DEC. 8, I 893 J ,.

THE FAY 1\I ""\ND L.L\I{E !(ERIS. THE mystic-or, as some have said, the mythical

- Lake Mooris has been a constant source of attrac-tion to those who take an interest in unravelling the fra()'mentary, and often tangled, records of Egypt. b In connection with the quest for it during the present century, two . names stand out prominently-those of l\I. Lmant de Bellefonds, Director-General of Public ' Yorks in Egypt in 1842, and of Mr. Cope 'Vhitehouse. The former demon-strated to his own satisfaction , and his verdict was almost universally accepted, that the classical account was grossly exaggerated, and that the ori()'inal of the inland sea, described by Herodotus as being 450 miles in circumference and 300 ft. in depth, was merely a pool of 65 square miles area, f\nnually filled to a depth of some 6 ft. by the

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E N G I N E E R I N G. whole of Lower Egypt. This requi~e~ an esc~pe basin capable of taking at least ~000 milhon cubic metres in forty days, and returnmg water enough to the river, during the summer months, to fill th.e channels which intersected the Delta. The culti-vated area. of Lower Egypt was, in the flourishing period of Cleopatra, nearly twice as great as at present. .

The results of Mr. Cope 'Vhitehouse's investi-gations we will refer to later ; they are to be read at lenath in our columns.* More recently, how ever, a

0 new light has been thrown on to this subject

by Major R . H. Brown, R.E. ~ Ins~ector:General of Irrigation, U pper Egypt,+ whiCh dttfers I~ some re-spects from those of his predecessors. MaJOr ~rown is most fortunately situated for the prosecutwn of an inquiry of this kind, since the Fayu!l1 .forx:ns part of the country under his charge, and It Is his duty

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Nile flood, and then almost dried up by the summer heat and the demands of the irrigation canals con-nected with it.

According to M. Linant, it was a reservoir intended to supply the desert-girt province of the Fayi'tm during the period of low Nile. It was obvious to the great French engineer that, in the early centuries of our era, the cultivated area of t his district had been greatly extended. Out of about 400,000 acres only 250,000 now receive water, even during the inunda-tion. In 1842 the Bahr Yusuf was almost dry for a considerable period in each year. I smail P asha., however, cleaned the canal, improved the intake, and provided for the annual dredging in that upper reach, between Assiout and Deirut, which is the feeder common to the Ibrahimiyeh as well as the Bahr Yusuf. He thus assured a minimum daily supply of 1, 000,000 cu hie metres, as against 250,000 formerly obtained, during May and June, ex-clusively from the drainage which welled up as springs in the bed of the stream at various points on its course in the Valley of the Nile. 1\1. Linant quite ignored the fact that the ancient historians had explicitly stated that Lake Mooris served to relieve the inundation and to supply summer water to the

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to be acquainted with its topography. Further, as an eminent irrigation engineer, of great experience, he is specially well fitted to form a judgment re-garding a work that was admittedly more or less artificial, and was used as a regulator in the largest irrigation system the world has ever seen. He could not only command all the necessary facts as to levels, areas, and the like, but he could also form an authoritative opinion as to the conclusions that could be safely drawn from those facts. The researches and his deductions form a most interest-ing and closely-reasoned book, which will be read with pleasure not only by Egyptologists and engi-neers, but also by those who take delight in seeing how one science sheds illumination over the dark places of others. The volume is profusely illus-trated, and contains many capital r eproductions of photographs taken by the authors.

* See ENGINEERING, vol. x l., page 241; vol. xliv., pages 259 to 283 ; vol. xl vi., pages 267 to 27'1 ; vol. 1., page 334 ; and vol. lii., page 451.

t "The FaytLm and Lake M reris." By :Major R. H. Brown, R .E., Inspector-General of Irr~gationt Upper Egypt. With a Prefatory Note by Col. Str Colin Scott-lVIoncrieff, K.C,M.G., C.S.I. Loudon: Edward Stanford.

685 ::

The F ay\un is now a. cul~ivat.ed district, of the shape of a leaf, situated In the Lib! an desert about 50 miles south of Cairo. It is ent~rely surr?unded by desert, except for a narrow cult1 vate.d str1p, cor-responding to the stalk of the leaf, whtch connects it with the Nile Valley at Lahun (see maps s~bjoined one of which we reproduce from MaJOr Browr;'s book by the kind permission of th~ pu~lisher). No rain falls in the Fayi'tm, whiCh IS watered by the Bahr Yusuf, a c~!lal of prob~bly natural oriain which leaves the :NI le near Asswut and flows f or' 250 miles along the margin of the desert until it finally turns westward throu gh a pass i~ the hills, and enters the Fayi'tm. The lenath of the main branch, which ends at the to;n of Medineh-el-Fayt'tm, is 24 kilometres (15 miles), and the highest point of its bed is 21 met~es above sea level. At La.hun, where the canal quits

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the Nile Valley, the level of the country is about 26 metres above sea level (R.L. 26), while the town of Medinet is R.L. 22.5, showing a difference of about

3~ metres. As Assiout is at a considerably higher level than Lahun, there is a constant current, all the year round, from the Nile into the Fayl'nn. The inundation level of high Nile at Assiout may be taken at R.L. 50, and in the I{osheshah basin, in which Lahun is situated, at R.L. 26. 70, although in years of high N ile it rises to 27.8 metres. At Lah un the canal passes through a bridge of three openings, the floors of which are respectively at R. L. 21.97, 21.97, and 20. 72. The maximum and minimum water levels above the bridge are 27.8 and 22.5 metres. At the end of the Bahr Yusuf at Medineh the water level is now kept constantly at 21.7 to 21.8 metres. The bed of the canal is generally between R.L. 17 and 19, except at one point where it is R .L. 21, the bottom there being rock.

From Medineh the irrigation canals radiate through the Fayum. The land here is at the 22.5 metres level, and for 8 kilometres (5 miles) slopes away at 1 in 1400. For the next 4 kilometres the slope is 1 in 666, and then 1 in 150 till the Birket-el-Qurun (Lake of Horns) is reached. This is the lowest point of the Fayum, and receives all its drainage, the level of the lake varying according as the inflow or the evaporation predominates. At the beginning of 1892 the water surface level was A3.3 metres below mean sea level, and the bed of the lake 5 metres lower at least. The lake is about 40 kilometres long and 5 kilometres broad. The hills rise steeply from the other side of the lake.

Connected with the Fayum is the Gharaq basin, which is a small culti\ated area surrounded by desert lands above the present limits of irrigation, except at one point where there is a narrow de-pression at R.L. 16 metres. Through this the irri

686 gation canals reach the basin. Near to the Gharaq basin is the vVadi Raian, discovered by Mr. Cope Whitehouse. It has an area about one-fourth of that of the Fayum at contour lt. L. 25. It is bare desert, its lowest level being 40 metres below sea level ; it is surrounded entirely by hills above the level of + 36, except at two gaps in the hills separating it from the Gharaq basin, which have their sills at R.L. 27 and 26 respectively. We will put these levels in ta.bular form :

~Iett-es above M ean Sea Level.

Country level at La.hun .. ... .. . 26 Ordinary inundation level at L ahun ... 26.70 Maximum inundation level at Lahun ... 27.8 L Ewel of canal bottom at Lahun ... 20.72 Minimum summer water level ... ... 22.5 Highest level of bed of Ba.hr Yusuf

between Lahun and Medineh ... 21 Water level at ~Iedineh .. . .. . ... 21.7 Highest level of Nile deposit in Fay (\m 24.5 Country level at M edineh . .. ... 22.5

, ,, 5 miles north-west of Medineh ... ... ... ... ... 17.5

Country level 7.G miles north-west of Medineh ... ... ... ... ... 10

W a.ter level of Birket-el-Qertln ... . .. -43 Level of pass from Fayftm to Gha.raq . . . Hi Minimum level in Gharaq ... . .. about 0 Level of pass from Gharaq into R~iya.n 2G

From these fig ures and from what has preceded it will be understood that the country level falls from 25 metres abo,e mean sea level near L ahun to 22.5 metres at Medineh, with a slope varying from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 9333. At l\1edineh the slope quickens to 1 in 1400 towards the lake, till a l evel of 17.5 is attained, when it again becomes steeper (1 in 6G6), until the level of 10 metres is reached. Then the country declines to the lake at 1 in 150. These varying declivities divide the Fayum into what has been spoken of as three plateaux or sloping terraces of horseshoe form, bounded by curved contour lines.

