Aprit. 4, 1884.] 
The unfortunate end of the Marquis Antinori is 
known. His successor, Count P. Antonelli, more 
happy, has returned to Rome, and has recently given 
an account of his investigation of Shoa, in south- 
eastern Abyssinia, to the Italian geographical society. 
This society is publishing the results of the Italian ex- 
pedition. An interesting account of the fresh-water 
fishes of Shoa has already appeared. Soleillet, the 
French explorer of Shoa, appears from his reports to 
be living en grand seigneur, under the protection of 
his Shoan Majesty, King Menelik II., having been ap- 
pointed to a feudal office somewhat between a baron 
and a justice of the peace. Bremond’s report of his 
scientific and commercial expedition from the French 
colony of Obock to Shoa has recently been printed in 
L’ Exploration. This region, though but a few years 
since untrodden by civilized men, offers rich rewards 
to traders; and the privileges of trade have lately been 
the object of lively competition between the com- 
mercial explorers of several nations. W.H. DALL. 
GREEN MOUNTAIN RAILWAY, MOUNT 
DESERT ISLAND. 
THE Green Mountain railway on Mount Desert 
Island, Me., is intended for pleasure-travel. It was 
operated for the first time during the last summer 
season. Itis ina great measure a copy of the rail- 
way up Mount Washington, New Hampshire, built 
some thirteen years ago. These two lines, and the 
Mount Righi railway in Switzerland, are the only 
ones employing the central cog-rail as a means of 
surmounting steep gradients. The trip for tourists 
from Bar Harbor to the summit of Green Mountain 
is made, first, by wagons or stages, two miles and a 
half to Eagle Lake; thence by steamer on the lake 
two miles; and finally by rail sixty-three hundred 
feet, in which latter distance the ascent is twelve 
hundred and seventy feet to the summit, fifteen 
hundred and thirty-five feet above the sea. While 
the grade averages about a foot rise in four feet and 
a half distance, in some places it is as steep as one in 
three. 
_ Surveys were made, and the work of clearing and 
grading was begun, in the winter of 1882-83. In 
April a large force of men was employed, and the road 
was completed by July 1. The track is not raised on 
trestle-work, as is the case at Mount Washington : 
much of it, especially on the heaviest grades, is con- 
structed on the solid ledge. Where the longitudinal 
timbers, or stringers, rest directly upon the rock, iron 
bolts one and a quarter inches in diameter, six feet 
apart, are driven through them into holes drilled in 
the ledge. Where it is necessary to raise the string- 
ers above the surface in order to make a regular 
inclination, bed-ties are used every six feet, secured 
against slipping by two or three one and a quarter 
inch iron bolts firmly fixed in the rear of each tie. 
All longitudinal timbers required to bring the line to 
grade are fastened to the bed-ties with iron bolts of 
the same size. The timbers and ties in contact with 
the rock were carefully hewed, and fitted to place. 
SCIENCE. 
415 
The spruce timber needed for this portion of the 
work was obtained from a forest-growth on the 
mountain itself. 
The sleepers or ties, six inches square and six 
feet long, are laid upon the stringers at a distance of 
two feet from centre to centre, and two seven-eighth 
inch iron bolts are driven into the stringers, imme- 
diately in the rear of each tie, in grooves in the tie, 
which serve to prevent lateral motion. Upon the 
ties lie ‘T’-rails, joined by fish-plates and bolts, and 
spiked in the usual way. The rack or cog-rail in 
the middle of the track is made of two angle-irons 
which have between them cogs of one and a quarter 
inch iron accurately rolled to uniform size. This 
cog-rail is secured to the ties by two lag-screws, five 
inches and a half long, in every tie, and additional 
ones at each joint. The rack was manufactured by 
the Atlantic iron-works, East Boston. 
The engine weighs ten tons, and embodies all the 
improvements suggested by the operation of the 
White Mountain road. Its entire mechanism is 
double, — four cylinders, two cog-wheels, and two 
driving-shafts. Intermediate gearing between the 
crank-axles and cog-wheels reduces the speed, and 
inereases the tractive force. The cog-wheel axles 
carry ratchet-wheels with pawls; and either one of 
these ratchet-wheels, in case of accident to the en- 
gine, will hold the train on any grade. In addition, 
two band-brakes on the smaller shafts may be in- 
stantly applied by the engineer. The ascent is made 
by steam-power; and the engine, when backing down 
the mountain, is still kept in forward gear, that is, 
with valves set to go ahead, so that it is constantly 
pumping air into its boiler; and this air, allowed 
gradually to escape, exerts an upward tractive force, 
thus easing the descent. 
The floor of the passenger or observation car is 
adjusted so as to be level on the average grade, and 
the sides are open to admit of an unobstructed view. 
The car is always pushed ahead of the engine, and is 
provided with double hand-brakes, two cog-wheels, 
ratchet, and pawl, which will easily control the car 
in descending. CHARLES E. GREENE. 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS IN PETER- 
MANN’S MITTHEILUNGEN FOR 1883. 
In order to keep pace with the growth of knowl- 
edge respecting the natural history of man, one must 
not neglect the geographical journals. ‘The files of 
Petermann’s mittheilungen for the past year will be 
found quite rich, especially in ethnographic informa- 
tion. The following summary will guide to the most 
important contributions. 
Upon the subject of the variation of climate in the 
region of the southern Mediterranean and northern 
Sahara, Professor Fischer of Kiel holds, that, in this 
locality, a diminution of precipitation has taken place, 
the influence of which on health, population, and the 
means of living, is easily conjectured (pp. 1-4). 
The subject of marshes, inséabilis terra nec navi- 
gabilis aqua, begetter of pestilence, precursor of fertile 
