The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

12 THE MARINE RECORD. SEPTEMBER 12, IgoI. A TRUSCOTT BOAT SIMPLE, SAFE, RELIABLE, SPEEDY. It may be possible to build better, and_ safer boats. but it hasn’t been done yet. We send a completely illustrated cata'ogue and price list f ee, which tells you all about boats and WHY TRUSCOTT BOATS EXCEL. Truscott Boat Mfg. Co., ST. JOSEPH, MICH. lighting. Burn Continuously from 80 to 365 days and nights re without attention, and can be seen a distance of six miles. ...... Pintsch Gas | Lighted Buoys. Adopted by the English, German, French, Russian, Italian and United States Light-House Departments for channel and harbor Over 1,000 gas buoys and gas beacons in service. Controlled by THE SAFETY CAR HEATING AND LIGHTING CO. 160 Broadway, New York City. EVAPORATION OF WATER. OF AMERICAN LAKES AND RIVERS. Raw natural phenomena are of greater practical importance than rainfall and evaporation. They concern closely ‘oth our health and our personal comfort. An arid condition of air or earth is highly annoying and injurious. Air far below saturation point las an injurious effect upon the skin, which it dries, roughens and cracks, while during the winter the body heat is too rapidly abstracted, causing a sens; ion of chilliness, if no more. severe symptoms of cold. ‘i ir nearly or quite saturated is equally unpleasant during 1e summer season. The perspiration, instead of being « a veyed away in the form of vapor from the body as rap, -y as it is secreted, stands in beads upon,the skin, and thet . y heat d+prived of its chief outlet and source of loss— e latent heat of evaporation—accumulates and causes dis- comfort. _ B-sides these, a dust-laden or a mud-covered earth unpy be mentioned as ‘real inconveniences. But of more vital concern isthe unfavorable effect upon plant development which a water-saturated soil has. A proper balancing of rainfall and evaporation is s essential to our comfortable.existence upon earth. When active con- densation has set in, the water vapor furnishes a welcome shade from over-fierce solar rays, and always water vapor in the air checks the loss of heat from the earth’s surface. In higher realms of our composite nature the phenomena con- nected with evaporation and condensation of water rouses the reasoning and the imagining capabilities of our being. ‘ We naturally inquire, What is evaporation? What are the forces producing this change? . What are its effects? .The unromantic dweller on lowland plains may see on his horizon splendid mountain summits, and Cordilleran ranges represented in cloudland by billowy masses of minute water drops. The nature of the phenomena occurring during evapor- ation, concerning as they do the ultimate molecules of wach thé substance is composed, cannot be- easily under- stood. One theory is that the molecules of a liquid move ‘on an average more slowly than those of its corresponding vapor, but that some molecules move more rapidly than others, and these rapidly moving particles are constantly escaping from the liquid to lead for atime a free existence in the gaseous state. There are objections to'this theory, one being that most fluids Will entirely evaporate, and it does not appear how, under certain circumstances, the speed of the- motion of their particles is increased.. Neither does the theory explain why evaporation is more rapid under de- creased pressure. Late experiments seem to point to the conclusion that all bodies are giving off streams of particles much smaller than:‘atoms would appear to be. If this be the case when water evaporates, it is interesting to imagine under what conditions and impelled by what forces they again unite and reform a liquid. Heat. undoubtedly | has something to do with the process, but other molecular forces are probably acting in conjunction to produce the phenom. ena of evaporation. In the case of our three upper lakes—Superior, Huron. and Michigan—the water surface is 81, 000 square miles, the area of land draining into them 149,000 square miles, In the Caspian basin the ratio of water to land is I to 4, and the balance of rainfall and evaporation is being maintained without any discharge. Would it not also be maintained i in the Great Lakes basin with one square mile of water to two square miles of land area draining into it under like con- ditions? It would appear almost certain that vast sub- terranean rivers must find their way into the lakes from outside their basin. In most places throughout the Mississippi valley underground lakes and streams are known to exist, and have been struck in sinking wells. In Montana wells often flow with high pressure. The temperature of the water in the lake is too low and its color too clear to suggest that much of it had its origin in northern peat bogs. The Mediterranean waters vary in temperature from 90 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface to 55 degrees Fahrenheit in the deeper portions during the hottest parts of the year. The Mediterranean in deepest parts is four times as deep as our upper lakes. The water in our lakes is much colder in proportion to that of the Mediterranean. Lake Superior water is icy cold at all times, and Lakes Michigan and Huron are but a few degrees warmer. The temperature suggests supplies drawn from far-off sources and conveyed in subterranean channels. The Missouri river loses one-half its water while passing around the Great Bend in Northern Dakota. Other large streams in the western country lose much of their volume in passing over the poruscretaccous strata, and this probably gives rise to the vast system of underground waters, tapped in so many places in the central parts of the continent.