The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-02-03

each a recognized authority in his special
branch-and together these eminent
specialists have produced a condensed yet
surprisingly complete wolk for the perusal
and reference of students ard general
readers. The matter as been printed in
a series of attractive papers in ScrGbaer'S
Magazine, but is here collected in q single
handsome volume, which satisfactorily
answers the questions that are constantly
being asked concerning the principles and
methods OF producing and measuring cleo
trlclty, the electric motor, the electric
railway, electric lighting, telegraphy, sub
marine cables, electricity in naval andland
warfare, electricity in the household, and
the effects of electricity on the body.
A PRIMITIVE KRUPP. Near Apt, in the
Freoch department of Vaucluse, a retired
inspector of fores has accidentally un.
-earthed some ancient work o. peculiar in
terest. The remains were found on a bed
of pebbles eight fee below the surface,
and seem to be those of a prehistoric
workshop. The flint implements were so
sharp and well preserved as to indicate
that they had never been taken from the
place where they were shaped, and two
nuclei were discOv red upon which some
students succeeded in replacing the pieces
Clipped of. Here, then, is a factory of
the stone age with the materials in such
position as to indicate exactly she pro-
cedure of the early workman.
INDIVIDUALITY IN THUMBs.-The Chinese
are credited with many things, including
the use for a long time of thumb impress
sions as proofs of identity. This, how
ever, Mr.. Francis Gallon, the eminent
Briti'h anthropologist, ~pronounces an
gorgeous error, inasmuch as the Chinese
have employed thumb impressions only as
a kind of oath or signature. Such i'm
presSions, showing the curves in the ridges
OF the bulbs of the thumbs or forefngers,
are now known to be an unfailing mark
OF identity, since they d. not vary from
youth to age, and are different in different
persons. Mr.. Gallon has the impressions
of the careful y linked thumbs of over
1000 persons, and in them he traces
typical forms, of which the individual
forms are simply varieties.
A RUSSIAN WoRK.-One of the greatest
and most commendsble of modern engi-
neering enterprises is being carried out
o7 the Government Of Russia, which has
had several thousand mer employed since
1870 in the work Of draining the Pinsk
marshes. This immense uninhabitable
district is situated about midway between
the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, and
covers an area about equal to that of the
State of Pennsylvania, The work per-
formed incl ldes the builling of bridges
and the digging of wells, in addition to
the construction of canals, drains and
embankments. The latest report states
taat no less than 185 square miles have
been drained on the banks of the Pripet,
retaining more than 100000 acres Of
meadow land. Great forests have been
made accessio Die, and are beginning to be
profitable.
A PARTISAN CARRIAGE.-The problem
OF making a light steam carriage has been
attacked IN a promising way by NJ. Ser
pollet, the French engineer whose install
taneous steam generator was brought to
n )tice a year or two ago. This generator
consists of a strong spiral tube Fl ON which
a fine jet OF water issues over a fire and
ms 5antly expands into steSn' explosion
being impossible, and steam Deing brought
at one to full pressure. Such a boiler is
especially adopted for light vehicles. M.
SarpOllet has been experimenting with it
OA G1CyC4CSj duu III us IdlcSG SuOrG ne
employees it on a large phaeton, capable of
carrying six persons on its Cwo seats,
with a seventh passenger GA a stool in
front. The carriage IS elegant in appear
ance, and very comfortable. The boiler is
under the rear seat, and the fre-box
receives fuel automatically form chests on
each side, while the water reservoir and
the engine are placed under the front seat.
The normal horsepower is four, which
may be instantaneously increased to six.
Aspeed }: fifteen miles an hour is obtained,
and grades of n in II are easily sur
mounted with a full load. Water may oe
carried for a trip of ABOUT twenty miles,
and fuel for thiry-fV five miles, and with a
full charge of fuel and water the total
weight of the carriage is 1850 pounds.
Coxe, of which about thirty pounds is
consumed per horse-p W hour, is pre-
ferred for fuel on city streets on account
of its smockelessness. This novel vehicle
is read ly guided through crowded
thoroughfares, and is permitted on the
streets of Paris with no restriction except
that the speed shall not exceed ten miles
an hour.