\Vhen Linant de Bellefonds Pasha sought to locate the site of the ancient Lake Mreris, he found the r emains of a bank running near the edge of the first plateau in places. He also found a masonry wall of very considerable size and length, and he jumped to the conclusion that these formed part of a complete encircling dam which prevented the water of the Bahr Yusuf penetrating further into the Fayum. The dam inclosed a triangular area, with the base resting on the range of hills separat-ing the Fayu m from the Nile Valley, and its apex considerably beyond the present site of Medineh. Linant Pasha fixed the depth of water in the sup-posed lake at 9.60 metres, which would bring its maximum water level at R.L. 30.6. H e does not appear to have taken careful levels, if, indeed, any at all, as he speaks of a bank being 12 metres high which, in reality, is less than 6 metres high. Major Brown has, however, determined many of the levels, and he finds that the area covered by the sup-posed lake varies from R.L. 25 t o R .L. 12. The north boundary of the area runs generally along the contour R L. 17 .5, 5 to 7 metres below the high plateau. He points out that ~his vast r eser-voir, 13 metres deep along a part of 1ts bank, would be a fearful menace to the. security of the dwellers below, the more so as it would necessarily be pierced with openings to supply the irrig-1tion canals. He considers it incredible that in a land where the danger of bursting banks was well understood, the collection of thriving towns in the Arsinoite N ome could have arisen in such a. perilous situation. "The ancient Egyptians, who lived before our era, must have had prodigious faith in their protecting deities-or in their Depar t ment of Public Works-if they took up their abode behind Linant's bank." Further, the area, perimeter, and depth of this lake do not in the least correspond with the figures given py Herodotus. * We have not the space to follow Major Brown in his com-plete refutation of the Linant theo.ry ; it is sufti-cient to Sl-Y that he not only proves It to be unten-able but he also upsets nearly every statement of supposed fact on which it w:as based. The. P~sha's premises were nearly all Inaccurate, so It IS no wonder that his conclusion was incorrect.

Some years before Major Brown's methodical and scientific discussion of the Linant theory, Mr. Cope Whitehouse had. adduced so many reas~ns against it, and had p01nted. out so many fal~aCies in connection with it, that It had been practteally abandoned by Egyptologists. In place of it he had

* See ENc INKERING, vol. xl. , page 241.

E N G I N E E R I N G. offered his own theory, which we may briefly state as follows:

1. In B. c. 450 th ere was a submerged Fayum, used as a reservoir in the irrigation of all L ower Egypt, with practically n o cultivated Fayum.

This was the Mreris of Herodotus. It included the Raiyan Depression.

2. The ancient buildings in the Fayftm are above the level reached by this lake.

3. In n.c. 100 there was a protected higher culti-vated plateau in the Fayum.

4. In A. D. 50 to 70, as Pliny said, the lako was greatly reduced in area.

5. There is a sister depre~sion to the south, which, at first joined to the Fayu m Lake, was, in A.D. 150, the Lake Mreris of the Ptolemaic maps.

In Mr. Cope Whitehouse's eyes it was this sister depression, t he Raiyan basin, that alone gave these r esearches a practical value, since, being uncultivated and uninhabited, it could be refilled without inter-ference with existing institutions. Obviously the Fayf1m, with its large population and its annual export of over one million sterling, could not be submerged for the benefit of the rest of Egypt. Hence the idea has got abroad that the Raiya.n basin, and that alone, was identified by Mr. Copo White-house as the ancient Lake Mreris, while in reality h e pointed to that as the remaining portion of the lake, left after the Fayf1m had been reclaimed, except a.s regards the small portion occupied by the Birket-el-Qerun.

It was on May 16, 1881, that Mr. Cope Whitehouse first announced his belief that " the great r eservoir of water in the Fayum was part of a judicious system of irrigation, nobly conceived and splendidly executed, which, if r epaired, would enormously in-crease the population of Egypt, and redeem a vast extent of so-called desert." The feasibility of such a flood escape and reservoir as Mreris is no longer in dispute. "It is possible to store up, during the months of abundance." says Sir C. C. Scott-Mon crieff, "water sufficient to enable the whole Valley of the Nile, from Silsileh north ward, to enjoy the same benefits of perennial irrigation as are now confined to the D elta, and to those tracts watered by the Ibrahimiyeh Canal. More than that, it is possible to increase the summer volume available in the canals of the D elta, and t o have a surplus to devote to the two long branches of the river north of the Barrage, which would be a valuable boon to towns on the banks, such as Kafr-Zayat, Dessuk, Zifta,' and 1\fansourah. The water can b A had. The means of storing it is n ot an im-p ossible engineering feat. " The cost is estimated at 8,000,000l. ("Nile Reservoirs, " 1891, page 4-).

In the brilliant and lucid pages of "England in E gypt, " Mr. Milner asks, What is the probable return for a capital outlay whose interest charges would be only 350, OOOl. a year 1 In the chapter entitled " The Struggle for Water, " he shows that there is " a certain promise of 3, 000, OOOl. a year " in L ower E gypt., in the immediate future, with a further extension of 1,400,000 acres, bearing crops of 5l. per acre. In Upper Egypt there might be 4:,000,000l. added to the annual value of the produce. F or fifty years he sees a. prospect of continuous development which would virtually double the present r esources of Egypt, reduce its mortality, and be a material addition to the wealth of England, througlt "the external trade in which we are interested to the extent of 50 per cent. " It may be said that, as E gypt is not crush ed by a debt of 106,000, OOOl. and administrative expenses of 5,000,000l. annually, this increase might be capitalised at over 150,000, OOOl. The added in-come of 3,000,000l. a year would be obtained at once, but the larger sum represents an Egypt justifying the enthusiastic descriptions of ancient travellers, and wielding the political, social, and artistic power of which conclusive evidence is afforded by history, and the objects preserved in the British ~1useum.

Mr. Cope Whitehouse demonstrated, in 1882, that the Fayum, which is a word, not a name, but, like n Mooris, " means "the sea," was in the time of Herodotus a vast sheet of water, and that the bank which Linant believed had been constructed to confine the water on t he north and east, had, in reality, excluded it from the upper plateau. " The entire area was flooded, except the plateau occu-pied by the Labyrint h and the adjacent towns, and it was gradually redeemed and the fertile fields of the later Arsinoite Nome (or province) substituted for the lake." Professor Mahaffy has recently translated a number of deeds relating to this pro-

[DEc. 8, I 893. cess of reclamation, carried out chiefly for t he immediate benefit of the soldiers of the Greek kings, the Ptolemies, successors of Alexander.

The depth of the great inland sea, if not ''fifty fathoms, ,, as Herodotus had said, was not far from i t. ~'rom high Nile at El-Lahun ( + 26.5 metres) to the surface of the Birket-el-Qeriin ( - 43.13 metres) is 224 ft. ; and the Greek traveller was careful to say that when speaking in round terms of BOO ft. he referred to the maximum depth. A circumference is an uncertain measure-ment for an area of 800 square miles with an irregular shore, and at least one bold promontory. The E gyptian engineers in charge of the lake informed the Greek traveller that it was ''the cir-cumference of the circuit, " which, with many a sinuosity, gave such a long coast-line. There was, however, another topographical indication. It was expressly stated that the major axis of the lake in the fifth century B. c. was north and south, while the Fayu m Basin has its grratest extension from east to west. Thus Mr. Cope Whitehouse was compelled to assume that, in the d esert to the south of the Fayu m, there was an extension of the depressed area, communicating with the Nile V alley through the Fayum, at some level below + 26, or whatever was the height of high Nile 2300 years ago. His conjecture proved to be correct. The Raiyan depre~sion covers 250 square miles, has a. maximum depth below high Nile of about 250 ft., and has two narrow openings into the Fayi'tm, partly blocked with sand drift at the contour of 26 metres.

Further, we have in th e list of towns whose posi-tions were fixed by the Alexandrian geographer, Claudius Ptolemy, A.D . 150, the site of a town yet further south, but described as in a district near Lake Mreris. On the first map, published by us, in 1885, there is a valley outlined and marked '' hiLherto unexplored." It was surveyed with great care, in 1886, by a Government expedit ion, under Mr. Cope Whitehouse, and again in 1888, under the supervision of Colonel Western, by Mr. Lieurnur. Besides the text of Claudius Ptolemy, there are maps in the beautiful manuscripts attached to the text. on which a Lake Mreris is carefully defined. This lake cannot be in any way identified with the Fayum Basin.

It is this depression, called the Raiyan Basin, which appears to tally with g reat exactitude with the facts given by Ptolemy, and which could now be con verted, at relatively small cost, into an in-land sea, fulfilling, in a measure, at least, the func-tions attributed to the ancient Mreris.

