The Current Supplement - November 16, 1907

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A report upon an elaborate series of tests of inter nal combustion engines on alcohol fuel has been pre pared for the Department of Agriculture by Charles E. Lucke, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University, and S. M. Woodward, of the office of Experiment Stations. A generous abstract of this report is published in the current SUPPLEMENT, No. 1663. J. H. Morrison's treatise on the development of armored war vessels passes to a twelfth installment. The first American ironclad in service and the old and the new navy are the topics discussed. Samuel R. Bennett describes some improved methods of dust prevention in the grinding trades. Alloyed steels, such as nickel, chromium, vanadium, silicon, tungsten, and the like, are coming into more general use every day, for the parts of high-grade machinery which are subjected to a high rate of wear, which have to sup port a great weight, or which are subjected to exces sive strains, stresses, and vibration. For that reason, E. F. Lake's suggestions on the forging of alloys ought to prove of value and interest. The use of captive war balloons at Casablanca is illustrated and described. The injurious effect of light upon the eye is dilated upon by Dr. A. Birch-Hirschfeld. How fresh-water fish care for the eggs of their young is described by Theodore Gill. Sir George Birdwood writes interest ingly on the mechanism ,tof the southwest monsoon. Ethnologists will read with interest W. A. Cook's de scription of the Bororo Indians of Matto Grosso, Brazil.

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