The motor, by
means of a belt, actuated a windlass provided with suitable checking
gearings. The distance of the two machines was 116 meters. Save the
transmission by chain, the whole worked in a satisfactory manner. The
performance could only be estimated in a lump, by comparing on the one
hand the theoretical work of the fall of water, and, on the other, that of
the vertical elevation of the car; and, further, one was obliged to
estimate the weight of the latter. If we allow 1,000 kilogrammes for the
weight of a car that received 360 liters of dry sand or 300 of wet, the
performance was 19 per cent., and appeared to be satisfactory, considering
the conditions under which the installation was made. This experiment was
at all events of such a nature as to indicate the use of these machines in
cases where the arrangement of the locality absolutely necessitates a
transmission of power.

The first workmen reached Portao de Ferro December 15, 1882, and the
material shipped from France did not arrive until April 25, 1883.
Operations were suspended about the 25th of September, since, for a
fortnight already, there had no longer been any doubt as to the manner in
which the river bed had been cleaned by former operators.

As a result of this first experiment, the proof remained that it would be
easy in future exploitations to introduce into the country methods of work
that are quicker and more economical than those now in use. In fact, all
the operations were performed with natives of the country, with the
exception of a carpenter and blacksmith from Rio Janeiro.--_La Nature._

* * * * *

WHAT WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT ASIATIC CHOLERA.

NEW YORK, September 1, 1884.

_To the Editor of the New York Medical Journal_:

SIR: I have been exceedingly interested in Dr. Bartlett's suggestive
article in your issue of August 30. But a sufficient number of
well-established facts are known to account for all the peculiarities and
vagaries of cholera.

1. Cholera has existed in Hindostan for centuries. It was found there by
Vasco da Gama in 1496, and there is a perfectly authentic history of it
from that time down to the present.

2. It is never absent from India, from whence it has been conveyed
innumerable times to other countries. It has never become domiciled in any
other land, not even in China, parts of which lie in the same latitude;
nor in Arabia, to which country pilgrims go every year fr