In cleaning a fountain pen it is a great mistake for those experienced in such matters to attempt to take all the elements apart, owing to the difficulty experienced in putting them back in their correct relative positions. It is also a difficult matter to cleanse the minute passages thoroughly and free them from foreign matter which will get there, and which becomes hardened and obstructs the flow of ink and air. The simple device now explained is most effective in its action. It consists of one of the little pipette tubes supplied with fountain pens, fitted into and passed through a cork slightly tapered. This is placed in the water-supply tap, with the result that a fine jet of water is produced, issuing from the point at a pressure so great that if the point section of the pen be unscrewed and the jet allowed to play into the passages, all impurities will quickly disappear and the pen be thoroughly cleansed.

Consul Keene of Geneva, reports that the opening of the Simplou tunnel, which was fixed for April 1, has been postponed to May by action of the Swiss authorities. The consul says: The official opening of the new international line through the Simplon Tunnel, after having been advertised for April 1, 1906, is now reported as being postponed until May 1. After having been for a considerable time under discussion, the mode of traction between Brigue and Domo d'Os-60la, about 22 miles, is reported to be electrical, in accordance with a decision recently made by the Federal department of Swiss railroads. The first two electrical engines, when delivered at the end of the year, will first be tried on the Italian electrical lines of the Valteline.

A sensitive galvanometer for use with a potentiometer in a position where there is much vibration is not easily found. The D'Arsonval suspension galvanometer is useless in such a place, and the ordinary small pivot galvanometer may not be sensitive enough for the work. A device recently tried with success was to remove the mirror and table from a student's microscope, and put an extension on so that the lenses could be brought over a pivot galvanometer. With this arrangement, which is always ready for use regardless of ordinary vibration, the potentiometer can be used for measurements to two-thousandths of one volt.

Aluminum paper, ordinary cellulose coated with powdered aluminum, is now being made in Germany as a substitute for tinfoil. It is used as a wrapper for food, and is said to possess the right qualities for preserving food. The paper itself is a kind of artificial parchment, prepared by treating ordinary paper with sulphuric acid. The sheets are spread out and evenly coated on one side with a solution of resin in alcohol or ether; then the powdered aluminum is applied, and the paper is finally pressed.

For grinding high-speed steel, nothing is quite so good as a well-selected wet sandstone, the tools being ground upon it by hand pressure. Mr. Gledhill states that where emery wheels are used it is advisable to grind the tool to shape before hardening; this grinding may be done mechanically. By so doing the tools require but little hand grinding after hardening, and only slight frictional heating occurs, so that the temper is not drawn in any way, or the cutting efficiency of the tool impaired. When the tools are ground on a wet emery wheel and undue pressure applied, the heat generated by the great friction between the tool and the emery wheel causes the steel to become hot, and the water playing on the steel while in this heated condition, tends to produce cracking.