Having thus giV'en a sketch of the hypotheses as to the location and purpose of Lake Mreris, put forward respectively by Linant Pasha and Mr. Cope Wbitehouse, we will n ow turn to Major Brown's theory. Major Brown says : "I wish to lay claim to no originality in the views adopted " (page 3). His arguments, however, demand and deserve a patient examination, both on account of the splendid advantages its author enjoys in an inquiry of this kind from his official posi-tion, and from his great powers as an observer and a logician. Stated briefly, Major Brown accepts the theory that the Lake Mreris of H erodotus was that part of the Fayum beyond Linant's bank, that is, the greater part of the three plateaux. We will endeavour to sum-marise his arguments in favour of this view. On the north or steep side of Lake Qurun there are ruins of towns of undoubted antiquity, and as these could have no water supply other than the lake, it is reasonable to suppose t hat they were built on its margin. Among these are the ruins of Dimay, and an ancient temple, described by Dr. Schwein-furth, 7 or 8 kilometres (4:! to 5 miles) north of Dimay. Dimay itself is 3 kilometres from the nearest point of the present Lake Qurfm, and the surface of its causeway or quay is R.L. 25.44. The south end of the quay is 2.85 metres lower, but some of its upper layers have disappeared. Near the temple is the site of an old town, marked by heaps of ancient pottery, and the level of these mounds is R. L. 24. 58. If these towns were on the margin of th e lake, they favour the idea that its level was somewhere about R .L. 23. At the opposite side of the lake, at the part where the Nile floods enter the Fayum, the highest Nile deposit is at R.L. 26. At Hawarah it is at R.L. 24.50, and along the ridge r eaching out towards Medineh R .L. 23.50. Probably, therefore, the water in the lake r eached about R .L . 26.50 at the commencement of the gorge, but the level of the lake itself rarely, if

DEc. 8, r 893.] ever, exceeded R L. 25. An attempt is made to deduce the lowest water level of the lake from the present height of the river, and the known effects of evaporation, and the point is fixed at R .L. 19.8. The quantity of water required to fill it from low to high water mark is 11,800 million cubic metres or a daily a\'erage for ninety days of 131,111,11i cubic metres. This can be obtained without affect-ing the irrigation of ~ower Egypt, a.s it exists, ~or eleven years out of s1xteen. The levels at wh1eh the Nile deposits are found in the Fayftm, the dis-charges which might be drawn off from the Nile, and the area of the Fayum Lake, are all in ao-ree-ment with the supposition that the level of the0 la.ke was yearly raised from about R. L. 20 to 25.

The formation of L9.ke Mooris is credited to Amenemhat TII., about 2500 B.c. Before his time the water must have flowed in and out without regulation, leaving bare a considerable area of land covered with Nile deposit. The idea to recla im the land, and also to defer the discharge of the lake until the river had fallen so low that the water \Vould be beneficial, instead of being harmful by unduly prolonging t he annual flood, was one that would readily occur to such a skilful and civilised people as the ancient Egyptians. To build a bank and a regulator, to bar the passage of the Bahr Yusuf through the hills, at some point between Lahun and Hawarah, would not be diffi -cult. By limiting the level of the lake to R. L. 22.50, all the area above that level, which is the highest plateau in the Fayum, would be left uncovered, and fitted for cultivation and habitation. The area above R. L . 22. 5, at first reclaimed, would have been about 10,000 acres, on which was built the ancient city of Crocodilopolis and its suburbs. At high water the city would be on the margin of the lake, with all the ad vantage of water carriage right up to its doors, but as the summer advanced and the water was withdrawn to R . L. 20 or 19. 5, a strip of muddy foreshore, gradually widening to two kilometres breadth, would be interposed between the city and the water. Even when this was crossed embarkat ion would be difficult, owing to the shallowness of the water. This state of things probably led to the construction of the bank from the high land east of Ed wah to Biahmu, and thence it appears probable to Medineh. The bank from Ed wah to Biahmu runs generally along con-tour R. L. 17. 50, and therefore would ha. ve been formed in water. Such a bank, if joined from Bbhmu to the high land at Crocodilopolis, would have inclosed an area from which the lake water would have been excluded, the other two sides of the inclosure being formed by the natural ridge at the end of which Crocodilopolis was built, and by the high land connecting this ridge near Hawarah-el .Magta with the commencement of the artificial bank near Ed wah. This second reclamation would have added 7000 feddans to the 10,000 included in the first reclamation.

The Edwah bank, however, does not stop at B iahmu, but continues its .first alignment t o Kala-biin, past Saliin and Fidimin, to a point a little to the north of Sinrf1 . Thence it curves round t owards the south and crosses the Abuksah Rail-way. At this crossing are extensive remains of an old town, and the remains of several smaller towns are to be found between the rail way and the point in the bank north of Sinru, all on the line of the bank. From this length of bank, other banks, at different angles to the main bank, seem to have existed ; some appeared to go towards Medineh ; others to\vards Abuksah in the direction of Lake Qurun. F ollowing the main bank a ravine is crossed, and for 1000 metres the bank can be traced due south. Then it is lost, and although Major Brown souaht for it in all directions, he was unable to discove; any traces of it. It is possible a side lnnk was carried up the slope at rjght angles to the contours to Medineh, and if it were, 10,000 feddans would be added to the already inclosed area, making it 27,000 feddans. Besides this deep water would be found at the side of the bank. Travellers from Crocodilopolis (Medineh) to Memphis (Bedreshen) would follow the road along the a.rtificii.l bank to Biahmu, where they would take ship to the nor th -east corner of the lake, whence the desert route runs straight to Memphis. This is the direct route followed t o-day, except that the lake no longer exists. Pliny was, therefore, correct when he said that the lake lay between the :rtfemphite and Arsino1te N omes. Major Brown sums up the matter : "Thus we have a vast lake of about 1600 million square metres of water surface,

E N G I N E E R I N G. and an area of 27,000 feddans (acres) reclaimed from it, with Crocodilopolis in the reclaimed area, and the Hawarah pyramid and the Labyrinth on the shores of the lake at the point where the waters entering the lake were controlled. This, I believe, was the Lake Mooris of Herodotus, and of those who con firmed his testimony."

The purpose of Lake Mceris was, undoubtedly, to supplement the waters of the Nile during the summer season. Thus its benefits were felt in the Delta, while the dwellers on its margin got but little from it in the fifth century B. c. , except fish and cool breezes. On the other hand, it occupied a great amount of land which would have been very useful to them. This led to the reclamation of the F ayum in the Greek and R oman p~riod. It is easy to see that there would be a strong local feeling in its favour if the R aiyan depression was in use, while those that would naturally oppose any change were at a considerable distance. As soon as the level fdl so far that water could not be returned to the Nile, the lake in the Fayftm lost, its usefulness except as an escape and drainage basin. The Birket Qerftn remains a fragment of the once ex-tensive sheet of water, and still serves this purpose. It evaporates annually 4, 728,000,000 cu hie metres. It disposes of t he drainage of the Bahr Yusuf, as the Dead Sea does for the J ordan.

~Iajor Brown is at variance with Mr. Cope Whitehouse in regard to the Wadi Raiyan, holding that this has always been a dry depression, and never part of the lake. H e quotes the passage of Herodotus which is translated : " This lake lies oblong north and south" (page 20), but describes the body of water with its major axis east and west. He reproduces a Ptolemaic map with its striking similarity with the Raiyan basin, but con-siders this a coincidence. He, however, perfectly admits that it would be feasible to put it into con-nection with the Nile, and transform it into a most efficient reser voir of Nile water for use in summer . Probably Mr. Whitehouse will be quite content to have his interpretation of ancient Egyptian history criticised if he can gain Major Brown's support for the project on which he has spent so much time. His interest lies more in the future than the past ; what he wants to do is to renew the benefits that once flowed from Lake Mceris, and whether they come from the original site, or from a neighbouring one, does not greatly matter. I t was Mr. Cope Whitehouse who discovered t he Wadi Raiyan in its character as a possible reservoir, and pointed it out to t he world, and this credit can never be taken from him. Next February, we are informed, an International Commission will be invited to report on the subject of Nile storage, and then we shall know whether modern engineering can im-prove on the wisdom of the ancients in this matter.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTH AFRICAN RAILWAYS.

(Concluded from page 657.) As far as the South African colonies and adjacent

territories are concerned, private lines may said to have proved a conspicuous failure, for a variety of reasons, chief among which must be placed the competition of Government lines and political con-siderations; but there are a few points in respect to which Government rail ways are unavoidably placed at a disadvantage as compared with their private limited liability compeers-firstly, t he way in which the necessary capital is raised, the former having to obtain the whole of the money to build its railways by loans at fixed rates of interest, and where these do not earn an amount sufficient to cover this interest, the deficit has to be made good out of the pockets of the taxpayers ; while the latter raise only a relatively small proportion of the money, at fixed rates of interest, in the form of debentures, the remainder being raised as shares, bearing such rates of intereet as the undertakings may earn. Should the undertakings only earn enough to pay the debenture interest, the shareholders are not called upon to make good the deficiency. The debenture-holders either take less interest, or, if they think the management is at fault, they take over the undertaking and manage it themselves. With Government rail ways, the capital may be said to be raised entirely on debentures, and the tax-payers become the sharehold~rs of all: unlin~ited liability company ; they contribute thetr credit to the concern, and are bound to make ~ood all

deficiencies in the income of the undertaking, so that the debenture- holders (i.e. , sub3cribers of the loan) lose nothing under any circumstances short of bankruptcy and repudiat ion. This is evidently, as far as the taxpayers are concerned, a far more expensive and unsatisfactory way of attaining the same result, even if the private undertaking be comes the recipient of a. Government subvention. In either case the working population reaps the same direct benefit, viz., the benefit of the money expended in wages during construction and working, and the general public the same direct and indirect advantages from the improved means of communi-cation.

