The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-09-04 00:00:00

CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

A young coloured lady of Philadelphia wears shoes
seventeen inches long, and there is so much of her on the
ground that she never gets the dampness out of her system.
A law of Pennsylvania makes the taking of money
at the door of a theatre on Sunday illegal, wherefore it is in-
variably taken at the windows.
Indiana girls take part in wrestling matches, and
tie re is little difficulty in getting young fellows to follow
Jacob's example, and try a bout with any angel they may
bring on. '
An American -Johnfry' • one of the powerfully in-
tellectual children which U.S. boasts of, in reply to How
many seasons att. there ?" answered swiftly, " Six : spring,
summer, autumn, winter, oyster season, and Thomson's
Seasuna.'" .
The St. Louie Journal says: "These three things it
is unwise to repose confidence In—a Democratic Legislature,
' nitro-glycerine, and a mule's sense of honour."
A man went into a furniture room at Mankato the
other day, and sat down on a wooden-bottomed chair. He
imMedlatelv arose and danced and howled like the wildest
kind of dervish. The proprietor anxiously inquired if he had an
attack of any kind. "A tack I" yelled the man. "I should
say so ;and the confounded thing stood on its head, too I"
There is one man at Cape May who is speedily get-
ting rich, andlae is a purveyor of mosquito-nets. The latest
Invention is a porfable "neck protection" which goes over the
head of the pretty woman from Philadelphia, and has a slid-
ing door in thliftcont.of iflrte-ssrcsitiftne444,4"). „LA,
kiss good-bye when the trgeeleavea. . ,
Who would care to dootor.the sick InCliank.aelnyo,
Cal.? They have a way there (rt killing every doctor who
fails to cure three patients; Tivo Dreak-deivns they stand,.
but no third. After such evidence of "ioadequate skill they
go for M.D. with a shot-gun, the: relatives 01-the departed
thus avenging their cold cOustn.' It isn't stated whether it
Is thought necessary to sCalp the victim, but probably it is.
A couple in Columbus, Ga., lately left the city to
r4et married, and when they arrived at their destination soon
prosured a minister, when the marriage ceremony began. It
had gotten as far as-the joining bands, and the words making
them one were almost announced„when the fair one peremp-
torily "hacked out," and no persuasion could induce her
to go further. A wise thought probably influenced the
maiden.
THE YANKEE CANVASSER.—A farmer on the road.
between Charlton and Worcester, Mass., having been ter-
ribly annoyed by canvassers, put up a sign, "No sewing
. tcanvasser
f the farmer machines wanted here. Got one." It was no use' the next
calaeournevg.. That
ap a trade. asser wanted to see the machine, "and perhaps he'd
hitch up S
workedroi g
tefl
llfyorpiatt pleidutttlweuipih'it'lhGe, eo b
small-pox,
thenhaue-spmoaxl,cl-wapmho x
hwho
suddenly said, "Seeing you've got It bad here they've put
me on this coute:j

THE CHANNEL TUNNEL SCHEME.

