Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-11-14

many weeks. 1t is stated that call day Sunday,
the Russian corvette was being boarded by tugs
and larger steamers from the city"
A perfectly frc-proof material for building
has not yet been found. Most kinds of stone
will survive the test of any ordinary conhagra-
tion, and are generally regarded as practically
safe. Brick is more refractory, and Mr.. Mullet,
the government architect, calls it fire proof
material, but it is possible that even brick may
succumb to a sufficiently fierce flame; at
ali events it may become so heated as TO SET fire
to Ecombustbles in contact with it. perfect
material for building should not only be itself
indesuuctible by fire, but should have the ca
paeity OF excluding the heat from the enclosure
which it surrounded. 1t should be incapable of
disintegration, of melting down or becoming
Yolatilzcd, and should be either perfect non
conductor Of heat OF have the property of re-
naming at a moderate temperature even when
exposed TO a great heat. Such Il substance is NOT
known in the realms Of nature, but the Scientific
American suggests that It may not be impossible
TO contriyc an efficient substitute for it, Water,
except un Ter pressure, cannot be heated higher
than the boiling point. II building could be
contryed so that its walls and roof might be
filled with water, either permanently or on au
emergency, it would withstand any heat aud
preserve its contents from a greater heat than
that of boiling water, so long as the supply Of
water was maintained, and this heat would NOT
materially injure most of the materials likely to
be contained in dwellings or warehouses. The
article to which We refer adds:
As matter of interesting computation, let us
estimate the amount of water necessary to pro-
tect building one hundred feet long thirty
feet wide and seventy leet high, having the or
dinaly fat roof. The Superfces of such build
ing exposed 10 fire would be equal to the etfec-
tive heating surface of a 1927 horse power boiler,
and one that will eYdpoTate 1927 cubic feet per
hour; so that, admitting all sides TO be equally
exposed, thar amount Of water would keep the
building and contents down 10 a temperature OF
2I2 degrees Fahrenheit
Practically, however, only the ends and top
OF building in the centre of block would
need such protection, unless the building next
it should take fire, SO that, in most cases, only
about 665 cubic 1eet of water per hour would be
necessary, suppOSing the heat Of the ends and
top 10 be intense enough 10 keep all the water
boiling. II would he clearly impossible to burn
a city made up Of such buildings. If the hint
is won't anything, we leave it for inventors to
put il into practical form. The problem is to
make structure that fire cannot destroy.
The NAsHUA AND ROCHESTER, RAILROAD,
when completed, will make an important link in
the chain OF railroad communication between
the extreme east and New York, and it will also
be a valuable tributary 10 the system of rail-
roads which centers in Worcester, and forms
such an essential element in the prosperity of
airs f,Fl, q. A..
lures of New Hampshire and Massachusetts,, the
directors of this road, and of the Worcester and
Nashua railroad are authorized to execute an
agreement to lease the former road TO the latter
for period not less than twenty years, at a rent
OF SIX per cent per year on the cost of construc-
ton. This will secure TO all stockholders
of the Nashua and Rochester road a
certain and reasonable interest on their in
vestment, and it will doubtless be a
sufficient inducement to persons living or own
ing property near the line of the proposed road
or otherwise interested in its success, 10 subscribe
for the whole amount of its capital stock. The
subscription books now opened contain the con-
dition that no single assessment shall exceed
twenty-five per cent, or twenty-five dollars on
not less than sixty days between the assess
ments, and interest is allowed on each assess
ment from the time Of payment till the road is
completed at SIX per cent. Another condition.
that, before any assessment is made, the Wor-
eester and Nashua road shall take lease OF
this road, or enter into an agreement to do so
when the Nashua and Rochester railroad is COM
pleted, is already comnlied witb
The new railroad will connect at Rochester
with other roads already in operation, building
Or projected, extending into northern New
Hampshire, Canada and Maine, and opening up
vast extent Of country Of excellent natural adj
vantages. Ii will also connect there with the
Portland and Rochester railroad, making
route between this city and Portland a trfe
shorter than that through PostOn, but prefer
able otherwise, because it will avoid the incon
venienee of transporting passengers aud bag
gage across the latter city. Beyond Portland,
OR by more direct route leaving the Portland
and Rochester railroad at an intermediate point,
there are connections with the European and
North American railway to ST. John and 10
Halifax. Only eighteen miles of this railway
are yet unfinished, and that is uIl-
der contract to be completed in July
next. The through route between New
York and Halifax will inevitably attract much
business, both of passengers and freight, aud il
will lead directly through Worcester. Few
roads have such assured prospects of immediate
and profitable business, and there is no other
railroad connection yet incomplete Of more i'm
portauce 10 the business interests Of Worcester
or course there is no doubt that this link oi
only forty-eght miles will be constructed and
there Is every reason for Fastening its comnle-
zion as soon as the subscriptions 10 the stock arc
full, which, With the usefulness of the road il
self and the certainty Of a steady income on
the investment secured by the lease to the
Nashua road, ought 10 be the case very soon.
Russia is contemplating vast work of inter
nal improvement, no less than connecting by Q
canal the waters Of The Black and Caspian seas
This was iavorite project Of Peter the Great
aud during and since his time several plan.
were eonifived to accomplish it. A plain OF
comparatively low elevation extends between IN,
Caspian sea aud the Sea Of Azof, an arm or bay
Of the Black sea- This plain, it is eonieetured
was at some remote period the bed Of a strait
connecting the two seas, aud along its course :