 foundation for an exhaustive collection of kindred productions 

 under government auspices at Washington. 



— The Philosophical Society of Washington will hold a meeting 

 on Saturday evening, Dec. 8, at which an address will be delivered 

 by the retiring president of the society, Col. Garrick Mallery, on 

 ' Philosophy and Specialties.' 



— According to news received in Denmark, Dr. F. Nansen has suc- 

 ceeded in crossing Greenland, but unfortunately was too late to 

 catch the last steamer. It will be remembered that on July 15 Dr. 

 Nansen, accompanied by Lieutenant Sverdrup, two other Scandina- 

 vians, and two Lapps, left the whaler 'Jason ' in latitude 65° north, 

 in sight of the east coast of Greenland. After twelve days of diffi- 

 cult march across the pack-ice, the coast was reached, but about 

 sixty miles farther south than Dr. Nansen expected to land, the 

 current having carried the ice southward. On Aug. 15 the party 

 began the march across the inland ice, taking a north-westerly 

 direction towards Christianshaab. When a height of about 7,000 

 feet was attained, the travellers were overtaken by a northerly 

 snow-storm, which compelled them to take a westerly course to- 

 ward Godhaab. The greatest altitude attained was about 9,500 feet. 

 Finally, after forty-six days of travel, the party arrived at the head 

 of Ameralik Fiord, which is situated a little south of Godhaab, and, 

 by means of an improvised float, Godhaab was reached on Oct. 4. 

 Dr. Nansen despatched immediately two kayaks with letters to 

 Ivigiut, from which place the steamer ' Fox ' was to leave about 

 this time. The kayaks reached this place when the steamer was 

 about to leave, and as the captain did not feel justified in delaying 

 his departure, on account of the advanced season, the party will 

 have to winter in Greenland. 



— At the meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society held on 

 Nov. 21, Mr. G. J. Symons read a paper entitled ' Results of an 

 Investigation of the Phenomena of English Thunder-storms during 

 the Years 1857-59.' This paper was written nearly thirty years ago. 

 It has now been communicated to the society at the request of the 

 thunder-storm committee. The paper contains a summary, 

 chiefly in statistical form, of some of the results of an investigation " 

 into English thunder-storms, and the accidents produced by light- 

 ning during the years 1S57-59. The author found that in sheet 

 lightning the most prevalent color is white, then yellow, blue, and 

 red ; in forked lightning the order is nearly reversed, blue being 

 more than twice as frequent as any other color, then red, white, 

 and most rarely yellow. Sheet lightning was seen about twice as 

 often as forked. Dr. A. Riggenbach exhibited some photographs 

 of cirrus and other fine clouds, which had been obtained by using 

 the surface of a lake as a polarizing mirror. 



