Various

“ The early military engineer has left ample records and monuments of his genius. The walls of ancient cities, castles that still crown many hills in both hemispheres, the great Chinese wall, the historical bridge of Julius Cæsar, which with charming simplicity he tells us was built because it did not comport with his dignity to cross the stream in boats, the bridge of boats across the Hellespont, by Xerxes, are all examples of early military engineering. ”

“ There can be no doubt that animals communicate their impressions by an inarticulate voice. Common sense and the most superficial observations are opposed to the negative of this proposition. But when a canary bird warbles till it stuns us, or a nightingale sings in the shadows on the fine nights of June, can we follow and discover the significance of those modulations—now sharply cadenced, now slowly drawn out, and ending with a trill long and accurate enough to challenge the most skillful musician? ”

“ Thus, to select examples which every one can observe, when a canary bird is warbling in its cage and becomes deafening, or when a lark rises straight up in the air and incantat suum tirile tirile—sings its tirile tirile—as Linnæus picturesquely expresses it; when a tomtit, leaping from branch to branch of a willow or among the reeds, repeats its florid warblings; when a raven croaks; when a blackbird whistles—what significance can we attach to their songs and their cries? Certainty is impossible, and we can only form more or less plausible hypotheses concerning the interpretation of them. ”

“ Crude oil fuel must in the future play an important part in all branches of manufacture requiring high, constant heats, and in which the cost of wood, coal, and other solid fuels, together with the labor cost of handling them, forms a considerable part of the cost of production. Where coal is required to be hauled in carts from the wharves, or from a line of railway to the brick yard, located a mile, more or less, from the places where the coal is received, the cost of handling, haulage, and waste is an important item. ”

“ Already we hear that another day must be struck off, and that five-day steamers have become a necessity of modern requirements, keeping up a continuous ocean speed of 231⁄2 knots to 24 knots. Shipbuilders and engineers are ashamed to mention the word impossible; and designers are already at work, as we saw in the Naval Exhibition, but only so far in the model stage; as the absence of any of the well known distinguishing blazons of the foremost lines was sufficient to show that no order had been placed for the construction of a real vessel. ”

“ Not only are the duties of the military engineer similar in many respects to those of the civil engineer, but there are many instances in which the duties of one branch of the profession have been performed by members of the other branch, quite as efficiently as though they had been performed by engineers specially educated for the purpose. During the late civil war there were many illustrations of this, all showing that an ingenious engineer can readily adapt himself to circumstances entirely different from those to which he has been accustomed. ”

“ BURNING BRICK WITH CRUDE OIL FUEL.
At the present time there is not the least reason why either wood, coal, or any other solid fuel should be used for the burning of brick. This style of burning brick belongs to a past age. The art of brickmaking has made tremendous progress during the past quarter of a century. It is no longer the art of the ignorant; brains, capital, experience, science, wide and general knowledge, must in these days be the property of the successful brick manufacturer. ”

“ Unless we have a fleet for every harbor, it would be impossible to depend upon this kind of defense, as the enemy would select whichever harbor he found least prepared to receive him. It would be of vital importance that we defend every harbor of importance, as a neglect to do so would be like locking some of our doors and leaving the others open to the burglars. ”

“ While there are some objections to the use of petroleum as a fuel, growing chiefly out of the risk attending its storage and conveyance to the point of consumption, it is undoubtedly true that the chief objection is the fear that with the increased demand that would follow any extended use for this purpose would come an increase in price that would make its continued use too expensive. ”

“ It is only natural that there should be peculiarities in the construction of the limbs and skulls of the Dipodidea with their bird-like movements and bird-like sharp-sightedness, that are usually found only among birds. The consistency between the construction of their bodies and their mode of life is a beautiful example of fitness; only by extraordinary quickness of movement and sagacity could the little defenseless plant-eaters maintain the struggle for existence in the barren steppes and deserts. ”

“ It will take a very short time to examine the task of the naval architect required to secure these onerous and magnificent conditions, five days' continuous ocean steaming at a speed of 24 knots.
The most practical, theory-despising among them must for the nonce become a theorist, and argue from the known to the unknown; and, first, the practical man will turn—secretly perhaps, but wisely—to the invaluable experiments and laws laid down so clearly by the late Mr. Froude. ”