Secondly, management. Government railways labour under di fficulties in this respect inherent in all Government administrations, which exist only in a modified form, if they are not \vholly avoided, in private administrations. These are over-centralisation of control, ancl small latitude allowed to subord inates, want of elasticity in dealing with the details of administration, and lack of incentive off~red to individual capacity and energy in their servants. \Vith Govern-ment undertakings the tendency is inevitably to reduce their servants to mere links in a chain, or, in other words, to squeeze them all through the fame mould, while the most successful of private undertakings have distinctly owed their

su~cess to the utilising and fostering of individual capacity and excellence, in despite of the claims of routine seniority and red tape.

So that, although recognising that under the peculiar circumstances of the case, without direct Government intervention, the colonial railway systems of South Africa would not have reached their present condition of development so soon, still it is a matter of question whether they have not been an unreasonably heavy burden on the shoulders of the colonists, and whether equally advantageous results would not have been attaind by confiding their de~elopment to the action of tre slower but less artificial effect of supply and demand.

6. Th e Ox Wa gon 1:e?s11s L ocomoti-te Tnti?~..-This question has constituted one of the chief impedi-ments in the way of the speedy development of the goods traffic, and to a large extent of the local pas-senger traffic, on rail ways in South Africa, and to it also must be attributed, in a great mEasure, the failure of private railway enterprise in t.hat country. H ow is it that a method of transport over bad and heavy roads, at an average speed of two miles an hour, can have competed, and in some measure advantageously, with another method of transport o\er well-laid railP, averaging a speed of 15 miles an hour ? To explain this it is neces sa.ry to go back to times long anterior to rail ways, or, indeed, to any method of transport whatever, namely, to the time of the first settlement of South Africa by the nati~e races. This being a country of vast grass-covered plains under unvary-ing conditions of c)imate (temperature and rainfall) for vast ages, must have been, when first settled by the B ottentot and Kaffir races, just as suitable for pasturage and as unsuitable for til1age as it is now. To this is owing the esteem in which natives to this day hold flocks and herds. Pastoral condi-t ions invariably induce a nomad or wandering life, which was one of the chief characteristics of the native tribes previous to their corn pulsory location in restricted areas by the white races. Partly through unconscious mimicry of native tastes aiJd ideas in these matters, partly by the influence of the physical and social circumstances in which t~e white setters were placed, those who first settled 1n South Africa reverted, to a large extent, to pastoral and nomad ideas and tastes long obsolete among their own countrymen in their own country. This has it is true, somewhat worn off again, owing to the' aradual permanent settlement of the colonies. but to this resuscitation of nomad and pastoral habit.s and tastes is due the remarkable tenacity with which enormous tracts of land a.re held by individuals, without any apparent desire to cultivate or occupy a tithe of the acreage they own. This huge extent of property enables them to continually shift their handful of flocks and herds almost as freely as in an unsettled country, and to move about themselves with equal freedom. To these tastes and habits is also due the constant trekking into fresh territories, which has been a leading feature of South African history. From this arises the opinion h~ld by such a lar~e s~ction of the

~hite commumty as to the relative Importance of

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6go of livelihood of a large section of the population-the "kurveyors. " Hut it is at least question-able wheth e r it would not have been better, in the interests of the whole population, to have protected rail ways from this competition, as by so d oing farming interests would have also b een protected, and the remarkable en er gy displayed in competition in the carrying trade would have been earlier forced into deploying itself in beneficial competition wit h the import trade in foodstuffd. The commercial and m ercantile population, strangely enough, favoured for m any years wagon transport against rd.il way transport, partly because of the force of habit and prej udice::z, and partly because of certain advantages ofi'~red by the former as against the latter in respect to prompt settlement of claims for damage to goods in transit.

The competition of the n kurveyor ,, in the goods trd.flic between Port Elizl.beth and the diamond fields was perfectly amazing at t he period of t heir greatest prosperity- 1882-3- as can be realised by looking at Diagram No. 3 (see pd.ge 655 ante), where it would appear that the midland r oute, which is the best r oute from t he coast to the fields for goods, carried upwards of 80,000 tons less goods than the Western at their respective maxima, whereas actually mor e t onnage has always followed this r oute than the other, the explanation being t hat P ort Elizabeth-or rather the districts at its back-were t he head-quartera of "kuneying," and the extra tonnage did n ot go by rail way, b ut by wagon.

But n o w that the Government railways have been so far extended t hat t hey have reach ed their obj ectives, and the full advantage of their saving in time and cost has been felt and r ealised, the competition of the "kurveyor " is a thing of the past, and the ox-team has been once and for all in the Cape and NataJ, r eleg::Lt ed to the more generally beneficial work of the p lough, and of carrying fa rm stuff t o t he n earest station. But t he struggle, in which the Government enterprises have fi nally come off victoriuus, though at serious cost to t he taxpayer, has been death to the two railway com-panies who in the Cape tried to inaugurate a n ew period of rail way enterprise in privat e hands.

T~king the rail way syst ems of South Africa as a.t present constructed and projected, the further question a r ises, What must be the object in view in extending them 1 The two centres toward s which the Cape systems on the one s:d e, and the Natal and D elagoa Bay systems on the other, have been extending so far, are the diamond fields in the west, and the gold fields in the east. That in the west was r eached in 1886, and when the lines now in progress ar e completed (probably this year), that in the east will also have been r eached , and the object of t hese extensions accomplished . But what then ? I s the Ultima Thule of railway extens ion gained, or ar e ye t other extensions to be expected, and, if so, in what directions ? The great value of South Africa is its geographical po~ition and its physical features, in other words, its sea-board, its climate, an d its products. It has served in the p~st as the chief thoroughfare of communica-tion between European civilisation and its manu-factures on the one hand, and African u ncivilisation and wants on the other , and i t has done so because of i ts convenient, or comparatively convenient, har-bours, and its excellent climate ; for h ere th~ high-lands of the interior can be appr oached w1t hout passing across the low tropical s wamp lands, so deadly to the human r~ce, and the fly belt, so ~eadly to animals and of w h1ch such a large proporhon of the east a~d west coasts of the African continent consists. The interior of Africa teems with a vast and varied population, capable of absorbing any quantity of manufactured pr?ducts, an~ who can furnish in exchange a mulbt ude o~ p~1Ce~ess r a w materials r equired elsewher e b~ c1v1hsati~n. The aim, therefore, of t he South Afncan colonies must always be the development of the trade routes from the coast to the interior. This doubt-less has never been wholly lost sight of, but n ow that the chief mineral centres are reached, it must become the leading question. Steps have already been happily t aken to s~r~e the chief trade r oute to the interior through Bnt ish Bechuana1and and the Khama Protectorate, &c. , by the V rybnrg exten ion and the pr ojected Mafeking Railway. But these must n ot rest where they are ; t he motto o f rail way work for South Africa must al ways be '' N orthward ever " to grasp and develop the mag nificent heritage ~f th0 British race in .the Da.rk Continent from the vantage-ground of t heir colonies in the south. But those colonies themselves must

E N G I N E E R 1 N G. n ot be n eglected, and the long d elayed cross lines of communication, more or less parallel to the coast, must be seriously undertaken. The Cape Central Rail way was a first step towards a line parallel to the coast, furnishing communication directly east and west, to develop the western province of the Cape Colony proper by tapping its rich est and most populous dtstricts, and by completing the strategical n etwotk of railways r equired for d efensive pur-poses (which should extend from Clanwilliam t o Malmesbury, and Ashton to U itenhage). Another series of lines which are urgently wanted are cross lines uniting the three Cape systems half . way between the border lines and the coast, or, say, from Beaufort West to Aberdeen Road, thence through Pearston and Somerset East to Cookhouc:;e, and t hence through Bedford, Adelaide, F ort Beaufort, and Alice, to King Williamstown, and from Blaney Junction across the Transkei to the Natal border, as well as an extension of the border lines eastward and westward. In Natal an ex-tension of t he coast line in both directions to the

mzimkulo to the west and across t he Tugela on the east, through Z ulula.nd to t he Portuguese fron tier, as well as cross lines from Pietermaritzburg as a. centre both ways, are urgently called for. In the n or t h-west corner, an extension of t he P ort N olloth line, parallel to the Orange River, t o the neighbourhood of H opetown, would b e a great aid to the development of the very backward districts in that region, though hardly a paying enterprise. These and other ex tensions in the colonies are hardly likely under existing conditions to be under-taken by Governmen t directly, but it is to be hoped they will be indirectly, by guarantees or subsidies to private enterprise, which may now prove m ore lucky than it did in t he past, as in this direction the development of the colonies within t heir own boundaries may be most readily assisted. Thus vast fertile and salubrious teriitories may be opened t o t he p rofitable settlement of the surplus population of Great Britain, which has h itherto sought an outlet in countries and colonies affording superior facilities for internal communication, though often of inferior climate and with n o better soil.

In conclusion, expression must be given to the thanks due to the Agent-Gener al for the Cape and the Emig ration Agent for Natal, and th e Librarian of the Uolonial Office, for having kindly placed their r espective Government records and publica-tions at the disposal of the writer, without which the above attempt at a h istory of railway develop-ment in South Africa would have been very scanty and incomplete.

