Januart 15, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



47 



which are made to new crematories by the daily 

 press of this country and Europe. In France a 

 very important advance has been made, as the 

 prefecture of the Seine has decided to spend 

 $40,000 for a crematorium in the great Parisian 

 cemetery, Pere Lachaise. Dr. G. Pini has recently 

 published a book on ' La cremation en Italie a 

 l'etranger de 1774 jusqu'a nos jours,' which shows 

 that in Italy but little progress had been made 

 until the cremation of the body of Albert Keller 

 on the 22d of January, 1876, about which time a 

 society of three hundred was organized at Milan, 

 which published a circular giving urgent reasons 

 for the practice. Thirty-one societies existed at 

 the date of publication of Dr. Pini's work, in the 

 principal cities of Italy, and 394 bodies had been 

 submitted to disposal by fire in the crematories 

 erected by those societies, mainly in Milan, Lodi, 

 Brescia, and Rome. More than three-fourths of 

 this number were cremated at Milan. The chief 

 point worthy of comment in the present law rela- 

 tive to the Society of Milan, is its method of deal- 

 ing with the only valid objection which has ever 

 been urged against cremation ; namely, the possi- 

 ble concealment of crime. The clause in question 

 reads as follows : "If the cause of death is 'in- 

 certaine, suspecte, imprevue, ou violente,' the cre- 

 mation of the body must be preceded by an 

 autopsy." In this country a pamphlet has re- 

 cently been published by the Worcester, Mass., 

 cremation society, written by Dr. Marble. His 

 argument might fitly be named, as he states, ' The 

 dangers of earth-burial.' He cites many instances 

 to prove that the graveyard is an objectionable 

 institution for sanitary reasons. Chief among the 

 resulting evik he places the pollution of water- 

 supplies. A Massachusetts act was passed in 

 1885, authorizing the formation of societies for 

 cremating the dead, and contains a provision for 

 the prevention of the concealment of crime simi- 

 lar to that in force in Milan. 



RAILROAD TO MERV, BOKHARA, AND 



SAMARKAND. 



While the attention of the world has been en- 

 gaged upon the Servian-Bulgarian disputes, the 

 Russian engineers have been pushing on the Trans- 

 Caspian railroad, and transforming this mysterious 

 Asia into a Russian province. This road, one of 

 the wonders of our age, which commences at the 

 Caspian Sea, is already opened three hundred and 

 eighty kilometres, to within eighty kilometres of 



Askabad, and was to be opened to that place in 

 December, 1885. 



The grading of the road is finished to Dushak, 

 one hundred and fifty kilometres south-east of 

 Askabad. At this point the road will branch. The 

 Indian branch will be built to Saraks, about two 

 hundred kilometres, where it will connect with 

 the English road from Quetta, through Afghanistan, 

 making the great road to India. The other branch 

 will run north-east into central Asia, crossing the 

 Amu Daria, and running through Bokhara to 

 Samarkand. 



This line has been commenced, but it will take at 

 least three years to complete it. It passes through 

 Merv, and will be finished to that place next spring. 

 From the Caspian Sea to Merv is about six hun- 

 dred kilometres, and thence to the river Amu 

 Daria is about five hundred kilometres. 



The road to Dushak crosses a small portion of 

 the Great Desert from the Caspian Sea, about 

 one hundred kilometres,' to the great range of 

 mountains that separate Persia from Turkestan, 

 thence along the foot of this range of mountains, 

 through a tolerably well-watered region, to Du- 

 shak. Here it crosses the steppes of the Great 

 Desert, towards those broad plains whence Attila, 

 Genghis Khan, and Tamerlane led forth their 

 armies to overrun Europe. 



All the materials for the railroad, even the wood 

 for its construction, come from the interior of 

 Russia. Some of the workmen come from beyond 

 Smolensk in Russia, near the borders of Poland ; 

 others are the war-like Tekkes and Turkomans, of 

 whom nearly eight thousand have been employed 

 upon the road ; while more are seeking employ- 

 ment than are required. 



The horses are purchased in the steppes of 

 Kirghiz, one thousand kilometres east from Merv, 

 while their drivers are the Cossacks from the 

 district of the Don, two thousand kilometres 

 west. 



Water, which is wanting almost everywhere in 

 these vast steppes, is collected in the oases. It is 

 frequently muddy and sometimes salt, and is then 

 purified by powerful filters, and pumped through 

 pipes, which furnish it to the laborers, thirty kilo- 

 metres distant. Coal and wood for fuel are 

 wanting ; but petroleum has been discovered in 

 almost unlimited quantities, and is used for loco- 

 motives and steamers. 



The Russian colony lives in ambulant villages, 

 moving along as the work progresses, carrying 

 with it the commissariat, stores, and offices, and 

 a collection of such articles as may be required 

 for the work or the workmen. The telegraph 

 precedes the railroad ; and already Merv, Samar- 

 kand, and Bokhara are connected by wires with 



