ect to
be called upon to do on the outbreak of serious war, previous
preparation in time of peace is an absolute requisite. In connection
with General Sherman's operations in Georgia, during the American
civil war, an army was supplied for six and a half months over a line
473 miles long. The corps of workmen was 10,000 strong, and on one
occasion replaced 35,000 sleepers and nine miles of rails in seven
days. The true defense of the line was effected by the engineers
always having men and material ready. In spite of the large and
skilled railway population on which the army could call, and of the
fact that practically the nation was in arms, it was found extremely
difficult to keep this railway construction corps together until they
were placed under a severe military discipline.--United Service
Gazette.

A HOSPITAL car has been introduced on the Belgian railroads, says
The Engineer. It is designed for use in the event of a serious railway
accident, and can be run to the spot where the wounded may be picked
up and carried to the nearest city for treatment, instead of being
left to pass hours in some wayside station while awaiting surgical
attendance. The interior of this car is divided into a main
compartment, a corridor on one side and two small rooms at the end.
The largest compartment, the hospital proper, contains twenty-four
isolated beds on steel tubes hung upon powerful springs; each bed is
provided with a small movable table, a cord serving to hold all the
various small objects which may be needed, and each patient lies in
front of two little windows, which may be closed or opened at will.
The corridor on the outside of the hospital chamber leads to the linen
closet and the doctor's apartment; in the latter is a large cupboard,
the upper portion being used for drugs, while the lower is divided
into two sections, one serving as a case for surgical instruments and
the other as a receptacle for the doctor's folding bed.

THE DUST collected from the smoke of some Liege furnaces, burning
coal raised from the neighboring mines, produces, when dissolved in
hydrochloric acid, a solution from which considerable quantities of
arsenic and several other metallic salts may be precipitated.
Commenting on this fact, ascertained by M.A. Jorissen, M. Francis Maur
asks whether this breathing of arsenic and other minerals in a finely
divided state may not account for the singular immunity from epidemics
enjoyed by certain indu