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Publications received at Editor's Office, Nov. 19 ELECTRICAL TESTING BUREAU, SCIENCE CLUBBING RATES.

Dec. I.

ALASKA, Report of an Expedition to the Copper, Tananá,

and Koyukuk Rivers in the Territory of. in the Year 1885, made by Lieut. H. T. Allen. Washington, Government. 172 p. 80. ALLEN, T. F. The Characea of America. Part I. Introduction, Morphology, and Classification. New York, 10 E. 36th St. 64 p. 8°.

BARTON, S The Battle of the Swash and the Capture of Canada. New York, C. T. Dillingham. 131 p. 16°. 50 cents.

BAUER, G. Spelin. A Universal Language. Tr. by Charles T. Strauss. New York, Charles T. Strauss. 28 p. 12°.

Philadelphia,

BURT, B. C. A Brief History of Greek Philosophy.
Boston, Ginn. 296 p. 12. $1.25.
CARRINGTON, H. B. Patriotic Reader.
Lippincott. 595 P. 120. $1 20.
CLARKE, J. M. Report on Bones of Mastodon or Ele-
phas, found in Association with Human Relics in
the village of Attica, Wyoming Co., N.Y. Albany, J.
B. Lyon, Pr. 7 p. 8°.

CORY, C. B. Hypnotism or Mesmerism Boston, Mudge.
61 p. 12°.

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DAVENPORT, R. B. The Death-Blow to Spiritualism. Subscription Agents Wanted.

New G. W. Dillingham. 247 p. 16°. 50 cents.
ERDE, Die. Lief. 36-40. Leipzig, Hartleben. fo.
ETHERIDGE, R. Fossils of the British Islands. Vol. I.
Paleozoic. Oxford, Clarendon Pr. 468 p. 4°.
FISKE, J. The Critical Period of American History. 1783-
1789. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin, &
Co. 368 p. 12°. $2.
GREELY, A. W. American Weather. New York, Dodd,
Mead, & Co. 286 p. 120.

-Report on the Proceedings of the United States Ex-
pedition to Lady Franklin Bay, Grinnell Land. Vol.
1. Washington, Government. 543 P. 4°.
HAZEN, H. A. Hand-Book of Meteorological Tables.
Washington, The Author. 127 p. 80.
HOLBROOK, M. L. Eating for Strength; or, Food and
Diet in their Relation to Health and Work. New

York, M. L. Holbrook & Co. 236 p. 120. KAY, D. Memory: What it is and How to Improve it. (Internat. Educ. Ser., Vol. VIII.) New York, Appleton. 334 P. 16°. LANCIANI. R. Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin, & Co 329 p 8°. $6. MACOUN, J. Catalogue of Canadian Plants. Part IV.

Endogens. Montreal, Dawson Bros. 248 p. 8°. MORAL and Scientific Companion. Vol. I. No. 1. Florence, Arizona, Eugene Arthur Browne. 4 p. f°. 50 cents per year.

NUTTALL, Zelia. Standard or Head-Dress? (Archæol.
and Ethnol. Papers of Peabody Mus.. Harv. Univ.,
Vol. I. No. 1) Cambridge, Peabody Mus. 52 p. 8°.
PENNSYLVANIA Geological Survey. Atlas Eastern Middle
Anthracite Field, Part II. Harrisburg, State. 8°.
PROCTOR, R. A. Old and New Astronomy. Parts VI.

and VII. London and New York, Longmans, Green,
& Co. 128 p. 8°.

ROGERS, JE. T. The Story of Holland. New York,
Putnam. 388 p. 12. $1.50.

SERVISS, G. P. Astronomy with an Opera-Glass. New
York, Appleton. 154 p. 8°. $1.50.
WALSH, W. S Paradoxes of a Philistine. Philadelphia.
Lippincott. 192 p. 16°. $1.
WRITER'S Handbook, the. Philadelphia, Lippincott.
148 p. 12°. $2.50.

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253 Fifth Ave., New York.

We cordially endorse this scheme, and will add very liberal commissions for all willing to canvass for Swiss Cross subscriptions. N. D. C. Hodges, 47 Lafayette Place, New York.

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1888.

THE HAUSS ELECTRIC RAILWAY. ALTHOUGH that which has been accomplished within the past ten years in the applications of electricity to the arts of civilization affords a never-failing theme of interesting comment, it is more than probable that we have really only witnessed thus far the beginnings of its possible applications. We may anticipate, from the varied forms in which electricity will ultimately be applied for the ransmission of power, results even more remarkable than those

something that no one disputes; and the eagerness with which intelligent people of all occupations follow the details of every new experiment having this for its objective point, affords the best evidence that the right method will receive a warm and unanimous welcome when it makes its title clear to the claim.

