NEW INFORMATION NOTES

The official report of the directors of the Imperial Bank of Germany for 1896 states that the aggregate of transactions during the year was 131,499,193,300 marks ($32,000,000,000), representing an increase over 1895 of 10,186,086,500 marks. The growth in the magnitude of this business is indicated by the fact that the transactions of 1876 were only 36,684,830,600 marks and as late as 1892 only 104,489,335,000 marks. The total of discounts and bills for the year, including 14,288 foreign bills amounting to 54,421,474 marks, was 3,600,251, amounting to 6,288,793,254 marks ($1,500,000,000). The number of open deposit accounts at the close of 1896 was 266,051, representing 2,798,110,877 marks. The deposits during the year were 854,024,706 marks, and the withdrawals 776,940,238 marks.

The two expeditions, one French and one American, which are at work unearthing antiquities in Babylonia have, it is stated, recently made some valuable "finds." The first and most notable result of the excavations is that the history of the Babylonian people, as recorded in cuneiform writings on tablets, is carried back at least twenty-two hundred and fifty years further than it had yet been known. In other words, there is now abundant written evidence that the Babylonian people existed and were civilized enough to be able to write at least seven thousand years B. C.

An announcement in the English papers causes a flutter of eager anticipation. It is stated that there has been found in Egypt a manuscript text of the Logia, perhaps that of the Papias. Now of all the lost works of the Apostolic Church Fathers, the one which is most wanted is the Logia of Papias, as to which so much doubt has been raised whether it ever existed. These Logia have been believed to be the original documents from which the sayings of our Lord in the synoptic gospels were compiled. It is almost too much to hope that the report is true; but, if true, it would make an epoch, if not a revolution, in the study of the Gospels.

For the maximum horse-power of a shaft some persons use the following: Multiply the cube of the diameter in inches by the turns per minute, and divide this by 205 for cast iron, 120 for wrought iron, and 82 for steel. The quotient is the horse-power of the shaft.

The British Vice-Consul at Cologne states that in 1895 the wine produced in Germany was valued at 911⁄2 millions of marks. The production was nearly 40 per cent. more than that of 1894. New vineyards are continually being planted, especially in the Moselle district, and in some places sufficient laborers cannot be found on the spot. The 1896 harvest was abundant in quantity, but the cold and wet of the autumn have greatly injured the quality, and the prices are very low. The import of wines to Germany is still enormously greater than the export; but the latter grows apace, especially to England. That country took last year £405, 104 worth. Sparkling wines have vastly increased in Germany during the last half-century, and now rank nearly equal with French champagne, while the price is considerably lower.

The annual report on Jamaica, which the English colonial office has just published, shows that the colony is, upon the whole, prosperous. The revenue during the financial year was £646, 103 and the expenditure £626,934. There

was an increase of £22,078 in revenue, mainly from increased imports. The public debt is £1,666,177, chiefly incurred in public works, especially railways, canals and roads. It is stated that there is a growing desire to improve the quality as well as to increase the quantity of the crops. The rate of increase in other products is greater than the decrease on sugar, and for this fruit is mainly accountable. The decline in the cultivation of sugar cane is persistent; the increase in coffee, ginger, cocoa and tobacco has been great, and in bananas very much greater. Sugar last year was only II per cent. of the total exports. The value of the imports last year was £2,288,946, against £2,191,745 the previous year, while the exports amounted to £1,873, 105. About half the imports go from the United Kingdom, the United States coming closely behind. The trade with the latter is increasing rapidly, and American goods of many kinds are said to be supplanting English ones, partly due to the greater enterprise of American manufacturers, but mainly to the greater facilities for trade with the United States. The population of the island is estimated at 690,667.