“ However, we must not fall into the opposite excess and assert, as some have done, that the glacial period is comparatively recent, the traces of which are too plain and fresh in some localities to assign to it an age prior to man, and that the temperature has rather lowered itself since this epoch. The ancient extension of the glaciers has been followed by a corresponding growth and extension of animal life, thus proving that the permanence of glaciers is a wise provision and absolutely essential to man and the high orders of animals and vegetation. ”

“ Great weight of metal is no objection on land, but, aside from its cost, is a positive advantage. This is evident when we consider the enormous quantity of energy stored in the larger projectiles moving at high velocities. For example, we often hear of the sixteen inch rifle whose projectile weighs about one ton, and this enormous mass projected at a velocity of 2,000 feet per second would have a kinetic energy of 60,000 foot tons, or it would strike a blow equal to that of ten locomotives of 50 tons each running at 60 miles an hour and striking a solid wall. ”

“ The last sight on earth to 35,000 people was that of the awful eruption. Engulfed in the ocean or covered with heaps of ashes, a few hours after the eruption commenced the awful work was done, and that vast multitude had vanished from off the face of the earth. The fact that in the neighborhood of the mountain there was a sparse population accounts for there not being even a far greater loss of life.
Notwithstanding the awfulness of volcanic and earthquake phenomena, there is some silver lining to the dark clouds. They prove that the earth is yet a living planet. ”

“ It is smokeless, for the fine spray of oil which comes from the injector consists of such minute drops of the liquid and is so thoroughly mixed with oxygen that when it burns the combustion is complete, and only steam and carbonic acid gas go out of the top of the kiln. Not a speck of soot comes from the kiln or the smokestack or soils the whitewashed purity of the boiler room. Oil fuel is absolutely clean. It is labor saving, too. No fireman has to keep shoveling coal, there are no ashes to be dragged out from under the furnace grates, and there are no clinkers to clog up the bars. ”

“ It might be thought that we could send our fleet to intercept the enemy or blockade him in his own ports, but this has been found impracticable. Large fleets can readily escape from blockaded harbors, or elude each other on the high seas, and any such scheme implies that we are much stronger on the ocean than the enemy, which is very far from the case. To build a navy that would overmatch that of Great Britain alone would not only cost untold millions, but it would require many years for its accomplishment ”

“ Fuel gas means a larger investment of capital than does any of the other modes of brick burning, and is, therefore, not within the reach of the entire trade. The cost of appliances for burning brick with crude oil is not very large, and as all grate bars, iron frames, and doors can be dispensed with in the use of crude oil fuel, the cost of an oil-burning equipment is but little in excess of an equipment of grates, etc., for coal-burning kilns. ”

“ When there is no bridge train at hand the engineer is obliged to use such improvised materials as he can get; buildings are torn down to get plank and trees are cut to make the frame. Sometimes single stringers will answer, but if a greater length of bridge is required it may be supported on piles or trestles, or in deep water on rafts of logs or casks. But the heavy traffic of armies, operating at some distance from their bases, must be transported by rail, and the building of railway bridges or rebuilding those destroyed by the enemy is an important duty of the engineer. ”

“ 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 civil law becomes powerless and a state of war ensues. ”

“ The question would naturally arise whether there may not be a limit reached where electricity would completely overcome the attack of mildew and stimulate the plant to a healthy and vigorous condition throughout its entire growth. From the fact that the hardiest, healthiest, and largest heads of lettuce grew over the greatest number of currents and nearest the electrodes, it would seem that electricity is one of the agents employed by nature to aid in supplying the plant with nourishment and to stimulate its growth. ”

“ The streets, he says, are thronged with long-robed, large-spectacled gentlemen, who inform the world at large by every fold of drapery, every swagger of gait, every curve of nail, that they are the aristocracy of the most ancient empire of the world. Wuchang had from 12,000 to 15,000 bachelors of arts within its walls, who came from the far borders of the province for the examination for the provincial degree. About one-half per cent. will be successful; thousands of them know they have not the shadow of a chance, but literary etiquette binds them to appear. ”

“ Now one of the first things resorted to, in order to gain an advantage over the enemy, was to bring in material appliances, such as walls, ditches, catapults, scaling ladders, battering rams, and subsequently the more modern appliances, such as guns, forts, and torpedoes, all of which are known as engines of war, and the men who built and operated these engines were very naturally called engineers. It is this kind of an artificer that Shakespeare refers to when he playfully suggests that "'tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard." ”

