Schmidt, in comparing the economical value of coal and electricity as sources of energy, arrives at the conclusion that on the average only 30 per cent of energy is utilized in the former case, whereas in the latter case this percentage is 90 per cent. For this reason he recommends that electrical heating be used in the manufacture of water gas, instead of the usual process of supplying the necessary heat by direct combustion under air blast. He bases his calculations on the economical conditions existing in Switzerland, and expresses the opinion that it would be easy to adapt carbide furnaces to the manufacture of water gas.

There are now 8,660 less horses than five years ago in New York City. Trolley cars and autos did it.

Violins and mandolins made of clay are now being placed on the market in Europe and America. Many declare them to be superior to the time-honored wooden instruments. The clay is made into a high-grade porcelain, which forms the body of the mandolin or violin. The porcelain body, it is claimed, is better capacitated for. producing sound than a wooden one, since it co-operates in the making of sound, causing the notes to become soft and full. A further advantage claimed is that the porcelain instrument is totally insensible of the influence of the weather.

Rear Admiral Rogers and the naval board, of which he is chairman, have selected a site for a govern-ment wireless telegraph station on the Navesink Highlands. The tower is to be placed near the north beacon of the famous Twin Lights and close to the Postal Telegraph Observatory.

According to Electricity, a novel departure in boat-race reporting was introduced last month by F. B. Howard, the agent of the Associated Press in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., with the co-operation of the Hudson River Telephone Company. Mr. Howard and Manager Rupley of the telephone company were on board of the judge's boat at the finish, with a telephone connected by under-water cable with the telegraph station of the Associated Press at the finish line on shore. In this way the positions of the crews crossing the line and the official time were telephoned to the shore, and immediately telegraphed all over the country. The telephone was also used to receive the progress of the crews as they came down the course, and this information was megaphoned from the judge's boat to the yachts anchored in the neighborhood. It was a very clever arrangement, and successfully carried out.

The Electrical Review says: "The fact that the rooms of the King of England were cooled and ventilated during his severe illness by means of the electric fan was deemed of sufficient interest to be cabled to numerous daily papers in this country. The electric fan is purely an American invention, and its usefulness is becoming more and more appreciated in all countries."