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 [Elltered at the Post-Offlce of NevwYork, N.'., as Second-Class hIatter.]

A WEEKLY NEWSPAPEROF ALL THE ARTS AND SCIENCES.

SEVENTHYEAR. \ K 88 SINGLECOPIES,TSN C^NTS.
VOL. X1V. NO. 335 NE N YOR , JUIY5, I 9 $3.50 PER YEAR, IN ADVANCE.

THE THONlSON-HOUSTONROAD IN BANGOR,ME. The power-plantconsists of one 80-horse-powerThomson-

THE accompanying cuts illustratethe new electricrailwaywhich
has been put in at Bangor,Me. Oneof the cuts shows the car on
MainStreetHill, oppositethe OperaHouse,a gradeof 7 per cent;
and the other,the car in West MarketSquare,the very heart of
the city. The roadat Bangoris threemilesin length,singletrack,
with threeturnouts,and containsmany sharp curvesand grades,
the mostsevereof whichis a curveof 35 feet radius,whichoccurs
<ona gradeof 7 percent. Thereis one stretch of the road, about
Houston generator,with the necessarystation-fittings,which is
drivenby a I4 by I3 Armington& Simsengine,runningat a speed
of 250 revolutionsper minute. This is the only tramwaywhich
has ever been constructedin Bangor,and it has, from the very
start,given the utmost satisfaction,but one schedule trip being
missedsince the day of starting,May 2I. The travel has been
veryheavy,averagingI,600 passengersper day,and on one day
3,ooowere carriedby threecars. The success of the road has
been such,that extensionshavebeen aslcedfor in many partsof

THOMSON-HOUSTON ELECTRIC ROAD IN BANGOR, ME.

three-fourthsof a mile in length,which has five curves and an the city,and it is probablethat beforelong the equipmentwill be
averagegradientof 5 per cent. No difficulty,however,is experi- greatlyincreased.
encedhere,and the cars climb these grades with a scarcelyper-
ceptible diminutionof speed. The natureof the overheadwork THE USE OF OIL ABOARD UNITED STATES NAVAL
necessitatedby these can readilybe seen from the accompanying
map,on whichthe situationof the road is indicatedby a heavy VESSELS.
line. MANYhundredsof reportshavebeen publishedon the {'Atlan-
There are four I6-foot cars, made by the NewburyportCar tic PilotChart,"and elsewhere,relativeto the great benefits de-
ManufacturingCompany,which are handsomelyfinished, and rivedby meansof the use of oil to preven-theavyseas frombreak-
equippedwith two Is-horse-powerThomsonHouston motors. ing on boardvessels. By far the greaternumberof these reports
Threecarsare in operationfrom6 A.M. till I I.30 P.M., the fourth have been receivedfrom merchantvessels,very many of which
beingheldin reservefor specialoccasions. have undoubtedly beensaved,withall on board,by the use of a

2
SCIENCE.
fewgallonsof oil in the mannerrecommended bythe UnitedStates
Hydrographic Office. The followingreportsfromUnited States
navalvesselsshow that evenaboardmen-of-war,with their com-
pletcequipmentand largecrews,the use of oil is regardedas of
thegreatestvalue:-
CommanderW. C. Wise, U.S.N., commandingthe "Juniata,"
onpassagefromHong-Kongto Singapore,used oil on three oc-
casionsduringa typhoonin the ChinaSea, Sept.28 and 29, I888.
'tOilwas used,and markedeffect shown in lessening amountof
watercomingon board.. . . A bag containingoil wastowedfrom
the weatherbow, and decreasedthe violenceof the seas to a
markeddegree."
On April4 and 5, I889, the '4Swatara,')Commander JohnMc-
Gowan,U.S.N.,was in a hurricanein latitude4I° south,longitude
9°west. Oll the previousday the wind had veered from west-
south-westto north-west,and then to north-north-east.From g
P.M. to 4 A.NI. it blew with a forceof I I, and the wind shifted to
A 7-PER-CENr GRADE ON THE THOMSON-lIOUSTON ROAD IN BANGOR, ME.
west, kickingup an ugly confusedsea. The Stlip had been hove
to on the porttack earlyin the morning,with oil-bagsover at the
foreand mizzenchains. Theireffectwas such that not a drop of
watercameon board. April5, scuddingwith the windabouttwo
pointson the starboardquarterand an oil-bagtowingat the star-
boardfore-chains,"the angry-lookingcrests simplydisappeared,
leavingone to wonderwhat had becomeof them." Again,on the
8th, {'Blowinga livinggale of wind,forceI I, having backedfrom
north-westto north-north-west.Hove to, and put oil-bags over
fromforeand mizzenchains,with excellentresults. The sea was
exceedinglyheavy,and the ship rolleddeeply; and althoughcon-
siderablewater cameon board,yet not once did a sea break over
the rail. The angry,toweringcrestsof the hugewavesdisappeared
as if by magic."
Lieut.C. F. Norton,U.S.N.,of the " Kearsarge,"reportsthat in
the stormof the 6th, 7th, and 8th of April,off Hatteras,they used
oil withgood effect,pouringit through the forwardwater-closet.
At first,olive-oilwas used,which did fairly well; but later they
used lard-oil,andthat gave perfect satisfaction,keepingthe water
Finally, the Yantic," Commander
C. H. Rockwell,U.S.N., en-
[VOL. XIV. No. 335
comingon board. Oil-wasused a part of two days, while
from
to.
hove
countereda terrifichurricane,May 21, in latitude 38@35' north,
68° 30' west. Whileon her beam ends,with heavy sea
longitude
sweepingoverher," oil in largequantitieswas thrownoverboard
fromthe weatherbow, and even in that terriblescene its effect
wasimmediatelyapparent."
A HISTORY OF HABITATIONS.
THEFrenchhavealwaysexhibiteda fondness for the studyof
comparativearchitecture,and havemadethemselvesmastersof a
interestingportionof art historyin which other peoples
peculiarly
havescarcelymade more than beginnings. For some years the
storyof the evolutionof the dwellinghas been known chiefly
through" The Storyof a House,"by M. Viollet-le-Duc,whichhas
beenthe mostaccessible,if not the only,workof its kind extant
In the ParisExhibitionof I878, one of the most .interestingfea-
tureswas the "Street of Nations,"which was lined with typical
specimensof architecture of all lands,and was unquestionablythe
mostcompleteexhibitionof comparative thathad been
architecture
made up to that time. The present exhibition,however,hast
thanksto the rare slill and energyof M. CharlesGarnierand a
bodyof enthusiasticassistants,an exhibitionof comparative archi-
tecture that is by far the most elaborateyet attempted. A seriesof
thirty-twoedificeshavebeenerectedonthe Quaid'Orsay,represent-
ing the evolutionof the dwelling,fromthe earliestform of a rude
breakwind andcave,to thecompletedresidenceof the Renaissance.
It is an unfortunate factthatmuchof the materialforsuch a display
existsonlyin a fragmentary or much-scatteredform. The dwell-
ings of antiquityare known to us chieflyby meagre descriptionst
rough,sketchycarvingsin the sculptures,and other data that are
quiteas apt to misleadas to indicatethe rightdirection. Yet M.
Garnierhas not beencontentto accept mere hearsay,nor even to
adopt the results of the imagination,but, on the contrary,has