The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-03 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, I‘IONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 3, 1866.

Parsons. Connecticut, Jas. T. Babcock and D. C. Scran-
ton. New York, Robert H. Orwyn and Samuel S. Tilden.
New Jersey, John T. Crowell and Thomas F. Randall.
Pennsylvania, S. M. Zulick and J. S. Black. Delaware,
J. S. Comegys and Edward S. Martin. Maryland, George
Swain and T. G. Pratt. Virginia, James F. Johnson and
Dr. E. C. Robinson. West Virginia, Daniel Lamb,
and John J. Jackson. North Carolina, Thomas
S. Ashe and Joseph H. Wilson. South Carolina,
James L. Orr and B. F. Perry. Georgia, J. H.
Christy and Thomas S. Hardeman. Florida, William
Marvin and Wilkenson Call. Mississippi, W. L. Sharkey
and George L. Pottes. Alabama, W. H. Crukshank and
C. C. Huckabee. Louisiana, Randall Hunt and Alfred
Henning. Arkansas, Lorenzo Gibson and A. W. English.
Texas, B. H. Epperson and John Hancock. Tennessee,
D. T. Tallisen and William D. Campbell. Kentucky, R.
H. Stanton and Hamilton Pope. Ohio, L. D. Campbell and
George B. Smyth. Indiana, E. J. Gooding and Thomas
Dowling. Illinois, John A. McClernand and Jessie
0. Norton. Michigan, Afred Russell and Byron
S. Sant. Missouri, the Honourable Barton Abell and
James S. Rollins. Minnesota, the Hon. H. M. Rice and
D. F. Norton. Wisconsin, James A. Noonan and S.
A. Pearce. lowa, George A. Parker and Wm. A. Chase.
Kansas, James A. McDowell and W. A. Tipton. Cali-
fornia, the Hon. Samuel Pardy and Joseph P. Hoge.
Nevada, John Carmichael and Hon. G. B. Hall. Oregon,
James W. Nesmith and B. W. Bonham. District of Columbia,
Josiah D. Hoover and J. B. Blake. Dacotah, N. K. Arm-
strong and N. W. Miner. Idaho, W. H. Wallace and H
Cummins. Nebraska, Gen. H. H. Heath and Hon. J. S.
Morton.

advanced $2, being last quoted 79 to 1, while the latter,
in face of the non-payment of Dividend, have maintained
their price well.
Atlantic and Great Securities continue to attract atten-
tion, the Debentures being taken at 62, and the Consoli-
dated Bonds at 47.
OFFICIAL TRANSACTIONS FOR THE WEEK.-17nited States
6 per Cent. 5.20 Bonds, 1882: Thursday, 691 I 70/ 70 ;
Friday, 7011 1 ; Saturday,_7olll; Monday, 721/2414 21;
Tuesday, 71/ 421 1; Wednesday, 72* 4t. Virginia
5 per Cent. Sterling Bonds : Thursday, —.
Virginia 6 per Cent. Dollar Bonds: Thursday, —;
Friday, 441; Tuesday, 48 ; Wednesday, —. Atlan.
and Gt. Westn. (N. Y. Sect.) Ist Mrt. Bonds, 1880
Friday, ; Tuesday, ; Wednesday, 66f. Atlan. and
Gt. Westn. 2nd Mrt. Bonds, 1881: Saturday, —.
Atlan. and Gt. Westn. (Penns. Sect.) Ist Mrt. Bonds,
1877: Monday, 791 ; Tuesday, 70. Atlan. and Great
Western Consolidated Bonds, 1895: Thursday, 45 37 ;
Friday, 471 6 8 74 6 ; Saturday, 46 8 61; Monday, 47 8 6 *;
Tuesday, 47 a6* ; Wednesday, 46 71. Erie Shares, $lOO,
all paid : Thursday, 44 -1 ; Friday, 441 4 ; Saturday,
441 k 4; Monday, 45 6 ; Tuesday, 45 .11; Wednesday, 45/ 5 ;
Erie Shares, 6 per cent. Convertible Bonds : Thirsday, ;
Monday, 70 ; Tuesday, 71. Illinois Central 7
per Cent. Bonds of 1875: Thursday, —; Monday, —.
Illinois Central Shares, all paid : Thursday, 77 6/ ;
Friday, 771 -1 I 1; Saturday, 771; Monday, 77* 82-3 11
Tuesday, 781 91; Wednesday, 781. Philadelphia and
Erie First Mortgage, 1881: Friday, 73; Saturday, 73 ;
Tuesday, 73/. Philadelphia and Erie First Mortgage,
1881, with option to be paid in Philadelphia : Saturday,
731. Pennsylvania Second Mort. Sterling Bonds, 1875 :
Tuesday, —.

M. Girard's system, the reader will understand, con,
stitutes per se a most powerful break. Supposing
the supply of water between the skates and the rails
to be cut off, the friction between the two metals
would resume all its intensity, and every skate be-
come ipso facto a break. If the water supply were to
be suppressed too abruptly, the instantaneous stop-
page of the train would expose the passengers to
serious danger, as the effect would be the same as a
collision between two trains.

M. Girard's model railway consists of two lines
—one, horizontal, is 40 metres in length ; the second,
50 metres long, has an incline of five centimetres
per metre. The trains ascend the gradient with a
rapidity fully equal to that of ordinary trains pro-
pelled by steam. Nothing can exceed the ease of
the motion ; and the facility with which the train
can be brought up, by the mere cutting off of the
water supply, is a powerful argument for the adop-
tion of these skates instead of wheels on ordinary
trains.

We must candidly confess our incompetency to
offer an opinion as to the advantages of M. Girard's
hydraulic propeller. It answers perfectly on his
model railway, but it appears to us that it would
not be practicable to have a reservoir of sufficient
size to supply the central tube with water for a long
distance : but it might be made useful to enable
heavy trains to ascend steep inclines. It is, perhaps,
an improvement on the atmospheric system, but
seems too complicated to be adopted on a line of
more than a few hundred yards, let alone hundred
miles.

But no such exception can be taken to his system
of using water to diminish friction, for there can be
no doubt that his skates glide along the rail thus
lubricated, and meet with far less resistance than
the wheels now in use. It might, perhaps—indeed, it
has been objected that very sharp curves might wear
out the ledge of the skates very rapidly ; but this
objection seems frivolous when the other advantages
of the system are considered. In any case, we think
we have done right in calling attention to this won-
derful invention, and have no hesitation in recording
our opinion that its adoption on ordinarylines would
be attended with great advantages, the principal
being—vast increase of speed, enormous economy of
steam, and a break power which exceeds any at
present known. We cannot help thinking that it
says little for the enterprise of railway companies in
France, which must have been acquainted with this
invention, that it should have so long remained a
mere experiment.—Morning Herald.