The bituminous coal measures at Coleman, N. W. T., are of the largest size. In Pennsylvania the largest in the famous Connelsville mine is 6 feet thick, while one of the seams at Coleman is fully 18 feet in thickness. The Coleman mine is clean, being free from slate and other foreign substances and especially adapted for cheap mining for several generations. Unlike the Pennsylvania coal, the coal at Coleman can be mined and extracted by gravity, compressed air being utilized in hauling the cars. As the mines will be self draining no pumping plant need be maintained.

Consul Frank Mahin transmits from Nottingham, England, the following information relative to a new cloth fireproofing material:

In a paper read at a meeting of a society of dyers in Manchester, titanic acid (the oxide of litanium) was claimed to possess remarkable fireprooffing properties, and evidence was produced in the shape of experiments by the reader of the paper. He took, for instance, some pieces of flannelette which had been treated with titanic acid, and put a lighted match to them. The incipient fire in the material smoldered and went out, refusing to burst into a flame. The experimenter claimed that all inflammable textiles could thus be rendered fireproof, and that dyeing, boiling or washing would not remove the acid, it becoming, in fact, an integral part of the fabric.

A radium clock which will keep time indefinitely has been invented by Harrison Martindale, of England. The clock comprises a small tube in which is placed a minute quantity of radium supported in an exhausted glass vessel by a quartz rod. To the lower end of the tube, which is colored violet by the action of the radium, an electroscope formed of two long leaves or strips of silver is attached. A charge of electricity in which there are no beta rays is transmitted through the activity of the radium into the leaves, and the latter thereby expand until they touch the sides of the vessel, connected to earth by wires, which instantly conduct the electric charge, and the leaves fall together. This simple operation is repeated incessantly every two minutes until the radium is exhausted, which in this instance it is computed, will occupy 30,000 years.

The Lancet, London, says editorially: "The unrestricted sale of articles made of celluloid, which is practically guncotton, for any purpose whereby sueh article is liable to come into contact with fire, should on no account be allowed. We believe there are other dangerous substances related to guncotton which go under other names and which are also used for similar purposes and should be likewise banned. It may be that the inflammability of celluloid is sometimes somewhat counteracted by the admixture with substances with an opposite tendency, but the difficulty is to distinguish the combustible from the incombustible. At all events, some warning should be inscribed on the articles made therewith, and they should be marked 'highly inflammable ' or with some equally premonitory and protecting device. It is time, also, that the fire insurance companies should formulate and promulgate warnings and prohibitions in connection with their policies of insurance, in order to avoid vexatious questions as to compensation for losses sustained by the use and abuse of celluloid articles, after the manner of the by-laws of the railway companies in respect to the carriage of explosives. The dangerous use of celluloid is due in great measure to the fault of the public themselves. " - Literary Digest.

The Gautemaulan turkey is the latest discovered foe to the cotton boll weevil, and the Department of Agriculture will at once begin the importation of these birds for distribution through the plantations of the infected zone. Secretary Wilson states that the Gau-temaulan turkey feeds chiefly upon the cotton boll weevil. "Our agents in Gautemaula have recently discovered in their study of the life history of the ants and the boll weevil that the turkey is an enemy to the weevil, and it proposes to give it atrial in the United States. The turkey of Gautemala is smaller than our own variety, and is very tame. It is also very good for food. In fighting the weevil the department will spare no expense. " Secretary Wilson denied that experiments with the ants imported from Gautemala had been disappointing. He said the study of the little ant would be continued as assiduously as ever, and that those brought to this country had met expectations.

Dr. Leduc, of the Facul e Medecine in Paris, has found a way of utilizing a current of electricity to produce insensibility, in place of chloroform or ether. A series of experiments on animals, dogs, rabbits and pigeons, where a current of from 10 to 30 volts, alternating 100 to 200 times per second, was directed to the back and top of the head, was found to produce insensibility without harmful results. The success of the experiment so encouraged Dr. Leduc that he determined to try the effect on a human being, choosing himself as the subjeet. The current pressure was raised to 50 volts. The electrodes. wetted with salt water to obtain a good contact, were applied, one to the forehead and the other on the back, in order to act on the brain and spinal cord. The operation lasted about ten minutes, at the end of which time insensibility was complete. The doctor says he felt none of the inconveniences which follow the inhalation of chloroform. As soon as the current was cut off the awakening was immediate, coupled with a sensation of vigor. Other experiments are about to be tried, in the hope of arriving at a happy solution of the problem of inoffensive ansthetiaecs.