U. S. Consul Halstead, Birmingham, England, re reports: The Nonex is a device which, according to public tests recently made in London, renders all receptacles containing inflammable liquids comparatively secure from explosion. The device is an application of the Davy lamp, supplemented by a fusible cap or plug.

If a vessel of ordinary type, containing an explosive liquid, be subjected to sufficient outside heat, or if the contents be lighted at the orifice, the walls of the tank will burst by the force of the expansion. At an exhibition given by the owners of the patent, a 20-gallon tank was partly filled with gasoline and placed upon a lighted bonfire. The fusible screw cap, made in two parts which were simply soldered together, soon blew out, the solder having melted, and the ascending vapor caughtfire immediately; but no explosion followed because the orifice of the tank formed the upper end of a tube which projected down inside the vessel to its bottom, where it was closed. To allow the oil or gas to percolate from the interior of the tank each of the metal layers of which this tube was composed had been perforated, and, while the perforations would permit the spirit to be poured out, they prevented the passage of the burning gas to the interior by absorbing its heat as the wire gauze does in the Davy lamp. While the gasoline contained in the tube burned the flame did not extend to the liquid or accumulated vapor in the half-full tank and, consequently, there was not sufficient expansive force generated to burst the tank. The flame was easily extinguished with a bundle of rags and then lighted and put out several times. The gasoline would, I judge, percolate constantly through the perforated layers of metal to the inside of the tube and there keep up a continuous burning; but according to the accounts of tests which I have read, the flame does not appear to have been allowed to burn any length of time to see how long the metal layers of the tube could absorb the heat without becoming so hot that they would heat and dangerously expand the gasoline in the tank. A motor car tank to which the device was affixed, was lighted with a match and extinguished at will. A gasoline can without the device exploded almost instantaneously when lighted.

The device applied to small gasoline cans, kerosene drums and other petroleum containers, would undoubtedly serve a desirable purpose.

U.S. Consul Hamm, Hull, England, reports: The need of a standard screw in the more delicate branches of engineering has long been acknowledged by the profession. This lack has been especially evident in optics and gunnery; but the difficulties in the way of obtaining such a standard have been just as evident. The British war office seems to have overcome most if not all these difficulties, and to have succeeded in constructing one which it is claimed will stand every test.

Recognizing the importance of having a standard screw in gun fittings and mountings, the war office was led four years ago to appoint a committee of experts to investigate the subject and devise means for the production of the article wanted. The result of the labors of this committee can now be seen in the new standard screw-cutting lathe just set up at the National Physical Laboratory at Bushy House, London.

It became clear at an early stage of the investigation that to secure interchangeability in screws it was necessary to supply accurate standard leading screws from which the screws could be cut and to construct a special lathe on which these leading screws could be adjusted and measured. The standard screw now in Bushy House is made of compressed steel and is some 6 ft. in length. The lathe to which it is attached exceeds 20 ft. in length, and as it works to so fine a degree of accuracy as to correct an error of one ten-thousandth part of an inch, every precaution has been taken to protect it from the vagaries of temperature by housing it in a special building heated to a constant temperature of 60°. The lathe differs in construction very greatly from ordinary lathes. The leading screw and the screw to be cut are coaxial. No gear wheels are employed, and there are means for automatically correcting even the most trifling errors of the leading screw.

A British trade journal states that the Elektricitats-Aktien-Gesellsckaft, of Frankfort, has recently introduced a convenient machine for testing the lubricating qualities of oils. The essential part is a short shaft working in a bearing and loaded appropriately. About half a pint of the oil under examination is poured onto the bearing, and the shaft is set revolving at a definite speed. The time that elapses before the shaft comes to rest is noted; the greater the time the better is the lubricating quality of the oil. After the test the bearing is cleaned by pouring over it a liquid in which the oil is soluble and then removing the liquid by a blast of air; this method of cleaning is found to be quite effective and is economical of time. The machine may be driven by an electric motor or other mechanical means or by hand, and there is an arrangement of resistance coils by which the bearing can be heated up to any required temperature. Both the bearing pressure and the speed may be conveniently arranged.

One characteristic feature of Australian hard wood trees, of which there exists an almost endless variety, says Carpenter and Builder, is the great size of the beams which may be obtained from them, as well as the extreme toughness and durability of their wood, the gray ironbark having a resistance to breaking equal to 17,900 pounds per square inch, as compared with a mean of 11,800 pounds for English oak and 15,-500 for teak. None of the other timbers has so high a resistance to breaking as this description of ironbark, but nearly all the varieties have a greater strength than oak. The quality of the wood is materially influenced by the soil on which the trees grow, while the absence of branches for the greater portion of the height, enables the timber to be obtained to the best advantage; and as full grown trees of most varieties are rarely less than 100 feet high, with corresponding girth, the quantity of timber obtainable from the virgin forests is very great.

