it will probably be found to be caused by
mechanical injury, which can be located by inspection. If it is ever
necessary to loop out conductors, a joint can be readily opened and the
conductors wanted picked out and connected into the branch cable and the
joint again closed without disturbing the working wires. In doing this a
split sleeve must be used, and the only additional precaution to be
taken is in filling the sleeve to have the insulating compound not hot
enough to melt the solder and open up the split in the sleeve. In
cutting in service on light and power cables it is entirely practicable
to do so without interruption of service on multiple arc circuits, even
those of very high voltage; but they require great precaution and
involve considerable risk to the jointer, and where possible the circuit
to which the connection is to be made should previously be cut dead.
Where the voltage is not dangerous to human life, almost any service
connection can be made without interruption of service.

I have only indicated a very few of the operations that may be found
necessary, and the probable causes of troubles that may be encountered
in the operating of underground circuits, believing that the different
problems that arise can, with a little experience, be successfully met
by any one who has a fair knowledge of the original construction of
cable lines.--_Electrical World_.

* * * * *

RAILROADS TO THE CLOUDS.

If George Stephenson, when he placed the first locomotive on the track
and guaranteed it a speed of six miles an hour, could have foreseen that
in less than eighty years the successors of his rude machine would be
climbing the sides of mountain ranges, piercing gorges hitherto deemed
inaccessible, crossing ravines on bridges higher than the dome of St.
Paul's, and traversing the bowels of the earth by means of tunnels, no
doubt his big blue eyes would have stood out with wonder and amazement.
But he foresaw nothing of the kind; the only problem present in his mind
was how to get goods from the seaports in western England to London as
easily and cheaply as possible, and to do this he substituted for
horses, which had for 150 years been drawing cars along wooden or iron
tracks, the wonderful machine which has revolutionized the freight and
passenger traffic of the world.

It was, indeed, impossible for any one to foresee the triumphs of
engineering which have accompanied