14 THE YOUNG 
united by means of good glue, will have 
simply the strength of dirt. Moreover, we 
must remember that the different cements 
do not adhere with equal force to substances 
of different kinds. Thus glue adheres 
powerfully to wood and paper, but not at all 
to metal or glass. Shellac, if properly ap- 
plied, adheres readily to earthenware, glass 
and metal, but not to some other sub- 
stances. If, then, we apply glue to a greasy 
surface it will not stick. Hence the neces- 
sity for great cleanHness. All surfaces 
should be kept as clean as possible, or if 
they should get accidentally soiled, they 
should be carefully cleaned. The mere 
rubbing of two wooden surfaces with a 
dirty hand will weaken the subsequent glue 
joint by at least ten per cent. When glass 
or earthenware are accidentally broken, and 
it is not convenient to mend them on the 
instant, they should be carefully wrapped 
Tip in separate pieces of paper and laid 
away where they will not be soiled, and 
where the edges will not be chipped. In 
the case of broken glass or earthenware, 
the joint will be greatly disfigured and con- 
siderably weakened if the edges are chjpped 
and broken by careless handling, or by 
being needlessly and frequently fitted to- 
gether. Keep the pieces from contact with 
each other and with foreign substances, 
until you are ready to join them, and the 
joint will then be not only strong, but al- 
most invisible. 
It may be well to remind those who have 
liad little experience in mending broken 
articles that it is quite important that the 
ooloY of the cement should accord with the 
•color of the article to be mended. A white 
porcelain cup mended with black cement 
^ould show some very ugly lines. If, how- 
•<ever, a white cement be used, the lines of 
^fracture will be invisible. 
— Mr. S. H. Scudder, librarian of the 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has 
prepared a catalogue of all scientific publica- 
tions, whether issued at stated or irregular 
intervals. The work will be published, and 
will extend to 300 pp., large octavo. 
SCIENTIST. 
Beauty and Strength. 
TT is a notable truth, that the most elegant 
forms are in general the strongest. The 
line of grace and beauty is not only correct 
as an element of art, but as a model for the 
architect and the engineer. The massive 
stone structures of olden times, in which 
huge flat stones took the place of arches, 
were singularly inelegant and very weak, 
when compared with the light and graceful 
arches of modern times. And it is not only 
in regard to the extensive works of the en- 
gineer and architect that this principle ap- 
plies; in the designs of the carpenter, the 
machinist, the blacksmith, the tinsmith, 
and a host of others, it will be found that 
gracefully curved lines confer an element of 
strength as well as of beauty. Vibrations, 
when transmitted along such lines, are 
never suddenly checked, and the material is 
never exposed to those sudden strains which 
always occur wherever right angles and 
square joints are found. 
» ^ » 
Crossing the Atlantic in a Twenty-foot 
Boat. 
EVEEY ONE of our readers has probably 
heard of the feat of Captain Crapo 
and his wife, who recently crossed the At- 
lantic in a boat whose tonnage is a little 
over a ton and a half. The enterprise was 
a bold one, especially for a woman, and as 
no well-illustrated account has yet been 
published of the boat and her voyage, we 
feel sure that a large number of our sub- 
scribers, especially those interested in boat- 
building, yachting, canoeing, etc., will be 
interested in the following description. 
No great problems have been solved, and 
perhaps nothing has been done, the possi- 
bility of accomplishing which with cer- 
tainty could not have been predicted before- 
hand. Captain Crapo and his wife have, 
however, the merit of proving, by actual 
experience, that long voyages can be made, 
in very rough weather, in comparatively 
small boats; and to the captain is due the 
credit of showing just the means required 
for this end. Moreover, the fact that such 