The conditions which an electrically operated railway in the streets of a city must fulfil are difficult of attainment. It must be entirely free from danger; it must be simple in construction and operation; and it must be an economical system in respect of first cost, maintenance, and operation. An additional point will be gained if a system of this kind could be devised by which the rolling stock of the present tramway companies could be utilized. The

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which have followed its application in the field of illumination. It is well established that the energy of the electric current may be conducted, with comparatively little loss, over great distances; and the practical possibilities which this fact suggests of employing this agent as an advantageous substitute for steam in the production of motive power are fully appreciated by the army of able and ingenious inventors who are directing their energies to the practical side of electrical science. It is gratifying to know, also, by the admissions of so eminent an electrician as Professor Ayrton, that in this direction American electrical engineers have advanced considerably beyond their European brethren; for, while we have thousands of electric motors driving machinery of various kinds in this country, they are, with a few notable exceptions, practically unknown in Europe.

The most interesting and important of the problems involving the utilization of electricity for the transmission of energy is that of the electric railway. The successful solution of this problem, it is safe to say, will prove a great blessing to our cities in definitely settling the question of rapid transit. That sooner or later a method of electric transmission for this important service will be found, is

system that shall most fully realize these conditions will have successfully solved the problem of the electric railway for city service.

We have lately had the opportunity of examining and witnessing the operation of a system of electric railway for which claims of unusual merit are made. It is the Hauss electric railway, controlled by the Hauss Electric Company, and we shall devote some space to the consideration of its merits. As these may best be made conspicuous by comparison, we may properly consider the features of the several electric railway systems now in use.

The various systems now before the public may be enumerated as follows: first, the overhead system; second, the third-rail system; third, the use of the two rails as conductors; fourth, underground conduits; fifth, storage-battery; sixth, the Hauss insulated, sectional, underground system.

Respecting the system employing an overhead conductor, it may be said that its characteristic feature- the necessity of employing lines of posts and wires strung overhead-is an objection of the most serious character, which is practically prohibitive of its use in the built-up sections of cities, leaving out of the question the

serious troubles encountered in switching and crossing where many cars are used.

The third-rail system has in many cases been discarded, on account of the danger of receiving shocks to which persons and animals are exposed in crossing the rails, and on account of the great loss by leakage due to the extreme difficulty experienced in maintaining proper insulation.

The system using the rails as conductors has been discarded, because of the same objections that have just been urged against the third-rail system. The objections to the underground conduit system are the great first cost; the necessity and the expense of tearing up the streets, which in many cases prohibits its adoption; and the necessity of providing for its perfect drainage, which, in connection with the serious troubles in maintaining insulation, greatly adds to the cost of its maintenance and the running expenses.

The storage-battery plan, at first thought, would seem to be the ideal system. It dispenses with the necessity of a continuous conductor, the electrical generator and motive power are all contained within the car, and there is apparently an entire absence of any possibility of danger to passengers. These favorable anticipations would be justified were it once demonstrated that a storage-battery had been devised that was economical of power, of reasonable weight, and durable in service. Thus far, however, the best storage-battery that has been devised is very wasteful as a source of motive power, yielding at most but forty per cent of the power applied, excessively heavy and bulky, making it necessary to carry about three times the load of an ordinary car, and requiring a special car to be built to provide the necessary space beneath the seats to receive the batteries, a matter of very notable importance, since it prohibits the use of the rolling stock of the surface roads without considerable cost for alterations. Furthermore, the storage-battery, as thus far developed, has a life of only two years of constant service, and it is subject to the danger of short-circuiting, which at once destroys its usefulness. Whether any or all of these deficiencies, which at present seriously interfere with its usefulness, may be remedied in the future, is a question which time alone can determine. It is sufficient for our present purpose to know that the storage-battery, in the best forms of to-day, is seriously handicapped by reason of these objectionable features.