German papers state that pure and clear water can contain disease germs for a long time in a living and poisonous state. It has been presumed that disease-causing bacteria could not increase in pure water, and therefore, soon died, due to the effect of light, low temperature, current of the water, other harmless germs, and lack of suitable nutrition. It has been demonstrated that the typhus baccillus requires at least 67 milligrams of nitrogenous matter in one quart of water, and the sewer germ over 400 milligrams. The typhus baccillus is said to be able to live only seven days in common waterworks water, and the cholera baccillus only three days. It would appear that these researches were made somewhat superficially, cording to Mr. Konradi, water is suited to many disease germs which in time overcome harmless bacteria instead of succumbing to them. The experiments of Konradi with the baccillus Milzbrand, which causes inflamation of the spleen, and the typhus baccillus, have demonstrated that the harmless bacteria in the water increased largely for some time, but died subsequently, so that, finally, the water kept in ordinary room temperatures contained only the disease bacteria in full malignancy. The " spleen " bacillus remained alive from 264 to 816 days, and displaced the other bacteria within three to four weeks. The pus baccillus overcame the other baccilli after three months and lived 508 days, while the typhus baccillus become dominant only after more than fonr months, but lived 499 days. The "spleen " baccilli thrive even in sterilized water.

According to M. P. S. Guedras, in Comptes Rendus, a new method of blasting has been tried. Calcium carbide is introduced into a metallic cartridge, separated by a diaphragm from the necessary water for its decomposition; the cartridge also contains an air space and a cavity having a detonater. The cartridge is introduced into a bore-hole, which is tamped with a wooden plug, and by striking a projecting-rod the diaphragm is pierced. After five minutes the cartridge is exploded by firing the detonater. The rock is shattered, but not projected, and can be easily hewn with a pick. The charge of carbide is fifty grammes.

The forests of the United States have become so reduced that they can last but a few decades at most. Those of the South will be gone by 1925, and of the Pacific before 1950. The seaports of the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico are exporting rapidly to South Africa and to many European marts, besides supplying ties and timbers for a large portion of this country in which the wood has become exhausted.

There are no forests being propagated throughout the South. Annual fires, a vicious practice to give fresh grazing for a few animals, keeps the young pine from growing, while baby saplings are having their life-blood drawn for the turpentine stills.

With the general indifference of the public there is no hope for a future timber growth of value. Where trees remain they are of inferior quality, and under-growths, where they exist, are of little prospective importance.

New England has not enough timber for her own factories; eight inch trees are being sawed into box lumber. The four Middle States are dependent upon the South, having no timber left. The prairies remain treeless, except as a few groves are being planted, insufficient to be seriously considered. Four States may furnish lumber for a little while: Oregon, Washington, Northern California and Idaho.

With calls for timber from Asia, Africa, much of Europe and all of the United States, what prospect is there for,a permanent contribution to all these fields without a greater effort to protect the young growth and to economize in that of mature age ? - Arboriculture.

In a recent article in the American Machinist, W. Osborne calls attention to one source of difficulty in starting a gas engine which is worth noting. When the engine stops without turning the fuel off, the cylinder will be left full of gas, and unless this gas is worked out by turning the engine over several times, there will be little air mixed with the fuel when an attempt is made to start the engine and ignition cannot take place. Letting the engine stand with the exhaust valve open or working it back and forth to drive the gas from the cylinder allows easy starting.

Experiments have been made recently at the Allston shops of the New York Central Railroad, with an electrical horseshoe magnet attached to a set of locomotive driving wheels to determine the degree of magnetic resistance it was possible to exert. It was found that with the attachment employed the adhesion was increased fully 35 per cent. The Central will have 30 of its locomotives fitted with the device, so as to do away with the use of sand.

Several experiments have recently been made at Camogli, near Genoa, Italy, with a new submarine boat. The craft is intended to recover objects from the bed of the sea, and for this purpose is provided with powerful hooked arms worked by electricity. So far the greatest depth reached is 58 fathoms, and at this the men were able to breathe and work freely.

Ether and chloroform, so useful in sending men to sleep, have the very opposite effect on plants, which are stimulated to the greatest possible activity by these drugs. In Denmark and Germany, advantage has been taken of this fact to force flowers in rooms and glass houses and to make them bloom out of season. The results are said to be marvelous.