and the ladies' toilet at the other. The minor equipment includes electric curling irons for the women; electric cigar-lighters in the smoking room; and electric fans at each end in the main body of the car, to be operated during the day.

A

NEW FLOORING MATERIAL

NEW system of concrete flooring which will be of interest to builders in the United States, has recently been patented by M. Siegwart, an architect, of Lucerne, Switzerland. It consists of hollow tubes or beams of mortar which are manufactured ready for delivery to the builder. These beams are laid on the supporting walls without planking. By this method, the work of the builder is greatly facilitated, as a number of floors can be laid in a short time by ordinary laborers, and several floors can be used at once for working upon, thus doing away with scaffolding.

Another advantage claimed for the Siegwart system is that beams made in a factory are protected against unfavorable weather conditions, such as frost or rain, during the time the mortar is setting, and it is thus comparatively easy to secure uniformity. The beams made at Lucerne have a uniform breadth of 9.84 inches, and are manufactured in five sizes, 3.5, 4.7, 5.9, 7.08, and 8.36 inches in height, respectively, according to the length of

span and load. The size of the iron rods in the beams is between 1.96 and 3.9 inches, and usually six such rods are used in each beam. Two of these rods are laid parallel with the under face of the beam, and the other four are bent upward in the form of a knot at the ends in order to strengthen their supporting power. The proportion of cement to coarse sand used in manufacture is as I to 4. The beams, being made hollow, have the same strength as though they were solid, with a great reduction in weight. On account of being hollow, they are more easily heated. Their sides

of wooden beams. They are made in different lengths, and, besides being used in floors, they can be employed in the construction of roofs, terraces, and staircase supports; also in walls where there is a side pressure, as in warehouses, coal bunkers, etc. It has been demonstrated that these beams can support a load four or five times as great as can the ordinary wooden beams.

The process of manufacture is very simple as carried on at the Siegwart Beam Factory in Lucerne and in other European centers. The beams are made. not singly, but in layers 8 feet in breadth.

The hollow spaces are formed by means of iron moulds, around which the cement is laid and the iron rods placed in position. The moulds are so constructed that by the turning of a screw they can be reduced in size, and thus easily withdrawn when the cement hardens. Before the cement has set, the beams are cut by a patent cutting machine.

The chief advantages claimed for these beams are: Great supporting power and security from fire; being dry and hard before they are shipped from the factory, the beams can be at once used as floors for working upon; greater ease and speed

possible within a very short time to change completely the base of supplies of an advancing army. For transporting heavy siege guns across country, for moving machinery of balloon detachments and iron or steel targets from place to place, and for use as engines to drive dynamos, threshing machines, plows, etc., road locomotives have been found of great usefulness.

In 1899 the English Government ordered a large number of road locomotives from the firm of John Fowler & Company of Magdeburg, Germany, for use in the Boer war. The heavy guns of the

English warships were often brought into action to support the regular field artillery, and it was impossible to move such guns across the broken veldt with teams of oxen.

The practical utility of such locomotives to pioneers in a new country has been demonstrated for the operation of plows, harrows, discs, rollers, and drawing and ditching machines. These locomotives may also be used on farms, for pulling down trees and hauling heavy loads of lumber.

The steam road-roller used in Germany for making excellent highways is very similar to the road locomotive. The illustration shows the latest steam roadroller with compound cylinders, now in use throughout Germany. This machine. may be employed also as a traction engine, and, by means of pulleys, can at any time be used to drive stone-crushers for road-making. The tires of both the front and back rollers are removable, and can be readily changed, thus obviating long stoppages of work for repairs.

S

OME beginners in the study of perpective think that the drawing of an object made in accordance ance with geometrical rules may differ essentially from the actual appearance of the object. Such an idea is erroneous. The only difference between the appearance of a view in nature and its correctly constructed perspective projection is that the actual view may be looked at from any point, while its perspective representation is the view. from a particular point, and from that point only.

For every new position that the observer takes he will see a new view of the object in space, his eye always being at the apex of the cone of visual rays that projects the view he sees.

Before making a perspective drawing, the position of the observer's eye (or "station point") must be decided upon, and the resulting perspective projection will represent the object as seen from this point, and from this point only. In order that the drawing may correctly represent to him the object in space, the observer must place his eye exactly at the assumed

position of the station point. If this is not done, the drawing will not appear absolutely correct, and under some conditions will much distorted or exagappear gerated.

Just here lies the defect in the science of perspective. It is the assumption that the observer has but one eye. A drawing is generally seen with two eyes, and the casual observer never thinks of placing his eye in the proper position. Even were he inclined to do so, it would generally be beyond his power, as the position of the station point is seldom shown on the finished drawing.

