vessels bearing down on him,
and did not wish himself well out of a scrape, has more nerve than most
men.

The second mile was run in far less time than that in which what we have
written concerning it can be read, and then the boat turned again, and
once more the head wind with all its discomforts was encountered. Events
repeated themselves, and so at last the sixth trip was completed, and the
boat proceeded at a leisurely pace back again to Poplar. Mr. Crohn,
representing Messrs. Yarrow on board, and all concerned, might well feel
satisfied. We had traveled at a greater speed than had ever before been
reached by anything that floats, and there was no hitch or impediment or
trouble of any kind.

The Italian government may be congratulated on possessing the two fastest
and most powerful torpedo boats in the world. We believe, however, that
Messrs. Yarrow are quite confident that, with twin screw triple expansion
engines, they can attain a speed of 26 knots an hour, and we have no
reason to doubt this.--_The Engineer._

* * * * *

RESERVOIR DAMS.

[Footnote: Paper, with slight abbreviation, read by Mr. David Gravell,
Assoc. M. Inst. C.E., before the Society of Civil and Mechanical
Engineers. The paper brings together in a convenient form the sections
and salient facts concerning many dams. It was illustrated by numerous
diagrams, from which our engravings have been prepared.--_The Engineer._]

By DAVID GRAVELL.

The construction of dams, in some form or other, may probably rank among
the very earliest of engineering works. Works of this character are not
infrequently referred to in the accounts of the earliest historians; but
it is to be feared that they are not always perfectly trustworthy. The
subscribers to the Mudie of the period had to be considered, and their
taste for the marvelous was probably not much inferior to that of our own
day. When, therefore, Herodotus describes the reservoir of Moeris as
formed for the control of the river floods of Nile-nourished Egypt, and
of another constructed by Nebuchadnezzar at Sippara, of 140 miles in
circumference, we must make allowances. But there is no question as to
the existence in the East at the present day, and especially in India and
Ceylon, of the remains of what may correctly be termed stupendous works;
and the date of the construction of which, as regards India, is in many
cases prehistoric. In Spain also the Moors, wh