January 31, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



69 



different electrical combinations, thus varying the speed of the 

 motor without the use of any wasteful resistance. The direc- 

 tion of rotation is also governed by the same switch, so that 

 the operation of the motor is very simple, and it can be put in 

 charge of an ordinary workman. 



Any system of conveying the current from the dynamo to the 

 locomotive can be used, either using the rails as one side of the 

 circuit for the return of the current, or else employing a com- 

 plete metallic circuit by the use of a double overhead trolley 

 wire. In this latter case, a trolley pole, shown in the view, 

 carrying at its upper end two trolley wheels for making run- 

 ning contact with the overhead wires, is attached on the rear 

 of the locomotive car. 



This mining locomotive is now being manufactured by the 

 Sprague Electric Railway and Motor Company from designs 

 made by Mr. I. E. Storey. One of the most noticeable advances 

 made in modern mining science is the adoption of electricity 

 as a medium for transmitting power and producing light, and 



the same wires which supply current to the drill, and, when 

 in such use, are connected in multiple arc across the main 

 current wires. 



These drills are manufactured and sold by the Sprague 

 Electric Railway and Motor Company of New York, under 

 patents granted to Mr. I. E. Storey. We understand that the 

 Sprague Company is now at work on, and will soon be able to 

 furnish, a number of special mining applications, among which 

 is an electric percussion drill. 



THE LATEST THEORIES ON THE ORIGIN OF THE 

 ENGLISH. 1 



When, one is sometimes tempted to ask in sheer weariness, 

 will any man be able to say the last word on that Jquestion of 

 the West which bids fair to be as eternal as any question of the 

 East, — the question whether we, the English people, are our- 

 selves or somebody else? That formula is not a new one. 



ELECTRIC MINING DBILL. 



such applications as the above indicate the growing demand of 

 mining companies for just such apparatus, and the ability of 

 the leading electric companies to supply the need. 



ELECTRIC ROTAEY DIAMOND DRILL. 



The accompanying view shows a new electric mining rotary 

 drill which has shown good results in experimental work, and 

 which will soon be applied to regular mining-work in several 

 ieaAng mines. 



A good electric mining drill has always been desired by 

 miners, and this drill seems to meet all the requirements. It 

 is light, compact, simple, and easy to operate. The motor is 

 completely incased, so that it is impossible for dust, dirt, or 

 stray stones to lodge ir the working parts. Tlie whole drill is 

 mounted on an adjustable frame, so that it can be very easily 

 set in any position desired, or set at work at any part of the 

 mine. 



The current for operating the drill is supplied at a constant 

 voltage or potential, the number of volts depending on the 

 potential used for transmitting power throughout the mine. 

 If lamps are needed, they can be supplied with current from 



Some of us have, in season and out of season, through evil 

 report and good report, been fighting out that question for not 

 a few years. If it is wearisome to have to fight it out still, 

 there is some little relief in having to fight it out in a wholly 

 new shape and with a wholly new set of adversaries. It is an 

 experience which has at least the charm of novelty when we 

 have to argue the old question, who are we, whence we came, 

 from a point of view which might make it possible, with the 

 exercise of a little ingenuity, to avoid ever using the words 

 "Celt," "Briton," or "Roman" at all. On the other hand, 

 the strife in its new form has become more deadly; the assault 

 has become more threatening. Hitherto we have fought for 

 victory, for dominion, for what, if one adopted the high-polite 

 style of a lord mayor's feast, one might call "the imperial 

 instincts of the Anglo-Saxon race. ' ' We have had to fight to 

 prove our greatness against people who told us that we were 

 not so great as we thought. Angles and Saxons, we were 

 told, were only one element, perhaps a very inferior element, 

 in the population of Britain. Still nobody denied that we had 

 some place in the world, some place in this island. It might 

 be a very small place compared with that of the Celt who went 

 1 From The Contemporary Review for January. 



