ing, made with the object of increasing friction by
means of permanent magnetism, and also with a view to _diminishing_
the friction of revolving and other moving surfaces, the results of
which will probably form the subject matter of a subsequent paper.

Enough has been said to indicate that the development of these two
methods of increasing mechanical friction opens up a new and extensive
field of operation, and enables electricity to score another important
point in the present age of progress. The great range and flexibility
of this method peculiarly adapt it to the purposes we have considered
and to numerous others that will doubtless suggest themselves to you.
Its application to the increase of the tractive adhesion of railway
motors is probably its most prominent and valuable feature at present,
and is calculated to act as an important stimulus to the practical
introduction of electric railways on our city streets, inasmuch as the
claims heretofore made for cable traction in this respect are now no
longer exclusively its own. On trunk line railways the use of sand and
other objectionable traction-increasing appliances will be entirely
dispensed with, and locomotives will be enabled to run at greater
speed with less slipping of the wheels and less danger of derailment.
Their tractive power can be nearly doubled without any increase in
weight, enabling them to draw heavier trains and surmount steeper
grades without imposing additional weight or strain upon bridges and
other parts of the roadbed. Inertia of heavy trains can be more
readily overcome, loss of time due to slippery tracks obviated, and
the momentum of the train at full speed almost instantly checked by
_one and the same means_.

* * * * *

ELECTRIC LAUNCH.

Trials have been made at Havre with an electric launch built to the
order of the French government by the Forges et Chantiers de la
Mediterranee. The vessel, which has rather full lines, measures 28 ft.
between perpendiculars and 9 ft. beam, and is 5 tons register.

The electromotor is the invention of Captain Krebs, who is already
well known on account of his experiments in connection with navigable
balloons, and of M. De Zede, naval architect. The propeller shaft is
not directly coupled with the spindle of the motor, but is geared to
it by spur wheels in the ratio of 1 to 3, in order to allow of the
employment of a light high-speed motor. The latter makes