— London, (Ont.) Advertiser. oe ior or _EASTERN FREIGHTS. Mesares Funch, Edye & Co., New York, report the con- dition of the Eastern freight market as follows: ~ The two ‘fixtures for grain reported in this issue indicate the continued depression in grain freights. New business seems to be almost impracticable, and shippers show no in- dication to make any commitments ahead. On the other hand owners are holding their steamers almost until they are ready to load, and in some cases have decided to lay up their boats for a month, in hope of better rates offering later on. There has been more activity in cotton charters from the Atlantic Coast, but the rates accepted show no.improve- ment, and with the amount of tonnage still available the prospects for any advance are anything but encouraging. General cargo business from the Gulf continues neglected, and charterers show no anxiety to take up further tonnage unless at reduced figures. Some further transactions have been concluded for coal from the Atlantic Coast to French ports, and whilst the present low basis of freights exist it is quite probable shipments of this description will continue. Business in sail tonnage continues very limited, and although few vessels are on offer, the low rates current for steamers have rather a depressing effect on the larger class of ships. To Japan 23 cents has been accepted on case oil, indicating a further decline of one-half cent per case, Grain is quoted at 134 cents to Liverpool and 2 cents to London or Glasgow. Hullor Leith 4 cents. — Eee THE Russian ice-breaker Ermack has arrived in Tromsoe, Norway, the voyage planned’ from Nova Zembla to the mouth of the Venisei having been abandoned, owing to unbreakable ice barriers. The Ermack discovered on the southeast coast of Franz Josef land several hitherto un- charted islands. LITERARY NOTES. The Century Co, will issue in October Cleveland Moffet’s new book, entitled Careers of Danger and Daring, in which he tells what one must face who becomes a steeple-climber, a deep-sea diver, a bridge-builder, a pilot, a fireman or a The stories will be strikingly illus- . locomotive engineer. trated. “‘Success’’, in its September issue, continues its search for the helpful under the guise of the beautiful. It discovers a spring of inspiration in the words of the Norwegian poet, Ibsen, who writes from across the seas: ‘‘Genius, unex- erted, is like a poor moth that flutters around a candle until it scorches itself to death;’’ another, in an article from the pen of President Hadley, of Yale University, who says: ‘Theories which are easily acquired and glibly recited are. met, in practice, with a contempt which is-well deserved,” and a third in an editorial containing the trenchant sen- tence, ‘‘fine qualities cannot be reached by the checkbook.” Mr. J, C. Turk, the engineer who had charge of the con- struction of the famous Gokteik viaduct, built near Manda- lay, tells in the September World’s Work how an American company came to outbid all the English bridge builders, how the plans were made, and the parts of the gigantic structure were shipped; how the difficulties which climate, labor conditions and small facilities imposed were overcome, and how the great bridge, with its top in places over 800 feet above the gorge, was finally completed at the usual American profit. The story is vividly written and is illus- trated with photographs taken in India by the author. The September number of the Smart Set fully sustains the reputation of that fascinating magazine for vivacity and cleverness, The number opens with an amusing novelette by Caroline Duer, entitled ‘‘A New Bonnet for Mary.’’ Mrs. M. E. W. Sherwood writes entertainly on the subject of divorce under the title of ‘‘Untying the Knot.’” Mrs, Flora Bigelow Dodge, a sister of Poultney Bigelow, is the author of a brilliant and humorous society satire, entitled, ‘‘Mrs. Example,’’ while Edgar Saltus writes another of his pyro- technic essays, entitled the ‘‘Pomps of Satan.’? One of the strongest stories in the number is ‘‘The Price of Honor,”’ by Lloyd Osbourne, and Prince Vladimir Vaniatsky con- tributes a strange tale called ‘‘The Queen of the Far Coun- try.’’? There are many other features which make this issue exceedingly attractive. Ess Ess Pub. Co., New York. THE COST OF ‘“MONKEYING.”’ The loss of 270 men. by a collision between the Konig Wilhelm and the Grosser Kurfurst is ascribed to the con- fusion resulting from a want of system in helm command. During the last thirty years, as we are told by a writer in the Armee und Marine, the system followed in the Germa:1 Navy sends the ship to starboard when the order “Steuer- bord ruder” is given. Before that the contrary was the case, and the ship went to port (backbord). In the Ger- man mercantile marine the old system was retained, and in 1891 the North German Lloyd introduced a third system by substituting the words “right” and “left” (rechts-links) r “Steuerbord” and “Backbord,’ and some other com- panies followed the example. It has now been decided by representatives of the Bremen companies that the system used in the Imperial Navy shall be adopted, and it is hoped that it may become general, so that the much desired re- sult of uniformity may be obtained.