The European country which, next to Great Britain, has the largest production of coal, is Germany. The quantity produced, however, in the latter country, does not amount to half of what is at present produced in the United Kingdom, the representative figures for 1895 being the United Kingdom, 189,661,000, and the German Empire, 79,169,000 tons. Next in point of production after Germany comes France with 27,583,000 tons, or about a third of the production of Germany; while after that comes Belgium, where the amount of production is not far behind that of France. The average value of the coal produced at the pit's mouth is for the United Kingdom, in 1892, 7s. 34d.; in 1893, 6s. 91⁄2d., and in 1894, 6s. 8d., and for Germany in 1892, 7s. 41⁄2d.; in 1893, 6s. 9d., and in 1894, 6s. 71⁄2d. In 1895, however, the value of the coal produced in Germany rose for the first time since 1887 above the price of British coal, the average price in England in 1895 being 6s. d., and in Germany 6s. 934d. In 1887 the price of coal in England was 4s. 934d. and in Germany 5s. 14d. In France the average value at the pit's mouth was, in 1893, 9s. 234d.; in 1894, 9s. 4d., and in 1895, 8s. 10d., while in Belgium it was, in 1893, 7s. 54d.; in 1894, 7s. 51⁄2d., and in 1895, 7s. 6d.

The presence of a slight percentage of aluminum in any copper alloy having been found to improve its ability to resist corrosion, the water pipes of some marine machinery are now being made of a mixture of copper and aluminum in the proportion of 99 to 1. Aluminum bronze containing 7 to 10 per cent. aluminum, alloyed with copper, has the proportions which have been found to give the best results as to strength, small cast bars having shown an ultimate tensile strength of forty-four tons per square inch, with an elastic limit of thirty-one

tons and an elongation of 10 per cent., still better results being obtained with rolled bars.

Pro

During the season of business depression for the past three or four years the growth of the tin plate manufacture has been a strong influence in lessening an unfavorable balance of international trade, and in giving employment to idle labor. The industry still grows. duction of American tin plate for the quarter ending March 31 is estimated at 51,685 gross tons, as compared with 34,898 tons for the corresponding quarter of last year. Meanwhile importations decreased from 36,625 tons for the first quarter of 1896 to 28,477 tons for the first quarter of this year.

A law was passed a few years ago empowering the President of the United States to declare portions of the federal territory to be forest reserves. In this way many of our great national reservoirs, the sources of our rivers, were protected. Over eighteen millions of acres of forests or river sources of land were declared reserved by President Harrison, and on Washington's Birthday, 1897, President Cleveland approved the report of the committee which has been studying the matter. By his action twentyone millions of acres of forest reserves are preserved. The combined area of these two reserves is as great as the States of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island. The new reserves include all the central portion of the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Big Horn Mountain range in Wyoming, the basin of Jackson Lake, and the Teton Mountains south of the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, all the Rocky Mountains of northern Montana, an important forest in northern Idaho, the principal part of the Bitter Root Mountain region in Montana and Idaho, the Cascade Mountains of northern and southern Washington, the Olympic Mountain region in western Washington, the Sierra summit in California north of the Yosemite National Park, the San Jacinto Mountains in Southern California, and the Uintah Mountains in northern Utah.

A French journal writing of Russian railroads states that at the beginning of the present year the total length of railways open for traffic in Russia was 25,975 miles, of which 15,230 belong to the State, exclusive of the 945 miles of the Transcaspian railway, which is in the hands of the Ministry of War. About 6,000 miles of line are in course of construction, and it is estimated that by the end of the century there will be something like 32,000 miles of railway in the Russian Empire, two-thirds belonging to the State.

It is stated that George Peabody's gift of $2,500,000 for London workingmen's houses has increased to $6,000,000 in the twenty-four years since his death. Last year the trustees of the fund provided 11,367 rooms, besides bathrooms, lavatories and laundries; 19,854 persons occupied them. The death rate of infants in the buildings is four per cent below the average for London.

A correspondent writing from Niagara Falls on April 3 describes one of the greatest bridgebuilding feats America has seen for some little time. This was the joining of the two sections

of the great new steel arch bridge across the Niagara gorge, which is to replace the old suspension bridge of the Grand Trunk railway. The arch, which will be completed in June (the present month), will have a span of 550 feet, with an upper deck for the railway (a double track) and a lower floor for a carriage-way, sidewalks, and a trolly-car tracks.

