much to the cost of traction, owing to the increased power required for moving the load; this has also resulted in vastly increased wear and tear and the rapid deterioration and destruction of the wire rope.  The flexible girder system so reduces the “sag” that the maximum economy and durability are obtained, and the gradients over which the load has to travel can be made as easy and regular as those upon an ordinary railway.  This advantage will be the more readily appreciated when it is considered that with a given load on a gradient of 1 in 30 the resistance due to gravity alone is 200 per cent. greater than on a gradient of 1 in 150, and that the retardation and wear and tear due to friction, greater curves, and imperfections increase still more rapidly with increase of gradient, soon rendering the old sagging wire line practically worthless.

To construct an entire line of flexible girders would be not only unnecessary, but so costly as to neutralize any advantage which it may possess, yet for surmounting occasional obstacles the claim made for it—­that it will sometimes permit of a line otherwise impracticable being cheaply made—­seems justified.  One can readily imagine a light narrow gauge line costing L1,000 per mile being laid, for example, between a mine and the shipping place, and that a swamp, river, or valley would cost more to bridge over than the whole line besides.  If at this obstacle the trucks or carriages could be lifted bodily, passed along the flexible girder, and again placed on the line the other side of the obstacle, the advantage to be derived is obvious; and as the flexible girder is really little more than a suspension bridge minus the platform, and having but two suspension wires, the cost and the difficulties should both be very small.—­Industrial Review.

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BOZERIAN’S REFRIGERANT PUNKAS.

Punkas (also called pankasor tankas) are apparatus that serve for fanning rooms throughout the entire extent of English India.  These devices consist of a light wooden frame covered with canvas, from the bottom of which depends a fringe.  These frames are suspended from the ceiling in such a way as to occupy nearly the entire width and length of the room.  To the base of the frame is attached a cord which passes over a wheel, and which is pulled by a Hindoo domestic.  After the frame has been lifted, a weight fastened to the lower part causes it to fall back again.  The result of the continuous motion of this colossal fan is a coolness that is highly appreciated in a country where the temperature is at times incredibly high, and where, without the factitious breeze created by the punka, living would not be endurable.  This breeze prevents perspiration, or evaporates the same as soon as it is formed.  Sometimes it sinks to a light zephyr; then, if you are reading or writing, you may continue your work, but in a distracted way, with a moist brow, and with a feeling of annoyance that soon makes you leave book or pen.