At a recent meeting of the Royal Society of England J. A. Flemming and R. Hadfield gave the results of some of their investigations on the magnetic properties of alloys. They have found that an alloy composed of manganese 22.4 per cent, copper 60.5 per cent, carbon 1.5 per cent, silicon 0.37 per cent, and iron 0.21 per cent, has magnetic properties which are identical with those of materials which are naturally feebly magnetic, and that the permeability is between 28 and 30, which is not much inferior to the values reached for a low grade of cast iron for small magnetic forces. This alloy can also be permanently magnetized. This leads to the surmise that the magnetic properties of the alloy result from a similarity of molecular structure to that of the ordinary magnetic materials, such as. iron, nickel and cobalt, and that, if the proper molecular arrangement can be found in an alloy, it may be possible to construct a material which is quite as mag-netic as iron, and possibly even more so.

The scarcity and rarity of radium will be best appreciated by the following statements: To obtain one kilo or two and three-tenths pounds, five thousand tons of uranium residues must be treated and the process of reduction consumes six weeks of time. Prof. Currie says that for all the work done in Germany and France in the past three years searching for this substance, only about a pound of radium salt has been obtained.

Concerning the amount of radium in America, it is estimated that if all the various grades were reduced to the strength of one million, so-called, there would be between four and five grammes or a half thimbleful, or not more than enough to be heaped on a nickel 5 cent piece.

The maximum working load in pounds that may be allowed on a wire rope equals the square of the circumference of the rope in inches multiplied by 600. Hence a wire rope 4 inches in circumference should not have a load to exceed 9600 pounds.

According to a contemporary, a square foot of uncovered pipe, filled with steam at 100 lb. pressure, will radiate and dissipate in a year the heat obtained by the economic combustion of 393 lbs. of coal. Thus, 10 square feet of bare pipe corresponds approximately to the waste of two tons of coal per annum.

The General Electric Co., Lynn., Mass. are developing apparatus for the equipment of combination gasoline-electric business vehicles and rail cars, and will soon bring out a full line of gasoline engines, dynamos, controllers and motors suitable for a variety of applications.

The most remarkable fall of meteorites known to history was that which occcrred at L'Aigie in France in 1803. Between 2000 and 3000 meteoric stones fell over an area of nine miles long by three wide, some of which weighed 50 pounds or more.

Most metals, when in a molten state, are capable of dissolving at least small proportions of carbon, which, in general, leads to a deterioration in metallicity, except in the case of iron, which, by the addition of a small percentage of carbon, gains in elasticity and tensile strength, with little loss of plasticity.

A little work during leisure time will secure premiums of useful tools.

The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well, and doing well whatever you do, without a thought of fame. - Longfellow.

If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. -Franklin.