As an illustration of apparent distortion, consider the perspective projection. shown in the accompanying illustration. In order that the perspectives of the vanishing points may fall within the rather narrow limits of the figure, the station point has been assumed very close to the picture plane, the distance from H P P to S PH showing the assumed distance from the paper at which the observer should place his eye in order to obtain a correct view of the perspective projection. This

distance is so short that it is improbable that the observer will place his eye in the proper position when viewing the drawing. Consequently, the perspective projection appears more or less unnatural or distorted. For the sake of experiment, cut a small, round hole one-quarter of an inch in diameter from a piece of cardboard; place it directly in front of S PV and at a distance from the paper equal to the distance of S PH from HPP, and then look at the drawing through the hole in the cardboard, closing one eye. The unpleasant appearance of the perspective projection disappears.

Unless the observer's eye is in the proper position while viewing a drawing, the perspective projection may give a very unsatisfactory representation of the object in space.

If the observer's eye is not very far removed from the correct position, the apparent distortion will not be great, and

in the majority of cases will be unnoticeable. In assuming the station point, a position should be chosen such that the observer will naturally place his eyes there when viewing the drawing.

As a person naturally holds any object at which he is looking directly in front of his eyes, the first thought in assuming the station point should be to place it so that it will come very nearly in the center of the perspective projection.

Furthermore, the normal eye sees an object most distinctly when about ten inches away; therefore, a good general rule is to make the minimum distance between the station point and the picture plane about ten inches. For a small drawing, this will be about right; but, as the drawing increases in size, the observer naturally holds it farther and farther from him, in order to see the whole without turning his eye too far to the right or left.

Some draftsmen make the distance of the station point equal to the altitude of an equilateral triangle having the extreme dimension of the drawing for its base and the station point for its apex.

The apparent distortion is always greater when the assumed position of the observer's eye is too near than when it is too far away. In the former case, objects do not seem to diminish sufficiently in size as they recede from the eye. On the other hand, if the observer's eye is between the assumed position of the station point and the picture plane, the effect is to make the objects diminish in. size somewhat too rapidly as they recede from the eye. This effect is not so easily appreciated nor appreciated nor so disagreeable as the former. Therefore it is better to choose the station point too far away than too

near.

Finally, the apparent distortion is more noticeable in curved than in straight lines, and becomes more and more disagreeable as the curve approaches the edge of the drawing. Thus, if curved lines occur, the station point should be chosen with great care; and, if possible, such a view of the object should be shown that the curves will fall near the center of the perspective.

I

NSTRUCTION by correspondence has had very much the same battle to fight which came to University Extension work. No method of broadening the beneficent influences of education will ever escape attack from the self-appointed aristocracy of culture. Democracy, however, conquers in the present and has the entire field of the future. As certain as our American life accomplishes its best in the world, so certain will be the broadening, along with the deepening, of American intellectual and spiritual power. Americanism will be trained to the accomplishment of large results, American in their scope, by the triumph of a certain republicanism and democracy in religion and education. Just as the church, to be worthy of her existence, must go to the world and bring it to God, so the school must go to the people and give them all it can impart and all that they will receive.

Every effort of this kind has two perils; and the first and least important is that of which I have already spoken, the criticism of those who gather their academic robes about their precious dignity, insisting that all methods differing from the regular ways and means must be failures. They opposed University Extension and Chautauquas with no avail. The second is the criticism of those who have expected too much and are unwilling to meet half way, with pluck, energy, and devotion, the efforts which are made to enrich their minds and train their powers. This second peril is the only one which now seriously threatens instruction by correspondence. It will always threaten the noblest work of the school as well as the church, for the spirit of it is indolence and insincerity. No church is good enough to save a man who will not offer what goodness he can muster up for the mutual enterprise of his salvation. It is the same with every educational instrumentality. There must be a Garfield at the other end of the bench in order that

a Mark Hopkins shall justify his existence and laboriousness.

Much disaster has been wrought by unscientific, and therefore untrue, methods in all education. Correspondence instruction has not escaped. It must proceed on the supposition that its band of learners will be an heroic band. I have never known an equal number of brave and tireless pupils. Their examination papers come in grimy and greasy, and thoroughly mastered. They do their work at times when other men are loafing in the saloon or sleeping. They have found out how to reap a harvest from the fructifying minutes. They form the best temperance society on earth, because no man can keep up his studies and attend to his work in the department in which he is studying to be a better engineer or mechanic, and be a tippler at the same time. It is so with almost all other kinds of instruction by correspondence. who are engaged in thus taking the results of years of effort and experimentation to the workingmen of the country, are thrilled with the quick and sympathetic response made to every agency we employ to accomplish the result of training American manhood into self-respect and complete power.

We

Just at the time when America sees that she has not yet opened her most valuable resources at home, she is confronted with a sudden and well-nigh overwhelming gift of opportunity in her new realm abroad. That realm is not, as we know in these days, to be subdued by armies with cannon and sword; it is to be brought safely and loyally in league with our American position by the conquest of ideas and ideals. Among the leaders of such an advance, the engineering student in this our practical age is likely to be foremost.

One of the things most unfortunate either to the development of our American resources, or to the development of engineering as a science, is the fact that