LITER.A'fURE. The Elements of Graphic Statics: A Text-Book for Students

of E n[Jincering. By L . lVI. HoSKINS (pages viii. + 191, and fiv e plates). London : Ma.cmillan, 18V2.

BY t he t it le and preface this work is designed only as an elemeutary t ext-book for studen ts of engineering, so its scope is limited to wh at may be call ed statics of quasi- rigid bodies, therefore not requiring any use of t he elastic properties of matter (thus excluding, for instance, fixed and con tinuous beams) : the investigations are further confined to t hose which are likely to be useful to t he engineer, thus excluding many beautiful deve lopments interesting ch iefly to t he mathematician. Th e subject of strength of materials is also omitted, being not conveniently treated by graphics. \Vithin t he scope set forth t he work is simply excellent of its kind, and is m ost interesting reading.

The book is divided into t hree parts. Part I. (52 pages) deals with the graphic treatment of elementary statics (of corn planar forces only). A striking simplification is introduced by an exten-sion of "Bow's system of notation" (originally only applied to framed structures) to the wh ole r ange of graphic statics . Hereby every force requires two l ines to specify it completely : one (A- --B) denoting its magnitude and direction only, and

one ( ~t, - ) denoting its line of action in space. A system of forces thus r equires two diagrams, viz., (1) a force diagran1 (AB, CD, &c. ), and.(2) a space diagram (a b, c cl, e c.), the latter showmg merely the positions of the forces. All problems of non-concurr ent forces r equire in general two polygons to be drawn, viz., a force-polygon and a funicular poly-gon. The above notation ie such that if 0 be a point

[DEc. 8, 1893. from which r ays 0 A, 0 B, 0 C, &c., are d rawn to the vertices of th~ force-polygon, then will o a , ob, o c, &c., denote the strings of the funicular, whilst ab, b c, c cl, &c., a re, as already stated, the lines of action of t he original for ces A B, B C, CD, &c. The fertility and suggestiveness of this notation will now be seen ; it is helpful to both geom eter and draughtsman, and t he reci-procity of the for ce and space diagrams is well brought ou t by i t . It has on e inconvenience in the introduction into the space-diagram of a gr eat number of lett ers situate, not- as is usual in the older geometry - at the ver tices, but about the middles of the sides ; the fact being that the small italics o, a, b, c, cc., denote r eally spaces in the spacediagram bounded by the lines u a, ob, n c, &c. , a b, b c, &c. : t he n otation for points is thus also clumsy ; thus a b c cl c denotes the intersection of the lines Ct b, b c, c cl, d e, e a.

The identity of t he various graphical and analy-tical conditions of equilibrium has been carefully gon e into by t he author. Briefly, every problem of complanar nonconcurren t forces r equires one for ce-polygon and one funicular polygon : the closing of the for ce-polygon indicates no motion of t ransla-tion, and the closing of the funicular polygon indi cates no motion of r otation. Also, as in analytical work, these conditions may be variously expr essed.

Part II. (91 pages) deals with stresses in ~imple structures : by " simple" is h ere meant solvable by elementary s tatics (wit hout the t heory of elasti city). Under the head of " Framed S t ructures" it is shown that most of the cases in practice can be solved by using the force-polygon only, because there are found to be only two unknown quantities (the magnitudes of two forces) at each step ; but that in a few cases, where there are found to be thr ee un-known quan tities (magnitudes of three forces) at on e or more steps, e.g., in the well-known truss here figured , the funicular polygon , or an equa-

tion of moments, musL also be used, and in general sufficeg . This sort of case is explained at some length , and this is important, because- from its comparative infrequency probably- i t was generally passed over when t he method of stress-diagrams first came into use. A useful method is also given of how to deter mine quickly the cases which arc r_eally insolvable.

U nder t he head of ' 'Moving Loads on Bridges," and in order to find t he greatest shearing force and bending moment at all parts of th e girders under different conditions of load, the artitice is largely used of drawing a funicular polygon for a system of loads of great length (much longer than the bridge itself), and p laciug the beam in different positions upon this polygon, each such position giving a maximum of shear or bending at some particular section ; by t his artifice the large funicu-la r m entioned ser ves in great part for the special funicular for each position of the shifted beam : but even with this means the labour of drawing is considerable, as a good d ea l of special work has to be d one for each section ; and the network of lines in the completed drawing (of which, for the sake of clearness, very few appear on the plates in this book) would n ecessarily be very intricate. Indeed, this graphic method appears at it s worst in this application to moving loads, and many would prefer the older m ethod of formulre : and it must be noted in favour of formulre that, once con-structed, they serve for all similar cases, whereas the diagrams are usually applicable to their original case only.

\ Ve think that it would be an improvemen t to t he usefulness of this work if tensions and com-pressions were distinguished by thin and thick lines in all the frame-diagrams and stress-diagrams through out Part II. \ Ve t hink also that t he num-ber of worked examples of str ess diagrams in this Part II. is not enough for a beginner (without the aid of a good t eacher) ; t he shapes assumed by them are often so strange that a beginner is often much puzzled a.s a new and unfamiliar diagram grows under his hands.

From among the practical hints given the follow-ing are extracted as likely to be useful to English

eng1neers: I. Wind Pres3u1c on a Slope (as on a Roof).

p,. =normal pressure in pounds per aqua.re foot of eurfa.ce J. to wind.

DEc. 8, 1893.] E N G I N E E R I N G.

pa = normal pressure in pounds per square foot of surface at angle a to the wind.

alloys possessing some of the characteristics of chemical compounds. The author would apparently r estrict the use of gold to t h ose cases in which its natural colour is but slightly al tered in ton e, and depr ecates t he use of t he metal when it cannot be distinguished as gold. This is all righ t enough when the precious metal is used as gold; n everth e-less, the metal can be utilised in the production of beautiful effects, as, for instance, when some two per cen t . of guld is added to copper for th e sake of enabling it to assume a velvety blue patina. This fact is mentioned, but its great s ignificance is n ot dwel t upon.

2 sin a Pa = 1 . ., P11 + sm- a

[Quoted as Duchemin's formula, and said to agree well with Langley's extensi ve experiments.]

IL Weight ?f R oof Truss (approx.) ' V = weight of a truss in pounds. l = span in feet. a = truss spacing in feet. W = ! a l (1 + ..(0 l), for timber. vV = ~ a l (1 + il) t), for wrought iron.

III. Weight of Bridyes (approx.) 10 = weight of bridge in pounds per foot run. l =span in feet. b =breadth in feet. High way bridges ..

Rail way bridges (under 100ft. span)

'W = 140 1-12 b +! bl - i l. 1v = 560 + 5.6l, for single

track. w = 1070 + 1U. 7l, for double

track. [Nos. I I., III. are quoted from lVIerrima.n's "Roofs and

Bridges."] Parb IlL (43 pages) deals with the graphic deter-

mination of centroids ( i. c., centres of parallel forces, and especially cenbres of gravity), momen ts of iner tia, and products of inertia ; and in all cases (so as to keep to elementary treatment) t h e poinbs of application of the parallel forces are sup -posed complanar . Although this is developed with much skill, t h e graphic method here labours under the disadvan tage that ibis con veniently applicable only to discrete (and not t o con tinuous) quan tities ; whereas most of the quantities (areas, masses, weights) to be dealt with-even in practical cases - are continuous q uant.ities : in fact, the only cases conveniently treated by graphics are t hose in which the quantities dealt with can be divided into partial areas, masses, weights, &c., of each of which t he centroicls, moments of inertia, and products of inertia have been already found by some other process ; and even in this limited appli-cation the older (algebraic) method seems to us simpler.

The roathemat.ic:1l developments in this work are so clear, and the application to structures so well explained, that we shall welcome any fur ther work on this subj ect from the author. Metal Colouring and Bronzing. By AR'i'HUR H . H ronNS.

London, 1892: 1\Iacmillan and Co. [Price 5..;.) T his book is intended to be a convenient record

of a great number of exper iments conducted with a. view to improve the practice of an art too lon u neglected in t his country. That such experiment~ should be undertaken in connection with t he tech-nical school of t he city which is the centre of the English ornamental metal trade is most appro-priate, and furnishes anoth er answer to those critics, still t oo numerous, who depreciate t he efforts which are being made to educate the workers of this country in th eir respective crafts.

The subject-matter of t h e book i" divided into t hree parts, namely : Chemical M etal Colouring, Elect ro !\fetal Colouring, an d M echanical Metal Colouring. U nder the first heading, the a uthor describes the effect of various solutions upon b rass and copper articles ; the analyses of these latter , however, he does not often gi,e. Experiments are d escribed in which permanent green , brown, and black films are produced, wh ich are very ser viceable in ar t metal work, but the magnificent "lobster red" seen in good Japanese work, is not mention ed, though possibly some of the solutions given, when applied to suitable material, may yield it in ex-perienced hands.

The photographic sensit iveness of some of th e fi lms produced is interesting from a chemical point of view.