“ There are some such progressive brick manufacturers in Chicago, who use neither coal nor wood in the drying or burning of their clay products. Crude oil is the fuel which they employ, and with this fuel they obtain cheaper and better brick than do manufacturers who employ solid fuel. Some of these manufacturers have expressed themselves as preferring to quit the brick business rather than return to the use of wood or coal as fuel in brick burning. ”

“ There is a very wide difference in the cost of unloading, hauling away ashes and cinders, and getting my coal around to the kiln, or boilers, or drier, or wherever I use it, and I get very much better results by being able to put the heat from oil fuel just where I want it."
In order to secure the best results with any fuel it is not only necessary that a cheap fuel should be used, but that it should be always obtainable, and that all of it should be burned and turned to commercial account in the operations of brick manufacture. ”

“ It is well known that currents of electricity exist in the atmosphere. Clouds are charged and discharged. There is a constant change of electricity from earth to air and from air to earth, the latter being the great reservoir for all electricity. Hills, mountain peaks, trees, high chimneys, spires, in fact all points elevated above the earth's surface assist greatly in charging and discharging the atmosphere. ”

“ If they meet him standing still or lying down, they form in a circle around him, and, putting their heads down, repeat continually their peculiar cries. The hare remains quiet, and it is sometimes possible to take him up, terrorized as he is in the midst of the black circle of gobbling beaks and heads. ”

“ The great object of the perforations by insects is the obtaining of the concealed nectar in an easy way. Very naturally, flowers which depend on insect agency for fertilization rarely produce seed when punctured if they are not also entered in the normal way. Perforating is only practiced by a small number of species of insects, and many but not all of the perforators do so because their tongues are too short to reach the nectar by entering the flower. Some obtain nectar from the same kind of flower both in the normal way and by perforating. ”

“ To conclude, 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. ”

“ There seems to be something innately picturesque about all furnaces and those who work about them. Whether it is the Rembrandt effects produced by the strong light and shade, or whether it is that the necessary use of the long iron instruments, such as all furnace workers employ, compels a certain dignity and grace of poise and action, we know not ”

“ There is everything to show a modification of climate in our own days. If this goes on in the future as in the past, there will be a marked difference in the temperature two or three hundred years from now. Even a degree in a thousand years would effect a great change in the course of time. The lowering of four degrees established the ancient extension of glaciers, though it did not interrupt animal or vegetable life. ”

“ A third miss has come to capture his affection; and when he has been left asleep, or resting in his cage, he has always the same word, but different in the inflection wheedling, angry, or nearly indifferent, as either of the three persons comes near him. Jaco's pronunciation is scanned in many meters. Only one young student has had the privilege of retaining his affection unmarred. ”

“ A speed of 24 knots—and it is claimed even of 25, 26, and 27 knots—has been attained on the mile by a torpedo boat. But such a performance is useless for our mode of comparison, as sufficient fuel at this high speed for ten or twelve hours only at most can be carried—a voyage of, say, 500 miles; while our steamer is required to carry coal for 3,000 miles. The Russian torpedo boat Wiborg, for instance, is designed to carry coal for 1,200 miles at 10 knot speed; but at 20 knots this fuel would last only twenty-seven hours, carrying the vessel 540 miles. ”

“ It needs but a little effort of the reasoning powers to come to the conclusion that the earth had cooled to the degree that all animal and vegetable life could exist upon it, and that a portion of the earth's surface permanently covered with snow and ice was absolutely indispensable to the existence, perpetuity, and well-being of animal and vegetable life. Again, they have attributed to the glaciers the rocks, gravels, and other material which they have found spread here and there long distances from the mountains. ”

“ From the time electricity became a science, much research has been made to determine its effect, if any, upon plant growth. The earlier investigations gave in many cases contradictory results. Whether this was due to a lack of knowledge of the science on the part of the one performing the experiments, or some defect in the technical applications, we are not prepared to say; but this we do know, that such men as Jolabert, Nollet, Mainbray and other eminent physicists affirmed that electricity favored the germination of seeds and accelerated the growth of plants ”

“ Many scientists are agreed that certain forms of precipitation are due to electrical action; but my observations have led me to believe conclusively that electricity is a potent factor in the economy of nature, and has more to do with the growth and development of plants than has hitherto been known. ”