The construction and mode of operation of the Hauss system will be understood from the following explanations:

In this system an insulated wire is used, covered with rubber and other material known to be highly efficient in the case of underground electric-light wires. This wire is placed in a groove in the stringer underneath one of the rails, and is passed through metallic pockets, which are also placed underneath the rail. In order to obtain additional insulation, the stringer is coated with asphaltum. The metallic pockets are placed beneath the rail having the grooved stringer carrying the line-wire. The rails on this side are made in sections, each twelve feet long, each section being insulated from adjacent sections. When the car passes over the rail, contact is made with the wire in the pocket, and the current is collected by means of guard-brushes and the wheels. The entire length of the track is dead, and the only portion which is charged is a space twelve feet long directly under the car. When the car leaves one twelve-foot section, this section immediately becomes dead, and the next section over which the car is then passing becomes charged. There is at no time any portion of the track charged except that portion directly under the car, thus not only insuring against all danger to persons or animals, but also insuring efficient insulation along the entire route, and preventing a heavy leakage of current. The current is conveyed from the guard-brushes and the wheels to the motor, and through the other rail to the ground.

The speed or direction of the motor can be controlled from either end of the car. The motor is built as light as is consistent with the best electric results (a twenty-horse motor, weighing one thousand pounds), and the armature is run at a very moderate speed. The efficiency of the motor is affirmed to range, by actual test, at about ninety-five to ninety-eight per cent. The power is applied directly to the axles of the car by means of a worm and wormgear, the latter being placed on each of the axles, and the worm connected directly to the armature shaft and provided with two ball-and-socket joints, to compensate for any slight derangement in

the relations between the motor and the shafts. The motor is bolted to a frame hung on the axles of the car, and fastened rigidly to the journal-boxes. The springs rest on the journal-boxes, and support the body of the car. The motor and truck are entirely independent of the car-body, and have no connection therewith. The motor can be geared so as to run the car ten or more miles an hour, and, as we witnessed at the trial of the system, can be perfectly controlled from the slowest movement up to full speed, and instantly stopped or reversed, if necessary, without injury to the machinery. No hand-brakes are required with this system, as the wheels are automatically locked when the armature ceases to revolve. In going down grade, there is no danger of the operator losing control of the car, and no possibility of the car running away. Another feature introduced on the car is a fifth wheel, shown suspended at the front end, which can be let down, and by means of which the front end of the car can be jacked up. When thus resting on three wheels, the car can be led around any obstruction and brought back to the track, connection with the track-conductor being temporarily made with flexible conductors. By this system the cars are able to leave the track, to go around a breakdown or an obstruction, to go over fire-hose when stretched across the track, or to cross over and take the back track. Finally, there is not an inch of room required for passengers that is used, and not a sign to denote the use of electricity in the propelling of the car to be seen above the floor. By this system, it is claimed, the cost of running is brought lower than has been possible with any other thus far devised, and the claim appears to be based on reasonable grounds.

The simplicity of the motive mechanism is such as to insure the minimum of trouble in operation; and the entire system, in respect of economy of construction, maintenance and running, and absolute safety, appears to have eminent merits.

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familiar as the horse-car now is. In this system the conductors are necessarily bared throughout their entire length, and must be protected both for the safety and convenience of the public and also to prevent injury to the conductors themselves. These requirements are fully satisfied by the underground conduit, which promises to be an indispensable element upon all urban lines.

A, tie; B, conduit; C, iron yoke; D, lot steel; G, conductor; H, contact shoes; I, contact device or plough; L, car-wheel; P, Q, R, traveller and swivel; Y, flexible conductor.

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ten inches in width, consisting of iron yokes set up from three to five feet apart, and slot steels bolted thereto, leaving an opening at the surface of the street of only about five-eighths of an inch. The direct and return supply conductors, consisting of copper bars united by expansion joints, are supported by suitable insulators in the upper part of the conduit, where they are out of the way of any slush and dirt which may collect therein. These conductors are placed opposite each other, and are connected in circuit with the dynamos at the central station. The car carries a plough or contact device, which extends down through the slot into the conduit, and has two contact-shoes insulated from each other, which rub against the two line-conductors. Flexible conductors in circuit with the two shoes extend up to the car, and are in circuit with the terminals of the propelling motor; so that, as the car travels along the track, the two housed conductors are constantly connected through a travelling loop circuit supplying the motor with current. The shank of the plough is narrower than the slot, and the contact-shoes can be folded into line therewith, so that the entire plough can be inserted or moved from the conduit at will; and accidental breaking of the plough is guarded against by providing a spring catch normally holding the plough in place, but adapted to give way should any accidental obstruction be struck. In order to compensate for any curves or irregularities in the line of the slot, a transverse guide is provided upon the vehicle, and a traveller at the upper end of the plough moves freely along this guide, while swivelling or other jointed connections may be employed when found desirable. The car is propelled by either one or two motors of about fifteen horse-power, which are generally placed underneath the car-body, and centred around the axles, to which they are connected through intermediate speed-reducing gearing. The usual brakes are provided for stopping the car, while circuit switches and resistances control the speed and power of the motors with all the precision and nicety of which steam-motors are capable.