R ecipes are given for the proper treatment of surfaces of iron and of tin, for the production of " oxidised" silver, and of " ormolu" colour upon gold. A brief epitome of the various methods of coating one m etal by another by m eans of electro-deposition, as well as the production of films of oxide by t he same m eans, forms the chapter on Electro Metal Colouring ; and under t he heading of Mechanical Metal Colouring is t o b e found a short d escription of t h e mauufacture of the bronz-ing p :>wders, and t he m ethods by which t h ey can be applied to var ious articles.

The last chapter of the book contains a few necessary hints for use in cases of accident to the workmen , who too often have to employ poisonous solutions.

Ther e are but few press errors, and t he p rint in CY is good. The bo~k is a useful addit ion t'o techu ic,J literature, and sh ould be in the hands of every or -n amental metal worker .

The Transition Curve F ield-Book. By CONWAY R . H OWAIH>, C.E. New York : John \Viley and Sons. 1891.

V\r e must confess that we are unable t o see the objecb with which Mr. H oward's litt le field-book has been published, as t he problem cf running in a transition. cur ve can b e accomplish ed in all cases that practically occur, by such sin1ple arit hmetic that a special field-book is not r eq uired. Prac-tically there a re only two q uantities to be calcu-lated- viz , th e amount t he circular curve, which is to be connect ed to t he tangent by a transition curve is to be offset from that tangent, and the position of the BC poin t of the transition curve. If the curve is to be set out with ordinates, the cubic parabola should be used, in which case a table of natural cos in es only is n eeded. If, on the other hand the curve is to be set out by t h e theod oli te, the t ransition

c~rve in which t he curvatu:e increases uniformly With the length of the curve, IS th e most convenient for use, and with it a good slide rule only is needed and even this may b e dispensed wit h, as the calcu~ lations required are simple. Mr. Howard's book commences with a complete missta tement. He asserts that if a circular curve is to b e connected by a cubic parabola of cen t ral angle a, the two curves t o h ave a common tsngent and the same rate of curvature at their junction , the ofrset be tween the c~rcularcurve and the main tangent is 1 the central ordmate of a segment of the circular curve subtending an angle of 2a. Expressed in symbols ' this amounts t o the s tatement that the offset '

In the introductory chapter of the work the author briefly reviews the question of colour 'from the physical standpoint, and r epeats th e plea urged by many authorities, that the colour-trea~ ment of metals should always be of such a nature that the distinctive metallic character is in n o way hidden or lost. The effect of metals one upon anoth~r, ~hen alloye~, is briefly treated, a lth ough there 1s evident appreciation of the production of the Japanese artists. One would, however, have ex-pected to see.more space devoted to experimen ts upon

th~ productwn of colour films on various samples of l:IDPUre metals, as well as upon the solutions by whiCh the films are produced. U ntil th e m etals and solutions which produce the colour-films are studied side by side, the investiga tion will b e in-comple.te. The effect of even traces of impurity was ~omted ~ut as long ago as 1886, at on e of the ~vemn~ meetm~s of the British Association, and it lB poss1ble that 1n some of the occasional failur es of the author to obtain a good result, either t he pre-sence or abs~nce of impurity may be the cause. The author h1mself explains that such failures are pr?bably due to. 3: want of knowledge of the most fa, ourable conditions for the experiment as p er -f?rm~d by other . workers, and that a slight va.ria-t~on ,}ll the. dens1ty or composition of th e "pick-hng . solutw n, or in its t emperature, has been sufficient to conv~rt apparent failure into s uccess.

= {' (1 - cos a), whereas the true value of t h e offset

, A ~h~rt c~em1eal chapter follows, in which a rc.mme 1s g1 ven of the principal p rop ert ies of meta.ls and alloys. . Re~ere~ce is made to the pro-bable st~te of combmat wn 1n which some of these latter ext.st, and. the n.ative amalgam of silver and mercury Is men twn ed In proof of the existence of

= R(Icos a - cos 3 a - 1) 6 6 . The error involved increo.se~ with a. Thus the true o~s~t !or a t~ansition curve of 15 d eg. central angle, Jommg a cucular curve of 600ft. radius, is 6.815 ft., whereas, according to Mr. Howard's rule it wo?ld be 5. 437 ft. , an error of about 20 per cent: .As will be seen, Mr. Howard's formula is a little

simpler t han the true one, but the difference d oes n ot represent five minutes in t he t ime required to run it. The error in question is, as will be seen, by no means n egligible, and as it apparently runs through n early the whole of the b ook , it isJ perhaps, unnecessary to cr iticise the volume further. There are, h owever, a collection of tables at the end of the b ook which may occasionally prove useful. '\Ye should , moreover, add that the publish er 's work has been well done, the printing and general get-up of the book being excellent.

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The Export M crchctnt Shippers, with their T radi71g Port~ and Class of Goods Supplied. 1893. L ondon : Dean and Son, Limited, 160A, Fleet-stre~t, E. C.

This work, in valuable to all engaged in the shipping trade, although primarily a directory of the prin-cipal shipping firms in each of the ports of the United Kingdom, with a r ecord of the goods they customarily export, arranged alphabetically, by towns and by goods, includes also much informa-tion a~ t o th e firms which make certain goods their specialities, and to navigation. Ther e are g iven, for instance, the rules and bye-laws for the regulation of the Thames navigation, for the carriage of explo-sives, and the Petroleum and 1\'l er chandise Marks Acts, with a list of Lloyd's agents and signal s tations, which latt er are said not to be found in any other work of a similar character. This is the 28th year of publication of the volume, but on t his occasion there has boen a rearrangement to faci-litate Clsy r eferen ce.

BOOKS RECEIV ED. A n Elementary Treatise on Theoretical M echanics. By

ALEXANDELt Z I WET. P art II. : l n troduction to Dy namics ; Statics. London and New York : Macmillan and Co. [Price Ss. 6d.]

A Treatise on M oney, and Essays on M onetary Problems. ~Y . r SBIKLJ> N!CBOLSON, M.A. , D .Sc. Second Ed1t1on. L ondon: Adam a.nd Charles Black. [Ptice 7s. Gd.]

Th e Royal Indian Engineering Cnlleoe, Cooper's H t'll. Calendar f or 1893-94. London : ,V. H. Allen and Co Limited. '

T he Railway Diary and Officials' Directorv. 1894. Lon-don : McCorquoda.le and Co. , Limited. ~ [Price l s.]

The "P1actical Engineer" Pocket-Boo ~ and Diary f or 1894. Edited by W. H FowLltR, M. Inst. Mech. E . Manchester : Technical Publishing Company Limited [Price l a.] '

H tlicaZ Gea1s ; a Practical Treatise. By A F OREMAN PA'.IT~RN.MAKER. Illustrated with JOO E ngravings and Front1sp1ece. London: \Vhittaker and Co.

KING STON ELECTRIC LIG HTING STATION.

TnE growing popula~'ity of the. electr ic light, and also the pressure exercised by pnvat e enterprise on municipalities, are shown. by the fact that many small towns are now erect10g central stations for the

~upply o! electric energy. As an example of a. suitable msta.llat10n for. places of moderate size, we illustrate, on pages 692, 693, and 696, the station ~' hich is now on the poin t .of. completion at Kings ton-on Thames. At present th1s IS a modest ent erpr ise, designed to supply current t o five thousand 35watt incandescent lamps, and thirty-five 500-watt arc lamps. Provision has, howev~r, ~een made in the design for consider-able extens10ns m .the future when use, and possibly decreased cost, will have caused the light to be re-garded 1?ore generally as a. necessity.

The s~t~ ?f the electric light station is a. piece of l~nd adJotmng t he Corporation sewage works, and st~uated close to the South-\Y est ern Rail way and the River Thames. The nature of the soil is, on t he sur-face, gra~el,. 'Tith clay at a depth of about 12ft .

The btuldmgs were designed and erected under the sup~rvision of Major Macaulay, t~c borough surveyor, by ~les~rs. ~lien and ons, of Ktlburn. The general ~estgn ts s1~ple ~nd substantial, and the buildings m~lude engmeers offices, stores, engine-room, and boil~r - house, the offices being placed in front of the engme-room . . The foundations are of good cement concrete, earned through the gravel to the clay and built up to within 6 ft. of the surface from ~hich le~el the walls are carried up. The' engine-room (~tgs. 1 a~d .2, page 692~ is 40 ft. by 41 ft. by 23 ft. htgh, an~ 1s h ghted by wmdows placed along one side, an~ ventilated by two louvres placed in t he roof. The ~otler-house, . 50 ft. by 41 ft. by 20 ft. high, is well h ghted by .wmdows placed at the side and also at the

en~, and 1s large enough to accommodate both the bo1lers and the condensing plant ; a. cold well has been sunk and conne?ted to. the river by a. drain to supply th~ ~ecessary ctrculatiDg water. The back of the bUildmgs, or the ends of both engine-room and boiler-house, are closed by temporary walls or partiti0 n8 made ~f c?rrugated iron and wood, to allow for easy extens10n lD the future .

