, the whole difficulty is one of fuel supply, and it is
useless to employ a fast torpedo boat as our model, except at the
speed at which the torpedo boat can carry her own fuel to cross the
Atlantic. If the voyage must be reduced in time, let it be reduced
from six days to four, by running between Galway and Halifax, a
problem not too extravagant in its demands for modern engineering
capabilities. A statement has recently gained a certain amount of
circulation to the effect that the Inman Company was about to use
petroleum as fuel, in order to obtain more steam. We have the best
possible authority for saying there is not the least syllable of truth
in this rumor. It has also been stated that since solid piston valves
have been fitted to the Teutonic in lieu of the original spring ring
valves, she has steamed faster. This rumor is only partially true. Her
record, outward passage, of 5 days 16 hours 31 minutes, was made on
her previous voyage. She has, however, since made her three fastest
trips homeward.--_The Engineer_.

* * * * *

THE MILITARY ENGINEER AND HIS WORK.[1]

By Col. W.R. KING.

[Footnote 1: A lecture delivered before the students of Sibley
College, Cornell University, December 4, 1891.--_The Crank_.]

It is not an easy matter to present a dry subject in such an
attractive form as to excite a thrilling interest in it, and military
science is no exception to this rule. An ingenious military instructor
at one of our universities has succeeded in pointing out certain
analogies between grand tactics and the festive game of football,
which appears to have greatly improved the football, if we may judge
from the recent victories of the blue over the red and the black and
orange, but it is not so clear that the effect of the union has been
very beneficial to military science; and even if such had been the
case, I fear there are no similar analogies that would be useful in
enlivening the subject of military engineering.

From the earliest times of which we have record man has been disposed
to strive with his fellow man, either to maintain his own rights or to
possess himself of some rights or material advantage enjoyed by
others. When one or only a few men encroach on the rights of others in
an organized community, they may be restrained by the legal machinery
of the state, such as courts, police, and prisons, but when a whole
community or state rises against another, the