From this description the essential features of construction in the conduit system, as well as the mode of their operation, will be readily understood, but many questions touching upon the practical working of the system will suggest themselves to those interested in it as a commercial enterprise: Will the conduit become filled with dirt or with snow? Can the necessary insulation of the underground wires be maintained? Will the car have sufficient traction? What will happen if the car runs off the track? All these objections have been anticipated, and it is found that the satisfactory operation of the conduit road built by the Bentley-Knight Company at Allegheny City, Penn., demonstrates that they are groundless. This road, which is known as the Observatory Hill Passenger Railway, is about four miles in length, the conduit being employed for about one-fourth of this distance, and it has been in continuous operation since the first day of January, 1888. There are thirtyfour curves on the line, not including turnouts and switches. The maximum grade is 98 feet in 100 feet, on a length of 400 feet, and this is on a reversed curve (radii 100 and 200 feet). The sharpest curve has a forty-foot radius on five-per-cent grade. Greater natural difficulties than these can scarcely be found on any street-railway in existence, and hence the successful working of the road during the severe snows and ice of the last winter is perhaps the best guaranty of the practicability of the system. Other conduitroads are now under process of construction by the same company,. noticeable among which are one of over three miles in length, contracted for by the West End Railway Company of Boston, and the Fulton Street Road of New York City. The progress of these roads will be watched with interest.

That for the West End Company in Boston is just completed,. and will be put into operation in a few weeks, and thoroughly tested.

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This system has been developed by the Bentley-Knight Electric Railway Company of New York City, who claim to control by patented rights all practicable methods of locating the supply conductors in a conduit, and who, however this may be, have built the only roads operating on this plan. Either between or outside of the track-rails is laid a conduit about fifteen inches in depth and

PHILOSOPHY AND SPECIALTIES

ON Saturday evening, Dec. 8, the annual address of the retiring president of the Philosophical Society of Washington, Col. Garrick Mallery, U.S.A., was delivered before a very large audience, composed not only of the members of the Philosophical Society, but of those of the Anthropological, Biological, Chemical, Geographic, and Woman's Anthropological Societies, whose attendance had been

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invited. The subject was Philosophy and Specialties;' and in the publication of an abstract we are compelled to omit all the ornamentation.

Colonel Mallery said that only three centuries ago the chief seats of learning were successfully challenged by a scholastic knighterrant to a dispute on any subject and all subjects, or, as it was derisively phrased, "de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis." In the days of the Admirable Crichton it was possible for one mind to grasp the total of existing knowledge, and this was because science had not yet risen above the misty horizon. The study of facts and their co-ordination had not supplanted the two most prominent schools depending severally upon revelation and intuition.

The quality of revelation prohibited discussion upon it even as an explanation of phenomena, but allowed of reasoning from it within the usual limits of orthodoxy to be decided by the physically, not mentally, strongest battalions. So all that once represented science was mythology, especially in its grand division of demonology.

An opposite scholastic system, prevalent in its time, started in the tenet that intuitions should decide on the nature of things and the perfect type of their origin, to be ascertained by man's own ideals, not from observed data. The examination of a sound mind in a sound body being difficult, he was then the greatest teacher who had most enormously tumefied his inner consciousness, and could exhibit its morbidity with the most pretentious diagnosis. Subject to this leadership in introspection, every man was his own universe. Though specimens of such effete concepts still survive in folios, they are not found in the working libraries of science.

When, therefore, there was no attention to facts as such, and knowledge was either a commentary on revelation or a ratiocination on self, it was not so difficult to know every thing. To-day the pretender to universal knowledge will be denounced as knowing nought. This judgment is carried to an extreme. Even the exceptional minds, whose multiplied facets scintillate brightness in diverse angles, are denied glory as light-bringers on each line.

This is necessary, for phenomena are infinite, and science must deal with all as observed. In the formulation of its induced laws, no compromise is admitted, as in politics or ethics. But this infinite is composed of the infinitesimal, — atoms, molecules, protoplasms, or whatever name may be invented by our ignorance, and it is by the study of these minutia that science exists. So this is the era of specialties. No freshly discovered fact is without its significance, and may in its relations solve the most obscure problems. The original investigator now must not only be a specialist, but must work in some subdivision of a specialty.

