An English paper reports that a Norwegian has invented a telephone by which the noise made by fish in the depths of the _sea can be heard. The instrument consists of a microphone in a hermatically sealed steel box. It is connected with a telephone on shipboard by electric wires, each sound in the water being intensified by the microphone. The inventor asserts that with its aid the presence of fish, and approximately their number and kind, can be recognized. When herrings or smaller fish are encountered in large numbers they make a whistling noise, and the sound made by codfish is more like howling. If they come near the submarine telephone their motion can be distinguished. The flow of water through the gills produces a noise similar to the labored breathing of a quadruped, and the motion of the fins produce a dull rolling sound.

A beautiful dead-black ebony stain, largely used by camera-makers for blacking the insides of camera woodwork, carriers, etc., is made by first coating the wood with a strong decoction of ground logwood, or wood chips, in hot water and then, when nearly dry, applying a solution made by putting 6 or 8 oz. of iron filings into the bottle, shaking occasionally for a few days before use. This will impart a fine and even black to mahogany, or any sort of wood - a black that will neither chip, powder nor rub off, and with a perfect non reflective surface. For external parts of apparatus, a more finished appearance will be imparted by rubbing over with boiled linseed oil.

On the principal railways of France the traveller finds his train keeping to the left set of rails. This is what he is used to in England ; but when he emerges from the station and takes a tram car or cab he finds his vehicle and all others inclining to the right. When he comes into Germany he finds trains rigidly keeping to the right like road vehicles. Why is the difference, asks an English traveller. In Fiance the railroad was not developed from the colliery tramway as this had been from the plank road, but was imported from England, and with it the left hand direction. Once settled the railways have stayed so - with a flavor of the exoctic about them still.

German locomotive engineers receive a gold medal and $500 for every 10 years of service without accident.

A short time ago several new locomotives of German manufacture but of what is here styled the American " Atlantic " type, were put in service on the fast express line between Cologne, Berlin, and Aix la Cha-pelle. The boilers are considerably larger than in the usual German engines, in consequence of which the smokestack is very low, being of the same height as the dome. The diameter of the driving wheels has been considerably increased and they are driven by four cylinders. There are two distinct furnaces fitted with smoke consuming apparatus, which seems to produce good results. These locomotives have attracted much attention by their massive and powerful appearance, and have proved to be more powerful and speedy than the ordinary German engines, so there is every prospect of their number being increased. The tender is likewise built after the American pattern and is so constructed as to carry an extra large supply of water in addition to fuel.