The city of Paris now has street sweepers, fire engines, post-office vans, and dust carts propelled by motors.

"There is no place in the modern world for the unskilled; no one can hope for any genuine success who fails to give himself the most complete special education. Good intentions go for nothing, and industry is thrown away if one cannot infuse a high degree of skill into his work. The man of medium skill depends upon fortunate conditions for success; he cannot command it, nor can he keep it. The trained man has all the advantages on his side; the untrained man invites all the tragic possibilities of failure." - Hamilton W. Mabie.

When tightening down a cylinder head or flange after putting in a new gasket, take great pains to screw down the nuts evenly all around. If one side is screwed down too hard there will be a weak spot on the opposite side, or the head or flange may even be sprung. Give each nut a fraction of a turn and keep going around until all are firmly down. Do not, however, make the mistake of putting on too much force and and breaking the threads - not at all difficult to do with a small bolt and long wrench.

Forest Leaves notes that in the making of charcoal the condensible gases from one cord of wood amounts to 224 gallons of liquor. This liquor is known as green liquor or pyroligneous acid. It is largely made up of water but contains also, alcohol, tar, ammonia compounds, acteone (alyl-alcohol, ethers, aldehydes and acetic acid. Alcohol, acetic acid and formalde hyde are the substances usually separated out of the liquor.

Some comparative tests between twist drills made of ordinary tool steel and of their ' .0172 " high-speed steel have recently been carried out at the works of Messrs. Cammell, Laird & Co., Coventry, Eng. Each drill was § in. in diameter, the ordinary steel costing 2s 7d net. The former was run at 32 ft. cutting speed per minute, and in 40 minutes drilled 36 holes through a high-carbon steel-plate 1 1/4 in. thick, and then required grinding. The operation was then repeated until 3600 holes in all had been drilled, when the tool was too short for further use. With the " .0172 " steel drill the machine was speeded up to give a cutting speed of 60 ft. per minute, and on exactly similar material 150 holes were drilled in 80 minutes, when the tool was reground, although in better condition than the other when the latter had drilled 18 holes. After drilling 3600 holes the drill was still far from worn out, but, allowing the same life to each drill, the firm estimates the total cost of drilling 15,000 holes at $59 for the ordinary drills and $26 for their high-speed drills.

A short time ago Messrs. Witherington & Sons, millers, of Reading, England, made a comparison between the cost of carriage by steam motor and that by horse-drawn vehicles. In 1602 they had seven horses, and the expense of them for the year was $2,530.58. At the end of 1902 they sold the horses and purchased a steam machine, ran it 5272 miles, carried 3370 tons and burned 41 1/2 tons of coal, at the total cost of $1,8849.27, including interest on the original car and also depreciation.

A German paper states that artificial rubies have been produced in France by reducing small natural rubies into a very fine powder, which is melted in an electric furnace, cooled rapidly and crystallized. The product obtained, from what was of little worth on account of minuteness, possesses a comparatively high value. The main difficulty encountered is to prevent cavities and fissures in the crystals. The new process can not be employed with emeralds and sapphires, as they become discolored by the action of the heat.