Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1864-01-08
Isthmus of Suez and Mount
ConiS.

Translated and condensed from tho Courier des
Etats Uas, by citizen of Ellsworth.l
Three agents, compara lively unknown
to preceding ages, have obtained posses
sion Of the physical world; these agents
are Electricity, Steam and Compressed
Air. Their power, developed and dl.
rected, will enable man to realize what
was until recently deemed beyond his
power.
Science, ntlen cUmpctiinS i,auuie .e--.
render her secrets, often assumes the garb
of magic, and clothes itself with apocaly-
ptio forms. Witness the locomotive,
borne on wings Of fire, whirllng hundreds
across deserts and through mountains
what is it but the beast OF the Appeal ypse?
Witness also, rays, of the sun, forced to
reproduce objects subjected to their action
and the electric machine flashing lightning
freighed with the thoughts of man.
With the aid of the three agents above
named, so rapid will be the progress, and
so boundess the field, where is the limit
to be assigned to the conquests Of man
over nature? The navigation of the air
has been recently suggested and why
should not the winds rs well as the waves
be made subscrvient to man ? What in
deed can be deemed impossible when we
consider tho works connected at Mount
Gems aud the Isthmus of Suez, with the
absolute assurance Of their completion
within definite period of time the i'm
possible will be hencctorth unknown.
Coal is necessary to generate steam !;
but steam is dispensed with in tunneling
the Alps compressed air supplies its
place, coal 50 far is dcthroned and this
diminuton of its use may effect change
in the political relations Of the world
Two things were to be effected in the
tunnel Of Mount Cefis, one was deemed
impossible, the other difficult the lmpos-
sible has been effected, the difficult ouy
remains to be perlormaa.
| Jst, Mount Cenis-That which was
deemed impossible to accomplish at
Mount Gents, was not to perloratc a
mountain over seven aud a half miles at
It's base but it was to supply vital air
the whole distance, which could not be
done by the air wells then in use. owing
to the great lcngthanl depth of the tunnel
Near the base OF the mountain, 52S feet
below the entrance Of the tunnel there
was valley a mile distant ; through this
valley ran Il permanent stream o. water ;
on this stream an hydraulic work was
erected to elaborate compressed air, 10
raise it % feet, AID then to drive it into
the tunnel as the work advanced. All
this having been effected, the impossible
ty was surmouutei.
BY the iaterjection of compressed air
through the long an deep excavation OF
the m5rhtain, which was filled with
smoke Of lamps and gunpowler, where
animal fe could not be sustained, the
miners are now supplied with fresh out
ward air, enabling them to continue their
labor without intermlssion. Tais con-
pressed air is also used to operate power
tu perforating machines, each one per-
forming twenty days work of man in an
hour; from this time forth, air ranks
with electricity az a motive power what
then the limit to be assigned to the
ACHE, cmcnts man, when exhaustlcss air
is pressed into his. Sc! vice.
The impossible having been accomplish
cl the tunnelint Of the Alps ia now a
mere work of time Without perlorat-
ors, tie labor might have been performed
in the course Of twenty years thanks to
compressed air, with TIE all of the per-
torators the work will be completed in
less than five years. BY the last of No.
vcmber past the tannel will have been
openc on the side of Badenoche and that
oil Modena ifc hundred and thirty-fve
rods but on the side of Modena
the perfocator has been in use only some
months, The advance now on each
side, is, on an average, nino feet 81
100 of foot "a day one thousand
c sht hundred and eighty-nina rods re-
main to be opened should the same rate
of advance be maintained, in less than four
and halt years road will be opened
through the Alps from Badcnc,he to
Modcna.
q, lstkmus OF suaz-Thc two impos-
sbilities to be overcome at the lsthmus
of Suez were, to support thirty thousand
lahorers in a desert over one hundred
miles in extent, without drop of water ;
and to fluid mouth for the canal on the
Mediterranean side, the fat shores Of that
sea being obstrrcted by the continual ac-
cumuhtion of the sand The last named
impossibiIity will be the first discussed.
Lepcrc, an able French Eagineer directed
by Bonaparte toascertaln the practicability
Of canal to unite the River Milo with
the Mediterranean, reported the work
was impraticable ON account of the OBJ
struction of the sea shore by continuous
accumulation of sand. Stephenson
who stood foremost in the rank of English
engineers, half Il century afterwards pro-
nounccd the same opinion The drag had
not then been invented, which made the
work practicable. But to make the drag
available, it was necessary to erect two
piers, at right angles with the shore, at
a convenient distance apart, for dikes to
prevent the invasion of the sand. swept
onward by the currents which ran parallel
to the coast. These piers erected, the
drag could be used to deepen the inter.
mediate channel, without its being filled
up as fast as it was cleared out. The
inpossibility Of Lepere AMI Stephenson
was removed.