The British Consul at Rouen reports that in order to escape the French protective tariff a Swedish horseshoe nail-maker has founded factories in different parts of France, and a great Scotch firm of linoleum makers is erecting works near Rouen. Near the same place is an old-established English industry, which sends many hundreds of tons of artificial wool (prepared from woollen rags) annually to Dewsbury, where it serves for making cheap cloth and shawls.

A Consul at Jerusalem reports that the total imports and exports of Palestine were £629,537 in 1896, or £70,000 more than in 1895. Soap formed nearly a third of the total exports, the next in order of importance being oranges, sesame, beans, hides and maize. Of imports, cotton goods come first-being about a quarter of the whole-then sugar, petroleum, timber, flour, coffee, fine cloth and rice. Great Britain took £55,800 of exports, and sent £27,900 in imports. British imports to Palestine show a tendency towards diminution, but the figures may mislead, because it is difficult to say what portions of the imports from Egypt and other Turkish ports are really of British origin. French imports are likewise declining, while those from Germany show an increase. This last is unquestionably due to the German system of sending out commercial travellers to exhibit samples of manufactures as well as to study the prices and wants of the localities. The production of wine by the German and Jewish colonies in Palestine is growing both in quantity and quality.

The United States Consul at Zurich expresses the opinion that within a year the price of aluminum will fall to about 27 cents a pound, so that but three commercial metals will be cheaper than aluminum-iron, lead and zinc. The Consul's estimate is only an opinion. It can be Isaid that the reductions thus far made have very materially widened the usefulness of aluminum.

According to "The Medical Record," eggs are useful in the following applications: "A mustard plaster made with the white of an egg will not leave a blister. A raw egg, taken immediately, will carry down a fishbone that cannot be extracted. The white skin that lines the shell is a useful application to a boil. White of egg, beaten up with loaf sugar and lemon, relieves hoarseness, a teaspoonful taken once every hour. An egg in the morning cup of coffee is a good tonic. A raw egg, with the yolk unbroken, in a glass of wine, is beneficial for convalescents."

A correspondent of the London "Times" says that nothing so daring and gigantic in the shape of mountain railways has yet been attempted as the scheme of Herr Guyer-Zeller for an electric railway up to the summit of the Jungfrau, 13,670 ft. above sea level. The Scheidegg station, 2,060 m. above sea level, will be the starting point. From here the railway will

run on the western slope of the Fallbodenhubel. At the foot of the Eiger Glacier it will turn due east, and later on due south in a tunnel winding round the solid body of the Eiger. From the Eiger Station the tunnel will proceed in a direct line towards the Mönch and the Jungfraujoch, which point it will reach at a depth of 105 m. below the surface. It will finally curve round the uppermost pinnacle of the Jungfrau, terminating on a plateau, well known to guides, at 4,100 m. above sea level. This plateau lies 65 m. below the summit. From this level a lift will take the passenger to the highest point.

The same class of permanent way and rack rail will be used as that on the Wengern Alp line. The total length of the railway will be 12,443 m. The maximum gradient will be one in four and the minimum one in ten, quite an easy climb compared, say, with Pilatus. The journey is timed to occupy exactly 100 minutes. The fare will be 40 francs. The cost of the undertaking is estimated at between 8,000,000 f. and 10,000,000 f. By the terms of their concession the Company must spend at least 100,000 francs on a permanent observatory on the summit.

Great Britain has been experimenting with submerged cannon. At a recent trial a target of oaken beams 21 inches thick and the hull of a ship protected by three inches of boiler plate were pierced by a solid shot from one of these submerged cannon.

A United States commercial agent at Weimar, Germany, reports that locomotion by means of electricity is gradually gaining ground in Europe, Germany standing first in mileage of electrical railways. Then follow, in the order named, France, Great Britain, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Servia, Russia, Belgium and Spain. Of the III lines operated in Europe, 91 are worked on the overhead trolly system, 12 on the under-ground trolly system and eight by means of accumulators.