The plant consists of seven steam dynamos, all of

E N G I N E E R I N G. (DEc. 8, 1893.

ELECTRIC LIGHTING STATION; KINGSTON-UPON -THAMES. nlR. A. H. PREECE, ENGINEER. ~1ESSRS. SIEniENS BROTHERS AND COniPANY, LIMITED, CONTRACTORS .

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which are in position, the t otal power of 300 brake horse-power being dh"ined as follows :

For incandescent lighting, three steam dynamos, each comprising one of Belliss's self-lubricating compound engines working a Siemens alternating current dynamo, namely: Two 75 brake horse-power engines and alter-nating current dynamos running at 462 revolutions per minute for an output of 24 am pores at 2100 volts. One 40 brake horse-power steam alternator giving an out-put of 12 amperes at 2100 volts and 580 revolutions per minute.

For excit ing the alternators there are provided two 25 brake horse-power self-lubricating compound engines, working direct current dynamos giving au output of 160 amperes at a pressure of 105 volts, the speed of revolutions being 550 turns per minute.

For street lighting there are two 30 brake horse-power engines working continu~us-current _dynamos giving, at a speed of 550 revoluttons per mmute, an output of 20 amperes at 950 volt 3.

Figs. 3 and 4, on page 693, show one of the alt ernate-current generators, supplied by Messrs. iemens Bros. and Co. Limited, of 12, Queen Anne's-gate, West-minster,'who are the contractors for the machinery. His

the size designated by them as 20/3, and running at 462 revolutions gives an output of 24 amperes with a pres-sure of 2100 volts and a frequency of 77 per second. As will be seen, t he armature rotates between two sets of stationary fi eld magnets, so arranged that each north pole faces a south pole, and also has a south pole at either side of it. The magnet cores are bolted to two massive cast-iron r ings, which are themselves fi xed to the bedplate, and are con-nected together by four stays. In the narrow space between the pole faces of t he magnets the armature revolves. This contains t wenty flat coils, wound on non-magnetic cores, and fixed to a central spider keyed to the shaft. The connections between the coils are so arranged that two parallel circuits of ten coils each are formed, each giving t he required electromotive force of 2100 volts. This armature has practically no reaction on the strong field in which it runs, so thu.t parallel working and regulation are both quite easy. The insulation resistfl.nce of the armature is 3 megohms after six hours' run, and the tempera-ture of the coils, at the same time, is guaranteed not to exceed that of the air by more than 60 deg. Fahr. On an ~ctnal test the temperature rise was only 27 deg.

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The 40 horse-power alternator is very similar to that already described, except that it has sixteen bobbins in t he armature, instead of twent y, and is generally of smaller dimensions. Its output is 12 amperes at 2100 volts pressure.

One of the exciters, with its engine, is shown in Fig. 7, on page 693. It is one of iemens' direct current shunt-wound dynamos. Below it (Figs. 8 and 9) is shown one of the arc-lighting machines. It is of

iemens 18/12 pattern, designed to give a current of ~0 amperes at a pressure of 950 Yolts, the speed being 555 revolutions per minute. There are t wo of these machines, with ring armatures 1 in. in diameter running in a field 12 in. wide. The arc lamps they feed take 10 amperes each, and are of Siemens' '' Band" type. Eleven of them are in hexagonal lanterns, and 25 in globular lanterns. They will each burn 1 hours with one pair of carbons. The engines are by :Messrs. Belliss and Co., of Birmingham, of their self-lubricating compound single-eccentric pattern, with high and low-pressure cylinders placed side by side, and working on cranks set at opposite angles. The engines are double-acting, and though inclosed the working parts are readily accessible. By simply

DEc. 8, 1 893.] E N G I N E E R I N G.

ELECTRIC LIGHTING STATION; K I NGSTON-UPOJ\T-THAMES. ENGINEER MESSRS. SIEMENS BROTHERS AND CO~lPANY, LIMITED, CONTRACTORH. ~1 R. A. H. PREECE, ;

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turning a handle a. la rge door at the back of the engine may be opened, giving access to the interior for inspection of bearings, &c., and in case of any work being required to be clone to the engine, by simply slacking back a few nuts the whole front of the engine can be removed. Both cylinders are fitted with removable liners forming steam jackets. The special features of the engine are the valve arrange-ment and the method of forced lubrication adopted. Steam is supplied to both high and low pressure cylinders by a. single Yalve, or rather two valves superposed in the same cha.m her, and worked by the same eccentric and rod . This reduces the number of working parts to a minimum. The oth~r special feature of the engine, which enables the high speed to be attained wit hout trouble, is the system of lubrication, the oil being supplied to the bearings under pressure by a continuous system of oil channels arranged in the interior of the various journals. This has the effect of maintaining a film of oil between the journal and the bearing, insuring, in

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addition to a most ample lubrication, great quietness in running, combined with reduction of loss by journal friction. Messrs. Belliss have had engines on this principle at work for very prolonged periods of time without perceptible wear. Not the least important feature of the system is that the lubrication is essen-tially automatic in principle, so that the bearings require practically no attention. The engine being inclosed by a. casing prevents the lubricant being thrown about ; at the same time, a.s the cranks do not re,olve in the oil, the door in the casing can be opened at any time for a. short period, if desired, without dis-comfort. Each of the engines is provided with a steam separator drained by Royle's stea.m trap to insure dry steam. We illustrate one of the two exciter engines on page 696. The disposition of the engines and other plant is clearly indicated on the plan and sectional eleYation of the station given on page 692.

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possible the effects of any failure of a portion of the steam pipe. The steam and exhaust pipes are carried overhead on columns as shown. It was a.t first in-tended to have placed these pipes in a trench below the engine floor, but owing to the proximity to the river, the presence of water in the foundations ren-dered a reconsideration of the levels necessary, and the pipes were put overhead. A 5-ton traveller is in position in the engine-room, and commands the whole of the engine floor.

Steam is supplied by three horizontal multitubnlar boilers (of which two are now in position) constructed by Messrs. Bellies and Co., of Birmingham, under the rules of the Roil er Insurance and Steam Power Company, Limited, for a working steam pressure of 150 lb. per square inch. Each boiler is 7 ft. 2 in. in diameter by 22 ft. 6 in. long over all, set in brickwork and fur-nished with a complete outfit of Hopkinson's mount-ings, including deadweight safety valve, high steam and low-water valve, asbestos-packed water gauges, and water column, &c. In addition to the foregoing,

6g+ an isolating valve is attached immediately to each boiler stop-valve. The feed is supplied by two hori-z:>ntal \Vorthing~on duplex pumps, the feed pipes being in duplicate and arranged so that the feed may be taken either from the hot well, cold well, or reserve water t ank, and delivered either through the economiser or direct to the boilers at will. A Green's economiser of 128 pipes is situated in the main flue to the chimney, and arranged so that the waste gases from the furnaces may pass through the economiser or not at will. The b oiler3 a.re fitted with Bennis's mechanical stokers, the driving engine being in duplicate, and arranged iu addition to actuate the scrapers of the econo-

m1ser. Messrs. Relliss have also supplied a compltte plant

for surface condensation, which occupies a position alongside the boilers, but at a slightly lower level, and consists of a horizontal surface condenser with a t :>tal cooling surface of very approximately 1000 square feet, with a double-acting vertical air-pumping engine in combination. A K irkaldy 's evaporator for make-up feed is placed above the condenser, and the main exhaust pipe is a rranged w ith suitable valves, so t hat the exhaust steam may pass either to the atmosphere or the condenser at will. The cooling water is passed through the condenser by a centrifugal circulating pump driven by an inclosed single-cylinder engine, and dra.wing its supply from a cold well in direct com-munication with the River Thames hard by, affording an inexhaustible supply of condensing water.

M r. A. H. Preece, of V ictoria-street, \Vestminster, is acting as consulting engineer t o the Corporation of Kingston, and under his supervision the designs were got out and the work done. He has laid down the following conditions of efficiency for the various steam dynamos:

Larye Alternator:~, 75 Iiorse-Power.-Consump-tion of steam per kilowatt hour at full load, 30.2 lb. condensing, and 36.8 lb. non-condensing; at half load, 33.2 lb. condensing, and 45.7 non-condensing.

~ mall Alternator.-~. -Consumption of steam per kilowatt hour at full load, 33.5 lb. condensing, and 40.5 lb. non-condensing ; a t half load, 37.4 lb. condensing, and 49.9 lb. non-condensing.

A 1c Liyhtiny 1Jlachines.- -Consumption of steam at full load , 3~. 2 lb. condensing, and 40.3 l b. non-condensing; at half load, 37.5 l b. condensing, and 49 lb. non-condensing.

