HE United States government has decided to use the automobile for hospital purposes. After a series of tests made by the War Department, a trial machine has been purchased and regularly established at Fort Myer, Va., near Washington. As, practically, no change has been made in the methods of transporting the dead and wounded since the Civil War, the new departure is a welcome innovation.

The machine now in use is a White steam car with practically a stock chassis and a lengthened wheel base. The spring suspension is of unusual length, thereby adding to the natural effect of the long base in securing a remarkably easy-riding vehicle. The wheel base is 132 inches, standard wheels and axles being used. The weight of the machine when fully equipped is about

3,250 pounds. The interior is fitted up in regulation style, a folding stretcher and emergency supplies being stored away in lockers and' racks, while a folding seat is placed on one side opposite the cot.

In a run of some thousand miles the car has been put through a very rigorous trial. The worst types of country roads were employed for the purpose. Yet the machine worked satisfactorily, and a speed of twenty-five miles an hour was reached on a virtually untraveled road.

For motive power the question lies between steam and electricity. The gasoline engine, in spite of its increasing use, is still in the experimental stage and has not had the thorough tests of the steam engine. The gasoline motor has the great drawback of stopping when overloaded, and can be started only with the load removed, under load removed, under high rotational speed. The steam engine, on the other

hand, has the entire boiler pressure available during the whole stroke, for starting and during the run. This affords a fairly uniform power development, available at any time and for any speed. These arguments are worth consideration for any automobile, but for ambulance work, they require strict attention. These cars are to be used all the year round, over all kinds of roads. They must be trustworthy under all conditions. For transporting wounded soldiers, they are the best obtainable, on account of their smooth running character, freedom from violent vibrations, ease of operation and con

would be seen to consist of a long piece of tubing. Below the coils is located the burner, in the position illustrated. The coils offer a very large heating surface, so that as the products of combustion pass up between them, practically all of their heat is absorbed by the coils.

The operation of the generator is as follows: water from the tank is pumped into the upper coil and as it is forced into the coils below, its temperature gradually rises. At a point about half way down, it "flashes" up into steam. In the lower coils the steam receives a high degree of superheat, and, leaving

trolling speed between maximum and minimum, without jerks or jolts.

It is the generator which, more than any other feature, distinguishes the White steamer from all other automobiles. This important part of the mechanism is located nearly in the center of the chassis. It is enveloped by an asbestos insulating casing, which is, in turn, surrounded by an annular flue, through which the products of combustion are conducted downward and are dissipated into the air without their escape being in any way noticeable. In this respect it is radically different from any other type of boiler. In all other varieties the water is at the bottom, the steam at the top. The generator consists of eleven helical coils of steel tubing superimposed upon one another. The several coils are joined in series, and, if the whole should be unwound and straightened out, the boiler

the generator in this condition, is conducted to the engine. Thus the upper coils act as a feed water heater; the cen ter coils as a boiler proper; and the lower coils as a superheater. This tubular construction permits insurance of safety against pressures of excessive amount, since these small tubes are strong enough to bear enormous pressures. Even if rupture is effected by deliberate overpressure to the required amount, it is not likely to result in anything more serious than a split tube, in which the rent acts as a self-provided safety-valve. As there is no water level to maintain, there is no need of water-gauge, float or similar de

vice.

The fuel is of course liquid, and is fed to the burner under moderate pressure, regulated by an air pump. On being vaporized, the fuel enters the burner, where it produces a blue flame..

There is also a pilot-light, which heats the vaporizer and lights the burner. In about four minutes steam can be produced. The transmission is very little different from the usual type as in gasoline-cars. The power is transmitted by means of a driveshaft and bevel gear.

car,

The body supports a high top from which hang heavy curtains, bearing the familiar red cross. Inside the along either side, extend long seats, the occupants of which face one another. These seats are designed for service when the automobile is employed as an ordinary conveyance by officers of the medical department, or when the ambulance is used in the transportation of wounded soldiers whose injuries are not such as to prevent them from sitting upright. When, however, the ambulance is in service moving men who are seriously ill or wounded,

vide the interior into two compartments. Meanwhile, the long seats along either side of the car have been folded up very much as a sleeping car berth folds up against the wall, leaving an absolutely clear space, save for the poles in the center. Thus, two litters or stretchers, with

the interior is transformed into a miniature hospital ward, with a substitute for the familiar cots. This is accomplished by unhooking from the ceiling, where they have been suspended out of the way, heavy oak poles or standards which are set in place in the middle of the car, just as though they had been provided as pillar supports for the roof or the foundation of a partition designed to di

the occupants extended at full length, can be placed side by side on the floor of the car, while two other litters are placed above. These upper stretchers are supported at one side by iron hooks set into the central poles or standards previously mentioned, whereas on each side the temporary bed is suspended by leather straps. At the rear of the car is a step where the ambulance surgeon may stand.

HROUGHOUT the length and breadth of the fair land of Egypt there is, perhaps, no fairer or more picturesque spot than the temple-crowned island of Phile in the River Nile, at a point below the Assuan Dam, some 550 miles south of Cairo. When the plans for the great dam were completed and it became known that with its construction the famous temple would disappear, such a storm of indignation arose that the Egyptian Government thought it politic to give way before the popular clamor. Thus it was decreed that the dam should be built at a much lower level than that proposed by the designer, Sir William Willcocks, M. Inst. C. E., with the result that Phila would be only partly

submerged. In the original design the height of the dam was to have been one hundred feet above the zero of the Assuan gauge, and the capacity of the reservoir eighty-five milliards of cubic feet of water.

To meet the difficulty at Philæ, Sir William Willcocks proposed to spend approximately $1,350,000 in removing the temple bodily from Philae island to the neighboring island of Bigeh, where it would be out of reach of the increasing volume of water. Sir William Garstin, the distinguished engineer, supported this view, and the matter was put to an International Commission. The French representative-his sense of the artistic outraged-flatly refused to have anything to do with a scheme which in any way interfered with the temple; the Italian mem