Preparations are being made by the AngloEgyptian military forces on the upper Nile for an intended further advance, in July, when the river will become navigable for steamers above the fourth cataract, from Dongola to Abu Hamid. A dozen light gunboats, of iron, in sections which can be separately carried overland, are now under construction in England; these will be employed on the river above Abu Hamid to Berber. The railway to be laid across the desert from Wady Halfa to Abu Hamid is also being rapidly advanced. This railway will be two hundred miles long, of which the first thirty miles, due south of Wady Halfa, is completed. The military force at present in the province of Dongola numbers over 12,000 men, and is assisted by five gunboats.

The greatest workshop in the world, says the "Industrial World," is that of the famous Krupp at Essen. It employs between 20,000 and 25,000 hands, nearly all of whom reside in dwellings belonging to the firm. In the great mill of Essen are 1,195 furnaces of various kinds; 286 boilers, ninety-two steam hammers of from 200 to 10,000 pounds, 370 steam engines, with a total of 27,000 horse. power; 1,724 different machines and 361 cranes. The eleven high furnaces produce about 600 tons of iron daily and 2,735 tons of coal and coke are used each day for fuel. The

growth of the Krupp works has been something wonderful. In 1833 it employed only nine men; in 1848, seventy-four; and in July, 1888, 20,960.

Statistics show that of 10,000 smokestacks only three are struck by lightning each year, while of 10,000 church spires sixty-seven, and of 10,000 windmills eighty-nine are struck by lightning annually. An endeavor has been made to explain this condition by the fact that the smoke discharged from the smokestacks takes the electricity assembled around the building along and distributes it in the air, whereby the source of attraction for the electric spark of lightning is not only diminished, but almost disappears. This fact also explains, it is said, why people in the country kindle a large fire in the fireplace when a thunder storm is approaching.

The meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in August next is to be held in Toronto, and already preparations are being made for the reception of the visitors and for excursions to all parts of Canada.

In 1896 Canada's imports of iron and steel manufactures included $3,104,416 from Great Britain; $6,421,259 from the United States; and $588,969 from other countries. In 1893 the Dominion imports of the same articles were $6,355,407 from Great Britain; $5,821,122 from the United States; and $580,621 from other countries. The United States has in the past three or four years won a commanding lead.

The odor of sweet-peas, according to a contributor to "The Medical Record," is so offensive to flies that it will drive them out of the sickroom, though it is not usually in the slightest degree disagreeable to the patient. It is therefore recommended that sweet-peas be placed in the sick-room during fly-time.

A Calcutta physician who was attacked by a swarm of bees, says "Popular Science News," was severely stung on the hand, head, face and neck, no fewer than a hundred and fifty stings being afterward taken from his neck. Fortunately he had some ipecacuanha powder with him, which he immediately had made into a paste and smeared over the head, face, and neck. The effect was most marked, preventing to a large extent the swelling and pain which invariably follows the bee's stings.

Both Matabeleland and Mashonaland, it is reported, have magnificent coal resources. The most westerly basin extends to within 100 miles of the Victoria Falls on the Zambesi, and the carboniferous formation continues almost without intermission to the meridian of Salisbury. The spot nearest to Buluwayo where coal was known to exist was some 150 miles distant (down the Khami River); an ox-wagon service was organized, but was demoralized by the tsetse-fly. Surface specimens of this coal were analyzed in Buluwayo, in 1894, and showed a quality not far short of Welsh steam. natural point of attack for this region is from Gwelo, a northward spur of the tableland (forming the great divide between the Limpopo and Zambesi watersheds), juts forth from that district almost to the Zambesi, and terminates in an extensive plateau known as the 'Mfungubusi-the geological formation of which is carboniferous.

