FIG. 6.-BATTERY SAFE CLOSED, WITH INSTRUCTION LIST. ELECTRIC CAR LINES IN GERMANY. (From United States Consul Harris, Mannheim, Germany.) Recently published figures place the total number of miles of electric car lines in Germany at 2,117. Considering the area and population of the Empire, these figures show a comparatively slow development of this branch of railway building-this, too, in spite of the fact that in electric lighting and in other applications of electricity Germany has taken advanced rank. The cause of this backwardness is to be sought mainly in the fact of State ownership of the larger part of the existing steam railways and the unwillingness on the part of city and other authorities to grant charters to private companies. Local and suburban travel is heavy but is as yet carried mainly by steam railway lines, often of cheap construction. The Grand Duchy of Baden, a small part of the Empire, has an area slightly larger than that of the State of Connecticut, with a population somewhat more than twice as great. In 1900 it had five cities of upward of 40,000 population, namely, Mannheim, There were in Carlsruhe, Freiburg, Pforzheim, and Heidelberg. 1900 fourteen cities of upward of 10,000 population. The State includes a thickly settled portion of the Rhine Valley about 160 miles long, with an average width of 10 miles, which would seem to be a specially good field for electric railway lines. And yet at pres ent electric lines are in operation only in or near the following cities: Mannheim (including Ludwigshafen extension)... Heidelberg (including Heidelberg-Wiesloch line)......................... Length of line. ..miles... 25 ..do...... 9 ...do...... 111⁄2 ...do...... 8 In each case the same track is used in part by the cars of several lines. Thus the total track length of the Mannheim city and suburban lines is 14 miles. The city of Kehl, Baden, is connected with Strassburg by a branch of the Strassburg city lines, but does not operate an independent line. Of the above lines, each belongs to the respective city except in the case of the Heidelberg city lines, which are operated by a private corporation, the city being the owner of three-fourths of the capital stock. The fare charged varies with the distance, long rides and transfers on a single fare not being permitted to the extent they are in the United States. The fare for ordinary distances is 10 pfennigs (21⁄2 cents), tickets good for 25 rides being sold for 2 marks (48 cents). Of the lines now in operation in Baden only two can be said to be interurban lines—a line of about 9 miles from Heidelberg to Wiesloch and a somewhat shorter line from Carlsruhe to Durlach. H. W. HARRIS, Consul. MANNHEIM, GERMANY, August 14, 1903. CONGRESS OF GERMAN ELECTRICIANS. (From United States Consul Harris, Mannheim, Germany.) Beginning with June 7, 1903, a three days' congress of the German Society of Electricians was held in Mannheim. The meetings were attended by about 300 electrical engineers from all parts of the Empire. Papers were read on a variety of topics pertaining to electrical engineering, especially as applied to street-railway construction, electric lighting, etc. Among those who presented papers were Privy Councilor Professor Arnold, of Carlsruhe; Professor Görges, of Dresden; and Baron von Gaisberg, of Hamburg. At this meeting, as at similar meetings in Germany, that which first attracts the attention of the observer is the active part taken by No 278-036 teachers from the technical and other schools in what might be regarded the purely practical side of the subject. Thus, in this particular case the discussions led into the construction of street railways, installation of light and power plants, etc. Among those who took a leading part in these discussions were teachers and professional men. No opinion is ventured as to whether, upon the whole, a science such as that of electricity, mining, architecture, etc., progresses more rapidly if left mainly to what may be termed the self-made unprofessional engineer or if left more under professional or academic control. The German manufacturer or railway builder would doubtless answer the question in favor of the professionally trained expert. The conditions existing in the two countries being in many respects different, the advancement made in electrical engineering, for example, afford no complete answer to the question. It would be conceded on both sides of the ocean that in the more difficult field of chemical manufacture the professionally trained chemist has been indispensable. MANNHEIM, GERMANY, August 4, 1903. H. W. HARRIS, Consul. CALCAREOUS BRICK AND STONE MANUFACTURE IN GERMANY. (From United States Consul-General Mason, Berlin, Germany.) During the past year frequent inquiries have been received at this consulate from correspondents in the United States desiring detailed and precise information concerning the manufacture and use in Germany, for building purposes, of calcareous brick and stone made by artificially combining under pressure sand with slacked or unslacked lime. The range of these inquiries has been principally as to the length of time that such building materials have been made and used in this country, whether they have stood the test of varying temperature in wet or specially exposed situations and under heavy crushing strain, what the Government architects and leading builders think of them, and especially what patented machinery and methods for making such materials are most highly esteemed and approved in this country. The latter class of interrogatories has been stimulated by the fact that certain patented machines and processes of German origin for making sandlime brick have been recently exploited in the United States, one of which at least has been advertised there as having been "adopted |