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three small bones constituting a chain or bridge connecting the inner with the outer ear, and over which are transmitted to the fluid-surrounded extremities of the auditory nerve within the inner ear the vibrations caused by the sound waves as they roll in from the outer air and dash themselves up against the tympanum or ear drum. This chamber, owing to its being connected with the nasal passage through the Eustachian tube, is the portion of the ear most liable to affection by catarrh and other disorders, and hence the portion most often directly concerned in cases of deafness.

The acousticon may be described as a combined telephone and microphone. Its essential feature is a cup-shaped body, into the open end of which the sound waves enter, the inner end of the cup

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PORTABLE ACOUSTICON, No. 1.

sounds in concert halls and theaters. The opera outfit consists of a double soundreceiving instrument contained within a small box. With the aid of this device, a young woman of twenty-two, who had lost sight and hearing at the age of six years, was able to enjoy the music at an opera in New York City, just as if she had never been deprived of any of her faculties.

A special desk outfit is also manufactured.

ACOUSTICON OPERA OUTFIT IN USE.

reflecting and concentrating them upon a vibrating diaphragm. A small but powerful storage battery, capable of being carried in the pocket, is part of the mechanism; and it is claimed that there is no interference of reflected sound waves, such as often gives trouble in the case of ear tubes, trumpets, and horns. The articulation of words is made most distinct, so that even a faint whisper is heard by the deaf mute.

In order to enable the deaf person to eliminate from his attention certain sounds, and to concentrate his mind upon others, a special instruction outfit is pro

Typewriting by Electricity

WILLIAM E. ROBERTS, of New

ark, N. J., has invented a way to operate a typewriter by means of electricity. It has always been necessary to depress the keys of a machine sufficiently to throw the type-bar against the inking ribbon and leave its impression on the paper, this action releasing a universal bar, which allows the carriage to move forward one space as each letter is printed. This can now be done by the aid of the electric current. Each rod is connected with a little electro-magnet, and, as soon as the current enters any coil, its corresponding rod is thrown for

ward, just far enough to hook the lower end of it beneath the edge of the central disc. Just as this connection is made, the passage of the electric current through another electro-magnet depresses the disc, pulling the rod down, and striking the type-face on the paper as though it were done by the depression of a key with the finger.

To form the connection between the individual magnets and the operating mechanism, the writer wears a set of metallic thimbles on the finger, which are wired to the source of the electric current. The instant connection is made with one of the metallic plates on the keyboard, the current passes through the plate into the corresponding magnet, and thence to the disc in the center of the

machine.

Fifth Wheel Wagon-Gear

THEODORE SANDSTROM, of Con

nersville, Indiana, has invented a wagon-gearing with two fifth-wheels, permitting very short turns of the vehicle, and preventing it from being overturned in case of a runaway or accident. One of these is in the usual place on the front axle; and the other is on the rear axle, with a tooth-gear connection, so that when the front wheels are turned, the rear ones will be inclined in the opposite direction.

New Theory of Tides

MR. FREDERICK BROWNLIE, in

the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, discredits the part assigned to the moon as a "tide lifter." He argues that the tide is instantaneous over many degrees of longitude, while the moon takes hours to travel the same distance. The new theory relies upon gravitation to unlock the tidal mystery. It is contended that the form of equilibrium can never be attained by the ocean; that tides are due to different levels in contiguous masses of water, one mass standing at high level immediately contiguous to another at low level. It is well known, for example, that when the tide is high in a vast area around the

Bermudas, extending clear to our coasts, it is low in the waters of Greenland and the West Indies. The theory is that when the tide is high in this large Bermuda basin, its higher waters must gravitate toward the contiguous lower waters. In like manner, when the tide is high in the Greenland and West Indies basins, it is low in the Bermuda basin, and their high waters gravitate simultaneously toward Bermuda's low level; thus high levels and low levels on the ocean surface constantly succeed one another, and the tidal phenomena are produced.

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"Late at night one tap was struck. out of bed and went all over the five circuits, but failed to find the cause of the trouble. The system was plainly out of order, and I was at a loss to know why. I finally turned my attention to the inside, and found every indicator in the department in perfect running order. I went to the City Hall and looked into the battery room. Tests proved everything O. K. there. I then went to the transmitter room and looked carefully over every part. To my astonishment the cause of all my trouble lay before me. It was nothing more nor less than a big, black, hairy spider. It was dead and hanging to the wires in such a manner that its body short-circuited the whole system. The blamed thing had evidently mistaken the network of wires for a new sort of web, and was killed while doing a tightwire act over it."

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discernible evidence of the change. This one in western America may change the geographies that the next generation will study. Twenty-five years is by some estimated as the time within which the lake will have vanished. This calculation is based on the cubic contents of the lake at the present time as compared with 1886, when the first adequate measurements on which to base an estimate were made.

An examination of the surface level of the lake has shown a net fall of 111⁄2

feet in the last sixteen years, and of three feet in the last three years. The deepest part of Great Salt Lake contains only 40 feet of water. At the present rate of fall of one foot a year, the lake is bound to be dry within forty years at the outside. But statistics show that the rate of fall is rapidly increasing, and of course the lake grows narrower as the water diminishes.

