Litchfield enquirer., 1870-12-08

ature of the interior is very high and tlit air foul--partly from the nat uraliy increased heat due to the depth below the surface, ,anl
 partly to the large number of human be
 ings and horses and the repeated firing o blasts. The actual temperature is about eighty degrees Fahrenheit, and has varied
 little for some time. The works are carri
 ed on necessarily. day and night, summer
 and winter, week day and Sunday; the on ly intervals being at the great festivals of the
 church. The number of hours ofidelnes:
 in the year is thus very small.
 The work-people appear we'll cared fol
 and active. The number at present em ployed at each end, including those com pleting the railway communications
 amounts to nearly thousand; but the,
 are widely distributed, and you do not set
 many in any one place They lodge in ! the hamlets that have arisen close to the
 works at each end, at some little distance from the old village of Bardoneche and Modana, which preserve tn, ir primitive
 simplicity.
 The level of the tunnel at Modana has
 been already alluded to as being conside.
 rably above that of the valley of the Aac.
 To equalize as far as possible the levels oi the two ends of the tunnel. the entrance on the north or French side, as has been already explained, has been placed at a considerable height above the river, and therefore much higher than the level oi the road at St. Michael. h other respects there is little difference in the arrauge- ments, and the constructions both for the workers and employees, are nearly the same here as at Bardoneche.
 So much has been effected that the final completion of this great work Is as much q Certainty as any engineering ope- ration in progress can well be. It has been carried through from the beginning with great steadiness, and not one of the numerous drawbacks that might have in terfered to delay it's progress has been ex- perienced. The machinery has been so far perfected during the construction that, In spite of the enormous distance of the power from it's application, the rate of progress has rather increased than dimin- lshed There have been no hreakages of machinery, no falling in of the roof, no rush of water. There appear to have been no strikes of workmen and no failures in the supply of money and materi al. It ro- mains only that the two ends should be happily brought together without diver gence, to complete the good fortune that has hitherto never failed. Every precau ton has been taken for this purpose that could be suggested. There are observato- ries at each end, and one on the mountain top. immediately above the tunnel; but there are great practical difficulties in ob serving, and very small error would be. come serious when carried through so great distance as three or four miles of underground work. The approach is now so near that It is no doubt possible for sounds to be heard through the interven- Ing rocks. This has not yet been attenlpt- ed, but it is the intention of the engineers to try the experiment on the first occasion when the works are stopped. This will af- ford an additional illustration of the very near accomplishment of the undertaking. In conducting the work there is a small heading or gallery always Carried on in ad- vance of the great tunnel, and the inter- val between the actual end of the tunnel and the part bricked in and completed is two or three hundred yards. It is in this last space that the work is of course being carried on. - sM.. \.
 RECAPITULATION. s
 Such then Is the state and such the history of the great tunnel under the Alps. It Is work altogether exceptional, being the first instance of the perforation of a great mountain axis; the first in which an important tunnel has been attempted ex- clusvely from the two ends without shafts; the first in which the ingenious machinery for boring the rock preparatory to blast, ing has been carried into effect It will probably be completed within the time originally contemplated. IL has been Car ried on throughout by Italians; the oigin- al selection of the site and the suggestion and perfecting of the machinery by which it has been possible to Carry it through iu reasonable time, are alec Italian. Tie countrymen of Calico and of d host of Ill genious inventors known to fame, have shown that they are no unworthy descend ants of these great men. @4 75' ~ A WEsToN's CONTRIBUTION TO SCIENCE. = We are glad if any useful knowledge can come out of the pedestrian Weston's .e- peated trials and failures. During his re- cert trial he was subjected to scientific scrutiny by Professors Doremus, Mott and Flint. The investigations were made for five days before his walk, during the five days of the feat and for five days afterward The data obtained, according to the New York Sun. show conclusively that to elimi- nate the uric acid which is formed in the body exercise is absolutely necessary. The uric acid is a compound of urea and oxy gen. and in Qouty affections it forms A com