328 THE MONNIEB PROCESS OF REDUCING ORES 



32 feet long. She is steel-clad and is so constructed as to have really two hulls- 

 one outside and so far separated from the inner one that a person can jDass 

 from one end to the other between them. In addition to her terrible ram, 

 she carries two spar torpedoes. We copy from the Scientific American a brief 

 description of her action in a naval fight : 



" Having sighted an enemy- — say at night — her compound engines drive 

 her headlong at him at the rate of 15 knots per hour. As she nears him, 

 the immense electric light on her bow flashes out its glare, blinding her 

 adversary to her own hull (which is already sunk so low that her deck is 

 but three feet above the sea), while displaying his every proportion. The 

 roar of her 15-inch gun, as it hurls its huge shot or shell into the attacked 

 vessel, is followed by the crash of the bow spar torpedo striking the devoted 

 craft thirteen feet below the water line. Then, perhaps after a momentary 

 check due to the torpedo recoil, the Alarm plunges forward, driving her 

 immense ram into her adversary's crushed side. As she swings broadside 

 on to her foe, another torpedo spar shoots out from her side, and another 

 torpedo is exploded under the unguarded bottom of the enemy; while the 

 machine guns on the torpedo boat's rail keep up a deadlj^ fire of thousands 

 of bullets per minute, sweeping her opponent's decks." 



The Russians have adopted a system of small steam launches, steered by 

 electricity, or by a man or two on board, who are protected by a bow screen 

 and bulk-heads. These launches can be run directly under the side of a 

 large vessel, under cover of smoke or darkness, and deal destruction to an 

 enemy before their approach is observed, or even if observed, they are 

 too small to be readily hit by a shot from the ship. 



Among the defences proposed for vessels of war against torpedoes, are 

 wire or rope netting, or screens, suspended to booms overhanging the vessel's 

 sides, an electric light which shall dazzle the eyes of the seamen managing 

 the torpedo boats, smoke clouds from the burning of smoke balls to conceal 

 the whereabouts of the ship, and finally, the entire change of construction of 

 naval vessels from iron-clads, which are so easily sunken and are so costly 

 and unwieldy, to vessels constructed almost solidly of wood, so that they 

 cannot be sunk, and yet are lighter and more readily handled than those. 

 at present in use. 



METALLURGY. 



THE MONNIER PROCESS OF REDUCING REFRACTORY ORES. 



Mr. J. W. Wright has lately investigated this process at the Providence 

 Mine, near Nevada City, and makes the following report to the Mining and 

 Scientific Press : 