At the meeting of the British Association at Bristol,
on Saturday, Professor Hebert read a paper on the
-undulations of the chalk-in the north of-France, and .
their probable e3Listence, under the Straits of Dover.
He showed that two series of fiexureS exist in the
north-west of France. in shell a Wanner as' to lead to
the inference that similar folds are to be found in the
Channel. If this were ao the tunnel would have to be
constructed in a circuitous line instead, of a. straight
one. A fault many feet in the throw was proved to
:alba at Fecamp, which wou‘d run across the tunnel
line.—Sir J. Hawkshaw said that fortunately for him-
self and engineers it was not necessary to take into
consideration such a wide range as professor Hebert had
travelled over. All he had to do with in connection
with the proposed tunnel under the Channel was only a
very small portion of the region referred to, and be
had taken means to ascertain as nearly as practicable
what was the state of things on that portion of
the tunnel, and he did not think that it accorded
with the theory of Professor Hebert. , The rat,
quiry that was made was geologicall3r, but by careful
levelling and measurement on each hide of the Channel
the outcrops of the beds which lie beneath the Channel
were ascertained as accurately as could be done, and-
having got the position of the beds on each side of the
Channel, and having ascertained their thickness,
knowing the depth of the Channel, the outcrops of the
various beds were ascertained, and they were laid down
on a geological map. This was not sufficientto satisfy.
him, because in a work of this "sort mere accurate
improvement must be obtained than should be got
from the system of measurement. at appeared from',
the geological chart that a line somewhere from St.i
Margaret's Bay across to Sangatte would be sufficient
in position and level to enable it to be carried through
the lower chalk; but to verify _this the,next step wos
to bore St. Margaret's By entirely througla the
chalk, and to bore at Sangatte, where the boring did
not pass quite through the chalk, because at the depth
of 600 feet the hole fell in, although the boring was quite
deep enough for his purpose. It was thus found that
there was chalk on each side of the Channel. An
artesian well was sunk at Calais clean through
the chalk into the green sand, so that there were
three wells sunk within that narrow region. That
was satisfactory so far, and indicated certain depths
which enabled him to reason upon them, but after that
an examination was made over a more extended region
of the Channel in 500 places with an apparatus made
for the purpose. The result of that examination
verified the previous geological inquiry. Where the
geological maps showed chalk, chalk was brought up,
and where the map showed outcrop of the lower beds,
portions of those beds were found and brought up, and
therefore, so far as that examination could guide them
there was no salt below the green sand near the line of
the Channel. He felt tolerably well assured that from
St. Margearet's Bay to Sangatte the bottom of the
Channel was of chalk, and there was no outcrop there
of salt or green sand. Of course this was so far in
corroboration of what had been done before, and he
would say at once that if it were necessary in con-
structing the tunnel to follow the circuitous line which
was pointed out by Professor Hebert it could not be
constructed. It could only be constructed on the
assumption that it would be as nearly as possible on
straight lines. The tunnel would be about 2301 t. below
the bottom of the Channel, the greatest depth of which
was 180 ft. Supposing the chalk beds were tolerably
uniform, the Channel would be in the position he *ad
indi,:ated. Inasmuch as the chalk had been clean
bored through at Dover, or nearly bored through at
Sangatte, it was known that there was chalk wholly
across the Channel. He was not apprehensive of
going out with the tunnel into the other beds. With
730 feet of solid matter betwixt the tunnel and the bed
, of the Channel, small leakages would not be a matter
that would prevent the execution of a work of that
kind. He was aware of thei difficulties that would
have to be encountered, and that in many of these
things the Scotch verdict of "Not proven" had to be
returned, but still he had had sufficient proof to induce
him to enter upon such a work as the making of the
tunnel.

T; E • SEVERN TUNNEL
, .
Mr. Charles Ri ardson,-C.E ; read a paper on "The
Severn Tunnel," work undertaken by the Great Western
.Railway Company for the purpose of connecting their system
at Bristol with that in South Wales in the most advantageous
and direct way.
The tunnel will be about 4] miles in length, one-
half Of which will 'be underAhe xiier Severn. It will
connect in the most direet mariner the 'Mineral and:
populous districts of 'South Wales With Bristaand tite
South of England, and will doubtless form the expresel
route from London to South Wales. It; is, in fact, the,
missing link in the railway communication of Oak..
district. The construction of a bridge across the
Severn at this point would be attended with great lislt
and expense. The bridge must be 100 ft. above high
water, and must either cross the " Shoots " by one
enormous span of 1,300 ft., or otherwise involve the
placing of two piers in this swift channel, here 100 ft.
deep at high water, and then the central span must be
7001 t. or 8001 t. Mr: Richardson proceeded to
state that the shaft was begun in March, 1873.
The bottom of the shaft was reached and the heading
started in December, 1874. As it was decided
to drive the heading by the use of the new rock drill,
the air pumps and other machinery necessary for this
purpose had to be procured and fixed in place. The
M'Kean drills were set to work at the end of January,
1875. These drills were entirely new to the men, and
they were at first prejudiced against their use. How-
ever, the air pump happened to break down, and the
men had to go to work for a few shifts in the old style.
Their eyes were then opened. They appeared to them-
selves to be doing nothing. Dynamite was also used
Instead of the old-fashioned blasting powder. The
men now worked in three eight-hour shifts, and accom-
plished from 14 to 18 yards in the week. In conclu-
sion Mr. Richardson observed that probably the whole
of that part of the tunnel which will be under the
" Shoots ' will have to be cut through the hard pennant
sandstone. A good, strong, and self-supporting rock
like this makes emost favourable ground for the con-
struction of the Severn Tunnel.