534 Chronicles of Science. [Oct., 



Susquehanna bridge, at Havre de Grace, U.S., is now nearly com- 

 pleted. It is being constructed to unite the hitherto severed 

 portions of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Bailroad. 

 The superstructure, which is for a single line, is of wood, built on the 

 Howe plan, with arches, and consists of twelve spans of 250 ft. 9 in., 

 and a draw span of 174 ft. 9 in. The whole distance between 

 the abutments is 3,273 ft. 9 in. Arrangements are in progress for 

 building a second suspension biidge across the Niagara. This new 

 bridge will be much larger than its neighbour below, the clear span 

 of which is 822 feet. 



The East India Irrigation and Canal Company has at last been 

 entrusted with the carrying out of a system of irrigation front the 

 Soane Eiver, in the lower Provinces of Bengal. Had this work 

 been undertaken when it was first designed by Colonel Dickens, 

 much of the past and present calamities of famine in those districts 

 might have been averted. 



A prospectus has been issued of the Valparaiso Waterworks 

 Company, to supply that city with water through a canal to be cut 

 from the Aconcagua river, flowing from the Andes. This canal, a 

 portion of which has already been completed, is at the same time 

 calculated to yield a revenue by furnishing water for irrigation to 

 the lands throughout its course. 



Three companies have recently been started for establishing a 

 through line of telegraph between England and India. The lines 

 of one company are proposed to pass through France, Italy, Sicily, 

 Malta, Alexandria, and Suez, to Bombay ; whilst another would 

 pass through Prussia, Russia, Persia, and along the Persian Gulf to 

 Kurrachee. The third company — which we believe has amalgamated 

 with the first — proposed to carry independent lines from Falmouth 

 to Gibraltar, Malta, &c. 



A contract has been concluded for the manufacture of a new 

 cable, to be laid by the Submarine Telegraph Company, between 

 England and Belgium. 



Both the shore ends of the Florida and Cuba cable were suc- 

 cessfully laid early in August last, but just as the splice was about 

 to be made, the cable suddenly parted about half-a-mile east of the 

 buoy, and the ends sank into the sea. 



The foundation stone of the Holborn Valley Viaduct was laid 

 on Monday, June 3rd. Within the past century a total sum of 

 6,742,853/. has been expended by the Corporation of London on 

 public works, buildings, and street improvements. 



The American life-raft, which recently crossed the Atlantic in 

 forty-three days, is formed of three cylinders, charged with air and 

 connected by canvas, stiffened by planking. She is 24 feet long, 

 12i feet broad, and carries two masts. 



A company has been formed to remedy the obstacles which 



