544 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



ered pine trough, and sunk into a trench three feet deep. The preparation of 

 the cable is thus detailed : Each wire is first run through a glass tube an eighth 

 of an inch in diameter. Twenty of these wires, each incased in its glass tube, 

 are inserted in a lead pipe. One end of the latter is then tightly closed by slip- 

 pling over it an air-tight "cap." A small opening is cut into the upper surface of 

 the pipe, and the cut piece of lead turned back. It now remains to make the tube 

 thoroughly air-tight and completely insulate the copper wires, and the way it is 

 done is as unique as it is interesting. A hot solution of resin, tallow, bees-wax, 

 and other insulating compounds is poured into the pipe at its open end. As the 

 hot solution flows through the pipe it drives the air before it, and takes the place 

 formerly occupied by the atmospheric fluid. The air, unable to find an exit at the 

 closed end of the pipe, is forced up through the small opening cut in its upper 

 surface. The solution continues to be poured in until the air is finally entirely ex- 

 pelled, when the lead cutting on the upper surface is thrown back into place, 

 fining up the opening, and an exterior application of solder prevents the entrance 

 of any air from the outside. The result is an air-tight lead pipe, filled with cop- 

 per wire incased in glass tubes, and the whole arrangement is thoroughly insulated 

 by the solution of hot resin, bees-wax, tallow, etc. The ends of the copper wires, 

 however, are allowed to extend several inches beyond the lead pipe, in order, of 

 course, that two connecting pipes, with insulated wires, may be properly joined 

 together, and the line drawn out by the union of its several sections. The proc- 

 ess of making this wire in every detail is interesting, and involves great care and 

 nicety of execution, but when completed, turns out a pipe full of thoroughly in- 

 sulated wires, and renders a break in the electric current impossible. The manu- 

 facturers of this wire are said to be crowded with orders, showing that the telegraph 

 companies contemplate putting it into use at once in the cities, where the removal 

 of the unsightly poles and wires is very desirable. — Kansas City Journal. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. 



Paris, Nov. 22, i88r. 

 M. Pasteur's discovery for vaccinating live stock as a preservative against 

 the charbon malady, has naturally awakened inquiry as to extending the applica- 

 tion of the principle. Now, two distinct diseases are confounded under the same 

 appellation o{ charbon, which, while having certain points of external similarity, 

 differ widely fundamentally. In the case of the charbon fever, the disease was 

 inoculable by the blood, while in the second, symptomatic charbon, it was the 

 contrary. Both maladies have their origin in the animalcule of the microbe 