Having thus dealt with the generators, engines, and boilers, we will now turn to the other features of the installation. It is, as already stated, on the alternate currant system. A low-tension network of mg,ins is being laid down in the market-place t o supply the business premises from a transforming station, containing two transformers, one of 30 kilo-watts and one of 15 kilowatts capacity. Ih the County Buildings a 15-kilowatt transformer is also placed. Consumers at a distance will have trans-formers on their premises. The high-tension mains and feeders are of Siemens concent.ric H C N pattern, having . 035 square inch of sectional area. These mains are lel.d-coated ; over the lead they are served with jute, then sheathed with iron, served again, and "compounded. " Their insulation resistance is 2000 m egohms per mile between the conductors, and 500 megohms to ear th. The arc light mains are insulated with vulcanised rubber, then encased in lead, over which is jute, iron armour, more jute, aud "compound." The insula tion resistance is 600 megohms per mile, and the cross-section of copper .0193 square inch. The low tension network mains are of the L C N type, very similar t o the high tension mains, but not so strongly insulated. The cross-section of copper is .l square inch, and the resistance of the dielectric 1000 megobms per mile between the conductors, and 500 megobms to earth.

The station is worked rigorously on the parallel system; it cannot be worked in any other way, since a.ll the feeders start from a single pair of omnibus bars (Fig. 6, page 693). Referring t o the diagram of connections it will be seen that the three alter-nators are ~onnected t o the omnibus bars by double-pole switches one pole going to the bar direct, and the oth~r through an ammeter. S imilarly, each pair of feed ers is provided with a switch. an_d an ammeter which shows how much current 1t Js t aking. There is also an ammeter intercalated in one of the bars to show the total output at any moment. There i s al~o a voltm eter, marked "bar voltmeter, '' connected across the omnibus bars to show the potential difference. One voltmeter serves for the three alter-nators, being plugged on to the ter~ina.!s of any one at will. In the diagram the connection 1s shown fror:n the lef t -hand alternator only to the vol tmeter, but 1t will be unders tood there is a similar connection from each of the othera the terminals of the three sets of w ires being indic~ted at the voltmet er switch. These wires a lso run (one only shown) t o the upper syn-chronising switch. The synchronising arrangements are of the usual type. The transformer _used has t~o primary coiJs and a single seco~dary, w1th ~ lamp m the latter circuit. The connectiOn to the ngbt-band primary is from the omnibus bars down to the

E N G I N E E R I N G. lower synchronising switch, and through this up to the transformer. The connection to the left primary is from the upper synchronising switch. Let us suppose now that the first and second alternators are at work, a.nd it is desired to put the third in circuit. The lower synchronising switch is closed, the upper is placed in circuit with the particular machine, as is also the voltmeter switch. The speed of the machine is then gradually increased until the voltmeter corresponds with the bar voltmeter, showing that the alternat or is giving the required electromotive

for~e. It is then r e1dy to be p ut into the general cir-cuit, if it is in phase or step with the other machines. It is the office of the lamp or the synchronising trans-former to show if this be so or not. If the currents in the two prima.ry coils of this transformer be out of phase, more or less, the lamp will give an unsteady flickering light, and not until both currents come exactly into unison will it burn regularly. The man, therefore, waits with his hand on the main double-pole switch and his eye on the lan1 p until the latter gradually becomes steady, when immediately he turns over the switch. After this the mutual influence of the machines keeps them in step.

There is a separate exciting circuit, which supplies not only the alternators, but also the arc light machines, and the exciters themselves, which are shunt-wound. The leads from each exciter go to a. d ouble-pole switch, one connection of which is t o a lower exciter omnibus bar a, and the other through an ammeter to an upper bar b. The bar a is connected to one terminal of each field circuit, and the barb by a number of Y switches to the other terminals. 'fhe two outer Y switches serve the two exciters, the two lower ones the arc lighters, and the remainder the alternat ors. The right-hand terminal of each Y switch is connected to the one main; the left-band terminal to a resistance, the other end of which is connected to the other main; the pivot terminal is connected to the one end of the shunt exciting coils, the other end of which is connected to the latter main. Thus, when both prongs of t he Y switch are on the right-hand block, the exciting current passes directly from one main to the other through the coils of the field magnets. \Vhen the switch is in middle position the resistance is in parallel with the exciting coils; and when both prongs are on the left-hand block, the exciting current is interrupted, and the resis tance is put in circuit with the exciting coils. By the use of this switch for breaking the exciting circuit, any damage from extra current is avoided, as in the first movement the ex-citing current is reduced by the resistance being put in parallel with it, while at the instant of break it is in series, and therefore allows the extra current to circulate harmlessly. In connection with each field magnet is a rheostat, by which the strength of the field can be adjusted without interfering with that of any other machine.

The two arc-light machines work through double-pole switches on to a pair of bars from which two sets of mains diverge, there being an ammeter to each machine, and also to each pair of mains. There is also a voltmeter to each machine.

The switchboard forms an exeedingly handsome structure along one side of the engine-room. It is made of polished slate, set in a polished wood frame. There is a wide inclosed passage at the back through which all the connections are led, and in which they are completely out of sight. The entire installation is of pleasing appearance, and shows throughout that great pains have been taken not only to provide the highest class of machinery, but also to arrange it with a view to easy and economical working, and also to ready extension in the fnture.

3000 HORSE-POWER QUADRUPLE EXPAN-SION ENGINE AT THE WORLD'S COLUM-BIAN EXPOSITION.

THE main eng ine and central feature in the power plant of the Columbian Exposition, ~nd one t hat _has without doubt attracted the most umversal attent10n, is the 3000 horse-power quadruple-expansion engine built by the E . P . Allis Company, Milwaukee, \Vis., U.S.A.

This engine is the one that was started by Preeident Cleveland on :May 1, the opening day, and during the Exposition it worked continuously as a part of the elec-trical power plant. It is a good example of the well-known Reynolds-Corliss engine, designed by Mr. Edwin Reynolds, of which so many are to be found in all parts of the tates. The general arrangement of the engine is shown by the illustrations on the two-page plate in our issue of November 24, and on page 648 antf', where Fig. 1 represents a side eleYation giving the general outline, Fig. 2 a plan, Fig. 3 a side elevation bhowing the arrangement of the valve gear for the high-pressureand second intermediate cylinders, Fig. 4 an end view showing the receivers below the floor level and the independent air-pump and con-denser. The eugine is described as a horizontal cross-tandem quadruple-expansion condensing engine, with cylinders of the following sizes : Highpressure

[DEc. 8, I 893. cylinder, 26 in. in diameter ; first intermediate, 40 in. in diameter ; second intermediate, 60 in. in diameter ; low pressure, 70 in. in diameter, the stroke being 6ft. throughout. The designed speed is 60 revolu-tions per minute, and the initial working pressure is 180 lb. per square inch. It worked at the Exposi-tion with a pressure of 110 lb. per square inch, and was, therefore, only working up t o 2000 horse-power. In order to equalise as nearly as possible the two sides of the engine, the h igh-pressure and second inter-mediate cylinders are arranged tandem on the right, and the first intermediate and low-pressure cylinders on the left-hand side, the steam crossing three times between the two sides. Each side con~titutes a com-plete engine in itself, the two being coupled up wit h cranks set at an angle of 90 deg. The larger cylinders are in each case set against the guide f rames of the bed. The ends of the guides are turned, a.nd fitted into the cyl inder covers to a depth of i in., and bolted to them with twenty 11-in. studs. The back cylinders are connected up with cast-iron distance pieces, the bolts in the smaller end serving for the covers of the smaller cylinders. The distan~e pieces are open on all sides, allowing ample spa.ce for packing the glands and making any adjustment necessary. The low-pressure cylinder is shown in detail by Figs. 5 to 10, and the others are made on the same lines. The valve chests are cast in one with the cylinders, clearance space being cut down to a. minimum. As will be seen, both the cylinders and covers are jacketed, live steam being taken from the main steam pipe~ for high-pressur~ and first inter-mediate, and a reduced pressure for the second in ter-mediate and lew-pressure cylinders, Cbapman reducing valves being used for this purpose.

The liners are of hard close-grained cast iron, the joints between the inner and outer casings being made by copper rings (see Fig. 9), and held in place by the covers abutting against them. All the cylinders are carried on foot brackets, which are fastened direct to the foundations by four 2~-in. bolts to each foot.

The guide frames. (Figs. 16 and 17) are of cast iron, bolted to the cylinder beads and bed frame, the cylin-ders being recessed, as before stated, to fit them and to insure perfect alignment. The guides are circular, and the crossheads fitted t o them with adjustable cast-iron slippers top and bottom, 3 ft. long and 15~ in. wide, the adjustment being taken up by 1 ~-in. studs on the cylinder end, and by one guided laterally on the inside edges. The crosshea.ds are of cast-iron, the piston rods being screwed into them, and held in place by lock nuts. The crosshead pin is of machine steel 9 in. in diameter, held in place by a nut and washer. The bed and frames are of a massive box section, as shown by Figs. 11, 12, and 13, each being held to the foundations by six 2~-in . Lolts. The main bearings are 2 ft. 8 in. long by 19 in . in diameter, of ca.st iron lined with Babbitt metal, fitted to the crankshaft bearings. Some details of these are shown in Figs. 14 and 15. The Babbitt liners are well hammered, and then machined and scraped to fit the shaft. The bearings are in four pieces, and the adjustment for wear is taken up by four 1!-in.