1867.] Mechanical Science. 593 



collection of facts relating to bridges would be most valuable to civil 

 engineers in preparing estimates for new works. The Highland 

 Hallway passed through such a rugged description of country that 

 the difficulties of construction were very great. Looking at the 

 diagrams furnished by Mr. Mitchell, the substantiality of the works, 

 the moderate cost of execution, and the remarkable judgment with 

 which the various works had been suited to the different situations 

 must have struck every civil engineer in the room. 



The next communication was by Mr. John Fernie, of Leeds, on 

 " The Iron and Steel at the Paris Exhibition." Mr. Fernie con- 

 sidered that the great duty imposed on British manufactured iron 

 now imported into France amounts almost to a prohibitory tax, 

 while raw iron is admitted at a very small duty, and coal duty free. 

 He thought that France had not surpassed Britain in iron-making 

 in any of its departments, but that Krupp and the Bochum Com- 

 pany had shown larger masses of steel than England had as yet 

 manufactured, and that the Bochum Co.'s cast-steel railway-wheels 

 were the finest ever exhibited. The President, Mr. Foster, and Mr. 

 Ferdinand Kohn (of " Engineering ") joined in an interesting dis- 

 cussion on the subject raised by Mr. Fernie's paper. At a sub- 

 sequent sitting of this Section Mr. Kohn also read a paper on the 

 subject, specially referring to the interest and curiosity excited by 

 the extraordinary sizes and qualities of the steel castings of Bhenish 

 Prussia, and by the secrecy and mystification surrounding their 

 manufacture. A professional survey of the Paris Exhibition, 

 extending over many weeks, had led him to conclude that there 

 was no ground for the notion that the predominance and superiority 

 of the British iron-manufacture had ceased to exist, or were 

 threatened to be overthrown by continental competitors. 



Mr. David Greig, of Leeds, read a paper on " Steam Cultiva- 

 tion : Advantages derivable from it, and its Present Position and 

 Future Development." It was full of interest and instruction, Mr. 

 Greig's opinion is that the generality of land, if put under steam- 

 cultivation, and kept free from the trampling of animals, would 

 only need one deep working every fourth or fifth year. He con- 

 fidently expects that, with remodelled farms, the use of the best 

 engines and machinery, and the employment of men educated to 

 superintend them, the expense of cultivation would be reduced to 

 one-half of the present cost. Mr. Fernie said that the best way of 

 avoiding the breakages of machinery referred to by Mr. Greig, was 

 to introduce the use of steel, and properly tested wire rope. The 

 first wire rope was worn out with 300 miles' work, but rope now 

 made of steel wire will do fifty times as much work. 



The Kev. Patrick Bell, of Carmyllie, Forfarshire, the original 

 inventor of the reaping machine, read a paper on "Keaping 



