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of all the turret guns can be accom- plished from one sub-station or divided between them. Sub-stations are pro- vided to agree with the number of batteries. A change is now contemplat- ed in this arrangement of compartments whereby there will be secured a further structural' division, allowing a special compartment to interior communication apparatus.. This arrangement will sep- arate and make distinct the steering compartment, communicating or cent- ral station and that reserved especially for the control of the gunfire. Typify the Human Nervous System. Although briefly described the exten- siveness of these systems goes far to prove their importance and _ necessity. Embracing as they do every® possible need of the navigator, the engineer, the gunner, the passenger and the crew they metaphorically typify the human nervous system with all its sensitiveness and delicacy. As the human is debili- tated by some injury or shock to his _ nerves, in like manner does the vessel suffer from an interruption to its in- terior signals. Following this simile to even a greater degree, man has. in- _geniously provided the vessel with means of premonition like unto the intuition or fear of approaching dan- ger which man himself possesses, These advantages have transpired through man's experience, study and _ persever- ing interest in the making of vessels secure in the carriage of human life and. cargo. Not one iota should be spared from the praise of man's achievement as shown in the advantages to the English-speaking races of the two trans-Atlantic fast mail steamers, Lusitania and Mauretania. In diminish- ing the time of travel between our - shores and that of the Fatherland they have advanced the nadir of world civ- ilization. No attempt has been made to discuss in this paper any practice other than that of our own country. A compari- son of the practice of other nations would be interesting, but would extend beyond the prescribed intention of this treatment. It is obvious to those who are well acquainted with American characteristics that in all paths that lead in progress and advancement in science, art and civilization our 'coun- trymen will be found in the vanguard. The Maryland Steel Co., Sparrow's Point, Md., has been awarded contract by the navy department for the construc- tion of a fleet collier at $889,000. TAeE Marine REVIEW | . BOOK REVIEWS. ' "Robert Fulton and the Clermont." By Alice Crary Sutcliffe, The Century Co., New York, publishers; price $2.10 net. This work, written by the great grand- daughter of Robert Fulton, has great timeliness, as it came from the press in September, just prior to the Hudson- Fulton celebration. While this work adds nothing to what is generally known of Fulton's achievements, it obviously contains much data not ordinarily ac- cessible beyond the family circle. The book contains a number of drawings and portraits not hitherto published. The book incorporates some anecdotes of his early life indicating his mechanical precosity, and also a command of Eng- lish unusual in a child. For instance, at the age of eight or thereabouts he is said to have rebuked a teacher who disciplined him with a rod on his hand for inattention to his studies by say- ing "Sir, I came to have something beaten into my brains and not into my knuckles," and at another time he Said to his teacher, "Sir, my head is so full of original notions that there is no 'vacant chamber to store away the contents of dusty books." It is not credible that at so early an age Fulton talked so much like Dr. John- son. The early bent of Fulton's mind was towards art and he later achieved a considerable reputation as a painter of miniatures. His mind, however, was fundamentally mechanical. He was about 10 years old when the American revo- lution occurred and it was doubtless due to this stimulation that his first invention should have been an air gun. There is no record, however, of its success. At the age of fifteen he man- ufactured a small working model of a fishing boat to be propelled by pad- dles, and actually made a set of pad- dle wheels for Christopher Gumpf's boat to be operated by a double crank mo- tion. This invention was tried on the Conéstoga river and was found satis- factory. At the age of 17 he left home to seek his fortune in Philadelphia as a paint- er of portraits in miniature. He re- mained in Philadelphia for four years and in 1786 left for London to pursue his art studies. For several years there- after he supported himself in paint- ing portraits, incidentally meeting men of great distinction, including the Duke of Bridgewater and Earl Stanhope. Bridgewater was engaged in construct- ing a canal to open up the coal lands on his estates and Stanhope was work- ing on a plan for the application of steam to navigation, It is quite likely Nosema 1909 that association with these men was responsible for Fulton's abandonment of the career of an artist for that of an engineer, At any rate he became _very active thereafter in mechanics. He pointed out the impractical nature of Stanhope's plans and in a letter written during 1793 from Devonshire gave the earl the very ptinciples of his own application which afterwards "were suc- cessfully demonstrated on the Hudson river. This letter, incorporated in the book, is quite interesting. Fulton also turned his attention to canals and in 1794 secured from the British government a patent for a double inclined canal plane for raising and lowering canal boats. About the same period he also obtained English patents upon a machine for spinning flax and for a new invention for twist- ing hemp rope. His mind, however, apparently turned towards the devel- opment of canal systems, for he obtain- ed a patent upon a dredging machine and later patented two types of boats for use upon canal systems. In 1796 he published a treatise on canal navi- gation. This pamphlet was later trans- lated into French and _ published in Paris. In. 1797 he addressed a com- munication to the French Directory on the subject. About this time the ex- cesses of the French revolution had ceased and England had begun her sys- tem of aggression upon the seas through which the United States was the great- est sufferer. This caused Fulton to abandon his study of canals and to turn his attention to 'the creation of an implement of destruction, which re- sulted in the invention of a submarine boat equipped with torpedoes. Fulton's experiments with the submarine boat Nautilus and his failure to enlist the interest of Napoleon in it are too well known to require comment, as are also his subsequent negotiations with the British government to the same end. In 1806 Robert Fulton returned to his native land from which he had been absent for twenty years. No attempt is made to claim the in- vention of the steamboat as_ original with Fulton. Fulton himself, probably more than any other one man, was aware of what had been done along the line of experiments in steamboats. Fulton's early experiments were con- ducted on the Seine in partnership with Robert Livingstone, then United States minister to France. Fulton: built a Boat /0 #f. lone. 8 ft. wide and 3 ft. deep, upon which he placed a steam en- gine of about 8 H. P. In July, 1803, an experiment was made by Fulton with this boat in the presence of a great number of people, including Car- eee Es ub Mee Cas ot oS A a at Ng od pes