This was illustrated in several of the sciences, in the professions of law and medicine, and also in art. The recent progress of specialization was shown by the fact that nine years ago the Philosophical Society was the only scientific society in Washington, embracing all branches. Since then the Anthropological, Biological, Chemical, and Geographic were founded, and the Mathematical Section of the Philosophical Society established. An account of these, with their several functions, was given.

However essential division of labor, specialization, and analysis may be, they are nevertheless only means to the ultimate aim of generalization and integration, which constitute wisdom, and its construction is by synthesis.

Within the most circumscribed of specialties there must always be an attempt to reach law through details. The solution of a problem without application of it is like playing a game of solitaire where time and skill give no result. Mathematics, apart from their gymnastic training, would be useless if their integrals should remain meaningless. Each asserted fact must be tested by varied experiment, which often results in failure. The truth of to-day has sometimes been the paradox of yesterday, and may become the falsehood of to-morrow. Admitted facts must be compared with all other facts related to them. Confutation must be challenged. Without this process, science would be a jumble of inconsistent opinions, so that cavillers might have excuse for a jibe that whatever is not sense is science. While such testing and comparative discussion should exercise its function in each specialized society, it is yet more important that the results, as appearing to its specialists, should be examined with the greatest freedom by specialists

in other lines; and this examination is not only for further verification and comparison, but to extend the area of acquired science. Practically science is only the existing condition of human knowledge, which of necessity is incomplete; though its form, to be science, should not be a broken surface, but a series of steps by which greater heights are gained. For these reasons all specialties should be tried before a court of general jurisdiction, — an Areopagus. In course of time, doubtless, the press brings forth scattered judgments of such a universal tribunal; but a hand-to-hand contest must be more active and decisive than a protracted war, conducted by the discharge of heavy books at long range, or by the skirmishing shots of pamphleteers. If scientific association is to do the most good, some time and place for trial by battle should be provided, which cannot be done in any or in all of the specialized societies by their separate work.

The propriety of scientific contest on a common plane is readily illustrated by the yet undetermined controversy between geologists and physicists respecting the age of our earth. As neither side can yet speak without contradiction by the other, neither should speak except in the hearing of the other. A more popular illustration is in the historic fight between ordnance and engineers; that is, scientific attack by artillery or its equivalent, and material defence by fortifications or similar protection. In no systematized war department can either the officer of ordnance or of engineers be confided in, except when, after experiment satisfactory to his own corps, his demonstration shall overcome the corps of his complementary antagonist.

Thus by the interrelation and counteraction of specialties there is mutual correction, ascertainment of truth, and promulgation of law.

After discussing the work and functions of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons, and other organizations, the term 'philosophy' was more closely examined. The old 'philosophers,' while professing to seek the truth, did not do so, but asserted that they had it already, and that their sole work was to teach it to others. As before hinted, this philosophy was axiomatic, and closely connected with theology, by which forces and factors were postulated but not comprehended. Logic and mathematics do not detect errors in axioms and postulates when once admitted. Verities by common consent were adopted a priori, which verities, belonging to a low stage of culture, were universal errors, and therefore in accord with all existing reasoning. The teachers found it convenient to reason from the species to the genus, and from the particular to the general, by words instead of by ideas; that is, by verbal sophisms. Crude conceptions were employed to make words, which the elasticity of languages permitted, grammatic form and euphony being the only limits. This superannuated scholasticism has been generally called 'metaphysical,' but is more properly 'antiphysical.' Its combined stupidity and pretence have to some minds inflicted a stigma upon the title 'philosophy' which it arrogated. Modern re-action from the fetichistic worship of this monstrous phantasm may have been too violent.

The terms' science' and 'knowledge' are perhaps convertible in usage, as in etymology, but neither of them is synonymic with 'philosophy.' Professor Mach defines 'knowledge' as 'an expression of organic nature;' but that is not true, unless by knowledge he means true wisdom. Knowledge is the mere material of which wisdom builds.' Claude Bernard is partly right in stating that philosophy makes a specialty of generalizations. That, however, is measurably true also, as before stated, of each one of the sciences. Without proper synthesis, they do not exist as sciences, but are mere uncouth mosaics. Each special science must have a philosophic side, and the co-ordination of all of those sides constitutes philosophy in general. In this sense it is not merely the specialty of generalizations, but the generalization of generalizations. Without it the several sciences rest with no common bond, and do not form a synthetic and organic whole. Their fundamental hypotheses are liable to overthrow, because they are not criticised and revised by logical co-ordination. The method of science is to test hypothesis by experimentation and continued observation. From a sufficient number of results a proposition or law is induced, the authority of which increases with the number and weight of those results. It

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