To Brigham Young may be traced the responsibility for the prospective loss of one of America's strangest wonders. He was the first irrigator in the West, and irrigation has worked the doom of Great Salt Lake. The drawing off of the waters was begun by Brigham Young in the forties. In 1880 the work he had begun was extended on a large scale, and, with its increased importance, the lowering of the lake level was most rapid.

Extermination of Mosquitoes in
Panama

THE LARGEST ORDER for mosquito netting ever given is soon to be made by the Panama Canal Commission on the recommendation of General Davis, Governor-General of the American Panama Canal zone, as a means of protecting the houses and hospitals in the district from the disease-spreading

insect. The order calls for 100,000 yards of wire gauze. This is to be used to shut out the mosquito, where possible, while the breeding places are being destroyed so as to exterminate the pests. Mosquito brigades are to be organized in the canal villages under the direction of Colonel Gorgas. The object of the work, which is based on the success at Havana, is to free the native population from malarial infection. Screened hospitals will

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BY NATURE'S OWN FLASHLIGHT. Photograph of Cliff House, San Francisco, Cal., taken during electric storm at midnight.

is of the Cliff House, the imposing structure which stands sentinel over the Golden Gate. The lightning here served the purpose of a flashlight, only to far better alvantage. The photographer stood with. his camera open while the storm raged, and during a vivid flash of lightning at midnight this picture was obtained. He waited hours for the chance, but his patience was rewarded with marvelous results.

The Screw-Driver's Successor

THE SCREW-DRIVER, one of the

oldest of tools, whose place it has been thought impossible ever to fill, has met a very formidable rival that may more or less completely supplant it in use.

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There is plenty of room at the top, but the elevator is not running.

Successful men know when not to tempt

failure.

Only a doctor or a dentist can repair some typewriters.

The ice man and the coal man both swear by the thermometer.

Bucket shops are places where men exchange their barrels for bungholes.

At fifty a man has forgotten about half the things he knew at twenty.

Publishers want original matter, but they draw the line at that brand of spelling.

If a man doesn't break anything else when he slips on a banana peel, he is pretty sure to break one of the commandments.

Just when the undertaker gets ready to give a man the earth, he doesn't want it.

Every new invention is expected to revolutionize things-but it doesn't.

About the time a man thinks he knows a woman, he discovers that he doesn't.

All the world's a circus ring, and each of us at times enacts the rôle of clown.

It's a smart baby that understands the baby talk its mother indulges in.

There are a number of civil engineers in Chicago-also a number who are not.

The I-told-you-so chap is always on hand when the unexpected happens.

Some men get there because they are pushers and some others because they are kickers.

A

Results of a Municipal Experiment in an English City

RECENT REPORT of United

States Consul Hamon, Hull, England, on the subject of municipal street railway service in that city, is fraught with lessons of great practical importance.

The City of Hull, says Consul Hamon, began the municipalization of its transit system at an unusually favorable time. The charters of the old companies were about to expire, so there were few rights and privileges to be acquired. The total outlay of money for this purpose was about $170,000. At the same date the city was entering upon an extended system of street improvements. The streets were to be repaved and widened, and new avenues cut through the old part. It was thus possible to lay new tracks at the same time that new pavements were put down.

A statement of the street-car system would not be complete without a description of these city pavements. They are of the most enduring character, and afford a foundation for the rails unequaled by anything of the kind that I know of in the United States. First a layer of chalk is put down, ten inches thick. Over this is placed an 8-inch layer of broken stone and cement, in which the ties for the stringers are laid; and on this layer of cement are superimposed the blocks of wood or stone which form the pavement. The rails are of the center-groove girder pattern, weighing 96 pounds to the yard. This forms a track which for solidity and evenness cannot be surpassed. Hull has now a little over 12 miles of such double track, and this number is being constantly added to.

One of the chief peculiarities of the Hull tram system is the double-decked

car. Recent statistics show that of the 6,660 electric cars in use in the United Kingdom, 90 per cent are double-deckers, and only 10 per cent single-deckers. In this way the seating capacity of the cars is more than doubled, the upper deck

accommodating more passengers than the lower deck. The Hull cars are of two different dimensions, the smaller seating 22 passengers below and 35 on top. This, of course, compels a heavier style of car and longer platforms, both at the front and rear, so as to prevent congestion in loading and unloading. These cars cost here about $3,000 each, without the cover over the roof, which is now being added to most of them.

It is often asked why the doubledecker has never been adopted in the United States. Two or three reasons

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have been given for this neglect. One is the supposed confusion and delay caused on the platforms by passengers boarding or alighting from the car, part of whom enter or emerge from the interior and part from the upper deck. No such confusion, congestion, or delay is noticeable on the cars in Hull, even during the most busy hours of the day.

The second objection to the doubledecker is that it is not adapted to the extremes of climate in the United States. In the heat of summer, it is argued, the passengers would be exposed to the burning rays of the sun; in the winter, to the cold blasts; and at all seasons, to storms. This objection is apparently more tenable than the one based on alleged delay in loading and unloading. But it has been.

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