11 



President of the Association, the Duke of Northumberland. She 

 is capable of carrying thirty ])et)ple beside the crew, her speed is 

 about eight knots an hour, and from full speed ahead she can be 

 brought up in thirty-two seconds, and way can be got on her again 

 in four seconds. She is stationed at Harwich, and is likely to afford 

 invaluable aul in cases Avhere an ordinary life-boat would be useless. 



A new scheme for a Channel Tunnel has bee)i devised by a 

 talented young French engineer, M. Bunau Vfirilla, who claims that 

 it can be easily constructed, finished in five years, rendered abso- 

 lutely safe against danger in times of international warfare, and 

 that it would only cost the trifling sum of sixteen million sterling. 

 This scheme, however, does not appear to offer any advantage over 

 that suggested by Sir E. Watkin. 



Recent explorations in the valley of the Seille, near Metz, have 

 brought 1 light some interesting specimens of pre-historic brick- 

 work, or briquetage, as it is called. Beneath the remains of several 

 Roman villas have been discovered large masses of this briquetage, 

 which were evidently thrown upon the marshy ground as founda- 

 tions for the Roman buildings. As no t vace of Roman or Celtic 

 remains have been discovered among or beneath the brickwork, the 

 Abbe Paulus, who is deeply versed in these subjects, considers that 

 it is evidently the work of the primitive inhabitants of the country, 

 namely of pre-historic man, and that it, was made by him, partly 

 for foundations for the lake dwellings and also for salines, for the 

 manufacture of salt. There is good reason to believe that the 

 marshy land was in those days a lake. The bricks are of various 

 colours, red, yellow, green, or black, and of different sizes, varying 

 from ten to thn-ty ce]itimetres in length, and from three to seven 

 in width. Some are smooth, some rough, as thou^di from the 

 markings of the straw on which they were laid when soft, while 

 others still bear tlie marks of their maker's fingers, and m some 

 cases they even show the markings of the skin. All such discoveries 

 which tend to throw light on these long past ages, must always 

 afford the keenest interest to the scientific and enquiring mind. 



The coal field in our neighbourhood is a subject of vast import- 

 ance, not only to ourselves, but to the world at large, for with the 

 increasing demands upon our coal supply, not only for fuel and gas, 

 but for purposes of machinery it must sooner or later be exhausted. 

 It is estimated that the annual consumption of coal is, for each 

 inhabitant in England, seven thousand four hundred pounds, in 

 Belgium, four thousand two hundred pounds, in Germnny three 

 thousand pounds, and in France one thousand five hundred and 

 sixty pounds, wood and cliarcoal in that country being largely used 

 in place of coal. It is an interesting fact in connection with the 

 discovery of coal in Kent, that more than a quarter of a century 



