pation of a millionaire's income, settled down to the profession
of engineering science, in which he did as well as his advantages of
education enabled him. Like all men in advance of their time, when he
considered himself the victim of arbitrary capitalists ignoring the
bent of his genius, he did his best work in accordance with their
stipulations. He designed the Great Western, the first steamship
(paddle-wheel) ever built to cross the Atlantic; and the Great
Britain, the original ocean screw steamer. Flushed with these
successes, Brunel procured pecuniary support from speculative fools,
who, dazzled by the glittering statistical array that can be adduced in
support of any chimerical venture, the inventor's repute, and their
unbaked experience, imagined that the alluring Orient was ready to
yield, like over-ripe fruit, to their shadowy grasp; and tainted as he
evidently was with hereditary mania, Brunel resolved to seize the
illusionary immortality that he fondly imagined to be within his reach.

There was not much the matter with the brain of Brunel, Jr., but that
little was enough; a competent railroad surveyor, a good bridge builder,
he needed to be held within bounds when handling other people's funds;
for the man's ambition would have lead him to undertake to bridge the
Atlantic. He met with the speculators required in this very instance of
the constructors of the Great Eastern. This monstrous ship has been
described so often, that it would be a cruelty to our readers to inflict
the story upon them again.

Natural Gas the Fuel of the Future.--The house of the near future will
have no fireplace, steam pipes, chimneys, or flues. Wood, coal oil,
and other forms of fuel are about to disappear altogether in
places having factories. Gas has become so cheap that already it is
supplanting fuels. A single jet fairly heats a small room in cold
weather. It is a well known fact that gas throws off no smoke, soot,
or dirt. In a brazier filled with chunks of colored glass, and several
jets placed beneath, the glass soon became heated sufficiently to
thoroughly warm a room 10x30 feet in size. This design does away with
the necessity for chimneys, since there is no smoke; the ventilation
may be had at the window. The heat may be raised or lowered by simply
regulating the flow of gas. The colored glass gives all the appearance
of fire; there are black pieces to represent coal, red chunks for
flames, yellowish white glass for whi