The

THE

Times"

announcement of a new volume, from 1880 to "the Diamond Jubilee," of Mr. Justin McCarthy's "History of Our Own Times," and the cabled news of the talented journalist's McCarthy's "His- serious illness, which we are tory of Our Own grieved to hear, suggest in this department a brief reference to the writer, with some comment upon his chief work. Historical writing requires in him who takes to it many and unusual gifts, and especially so in the case of one who attempts to deal with contemporary events. In Mr. McCarthy these gifts are manifestly present, together with a power of interesting and instructing the reader, and that in an unusual degree when we remember that his topics are those with which most men have been currently familiar. Special interest will be felt in the new instalment of his history, since it deals with questions in which the author, as a parliamentary member, legislator and leader for a number of years of a party in the English House of Commons, has been intimately and actively concerned, and in the shaping of which he and his party have been considerable participators. In the fields of labor in which he has long and earnestly worked, Mr. McCarthy has deservedly won an honorable position and established for himself a high political and literary reputation. The latter is chiefly founded upon his "History of Our Own Times," his most important and effective work. It would be difficult, as the writer of this has elsewhere said, to rate too highly that unique performance, for unique it is to write a narrative of contemporary events in England at once so full and perspicuous, but without unnecessary and wearying detail—a narrative that is bright without sensation, rapid without slipping or falling into error, and holds the attention closely throughout. Still more difficult would it be to overpraise the author's balance of mind, his transparent honesty of purpose, his clear judgment, and the faculty he possesses in an eminent degree of inspiring confidence. For these safe things he may well forego literary brilliance or the coruscations of genius, which, if we could even trust these often erratic qualities, would be singularly out of place in a "history of our own times."

Nor is it the least of Mr. McCarthy's merits, that the lively interest he manifestly has taken in the work fashioned by his hand he imparts to the reader, with the faculty of seeing things in proportion—a great point in the writing or reading of contemporary history—while he diffuses some of his own cheery optimism and imbues his audience with his strong sense of what is both just and right. Nor are the artistic qualities of the littérateur and the higher jour

nalism wanting in the book. There is a pleasing art of arrangement in presenting the topics for review and comment, and a dramatic power of introducing, analyzing and hitting off character. Very noticeable is this in the striking and vivid pen-portraits given us of the more prominent English public men and statesmen of the time. In these studies Mr. McCarthy shows, at least, his intellectual sympathy with the great personal forces which have been instrumental in the making of modern England, and his admiration for those types of public men which form the basis of the national character.

Hardly less effective is the compact, yet lucid and interesting, manner in which the great public questions of the time are brought forward and discussed, and with manifest justice to both sides, as well as to the participants in the controversies. Here again, besides the high qualities of the narrator, there is remarkable power shown in seizing and presenting the essential points of the matter under review, as well as calmness and impartiality in passing judgment. American readers, especially, will thank the author for his treatment of the international questions with which England has had to deal during the period covered by the work. Here the dispassionateness, as well as the sense of justice, in the historian has to be commended, particularly in the chapter dealing with the American Civil War, and its pendent questions -the cruise of the Alabama, and the results of the Alabama arbitration. In the treatment of these topics, which long vexed the diplomatic breast on both sides of the Atlantic, Mr. McCarthy has meted out entire justice to the American nation, without in any measure being disloyal to England, though, occasionally, he is righteously indignant with her. A broad humanity characterizes the author's discussion of other matters touching England's relations with foreign powers and her own dependencies.

Not less worthy of note is Mr. McCarthy's wise treatment of home affairs within the kingdom, including the chief burning questions of the period from the era of the Corn Law agitation to that of the industrial wars and socialistic outbreaks that menace England's and the world's peace in our own time. His views on these grave topics, though rarely profound, are usually apt and sensible, reaching always the kernel of the matter, and presenting it with kindly and conciliatory comment and a large admixture of humane feeling. Even on the subject of Irish grievances there is no bitterness, though some pathos; and where England is arraigned, the strictures are comparatively mild and reserved. We shall look forward eagerly to the completion of the work, and to the possession of the instalment covering the later years of England's political, industrial and social annals.

G. M. A.