side of the cut, indicates the presence and source of this material.

This may be checked by the larger deposit made on the Hook proper between 1776 and 1857, when it advanced nearly a mile in length and expanded to a mean width of a mile. The uncertain element in this computation is the mean depth of the bed, but as there is always a deep water, reaction basin at the head of such spurs reaching to between 50 and 60 feet, it is safe to assume the depth of the fill at 15 yards. With these dimensions the yearly deposit has been 581,000 cubic yards on the fast land of the Hook, thus confirming within reasonable limits the probable annual deposit in this vicinity to be in round numbers 500,000 cubic yards. The northern mile of the Hook contains about 46,500,000 yards in place.

Unfortunately, the data contained in the above table furnish an uncèrtain basis from which to determine the age of Sandy Hook, but between the surveys of 1776 and 1857, a period of eighty-one years, it apparently advanced 1 mile, or at the rate of about 65 feet per annum. To cover the entire 5 miles, at this rate, would require about four centuries, leading back to the date of the discovery of America. It is highly probable that the rate was much less at an earlier date, when the coast to the southward was indented with numerous inlets which have nearly all been closed by the northward littoral drift and converted into fresh-water lakes. The only important openings to-day are those of Shark River and Manasquan, until Barnegat is reached, where the drift is to the southward.

From the foregoing statements it would appear that both flanks of the entrance are menaced by large deposits of sand in place, whilst the flood tide is augmenting this volume by material carried in suspension, thus hastening the deterioration of this entrance by these encroaching banks.

THE GREYTOWN HARBOR.

That this is no idle fancy will appear from a brief consideration of the physical conditions at the mouth of the San Juan del Norte, at Greytown, Nicaragua, upon which No. 950.

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so much stress has been laid in recent years. Here the trade-wind, rather than the tide, is the predominating element, to drive the waves to the westward and extend the hook in that direction, so that the excellent roadstead which existed in 1832 was completely sealed in 1865, during which period of thirty-two years the spit had advanced over a mile and a half, moving at an average rate of 291 feet, each year. A careful computation from comparative cross sections of this cordon of sand, covering a period of some forty years, made by the writer on the spot in December, 1897, gave the annual deposit as 582,000 cubic yards during the latter part of the movement.

By a comparison of the survey of Commander Lull, of 1872, with that of Captain West, of 1865, covering a little more than seven years, after the lagoon had been formed, Prof. Henry Mitchell estimated the average yearly deposit on the sea slope of Punta Arenas to be 730,000 cubic yards. Here the coastal plain is characterized by five distinct lagoons--Ibo, Barco, Sucio, Shepherd's and Greytownhaving their axes nearly parallel and from 3,000 to 3,750 feet apart, all to leeward of the salient and within 3 miles of the coast, thus demonstrating the persistence of the forces and their cyclic results. The short pier of 1,000 feet, built by the Maritime Canal Company, arrested this drift and caused a general advance of the shore line to windward for a distance of more than a mile. It also opened and maintained a channel into the lagoon until the groin filled up.

This typical instance is cited to illustrate the gravity of the encroachments upon the New York bar where the aggregate deposits are more than twice as great, being concentrated from both the Long Island and New Jersey coasts, as from a funnel, upon the bar stretching from Coney Island to Sandy Hook.

Land Titles.-Aside from the physical, engineering or commercial importance of this question there is the legal one of proprietorship. Stakes, pins or landmarks driven into these traveling beaches do not hold them down and the inaccuracies of the early colonial surveys and descriptions are so vague as to lead to great confusion.

In a

Supreme Court decision rendered in July last in favor of the town of Hempstead, Long Island, the defendant, based upon surveys several centuries old, the Court ruled "That old maps of the beach on Long Island are but slight evidence of the condition of the beach or the location of the inlets at a period fifty years earlier, even though correct at the time made. It is a fair presumption that the constant shifting in the various inlets of Rockaway Beach on Long Island, shown to be going on at the present time, was going on in 1725." From this it appears that such a description as is contained in the deed of "A beach lying on the south side of the Island at a place called Rockaway," is not such as would convey title to a definite tract of land, subject to the action of such physical forces.

For the purpose of preserving to the rightful owner the full possession of his property, therefore, it becomes of importance to establish well-defined reference marks and to ascertain by frequent and systematic examinations the character and amount of the changes which are taking place as a basis for the best method of reclamation and protection to riparian owners with correlative aid to commerce and marine industries.

The Remedy.-In view of the situation the preventive measures seem to be self-evident, yet thus far no permanent regulating works are contemplated which look to the modification of the tidal forces, either to diminish the rate of encroachments from the flood-driven sand bars or to augment or localize the energy of the ebb scour, so that it is risking nothing to say that the Board of 1884 was correct in its judgment as to the inexpediency of attempting to meet the demands of commerce by dredging. If it were true then, it is more so now, and yet it is quite possible so to control the ebb currents by a permanent training wall as to cause them to cut out and maintain by their own energy an ample channel across this bar. Such a structure would not obstruct nor close any of the existing channels, but would protect the Ambrose Channel from drift and would cost only about one-half the amount estimated for merely the preliminary dredging of the proposed channel. This should

be supplemented by auxiliary works to impound the traveling sands in natural depositories, where they will become valuable instead of injurious, and prevent the ultimate formation of a new beach in front of Manhattan and Coney Island, which will ultimately be on a bay a mile or more from the sea.

The details as to plans, dimensions, mode of construction, materials and cost of these works, belonging more properly to the subject of the Engineering Section, are consequently omitted from this paper, which is respectfully submitted for discussion, though with a consciousness of the deficiency and unreliability of the earlier data.

CLOSE OF THE ST. LOUIS FAIR.

The Exposition at St. Louis, which was opened to the public with an attendance for the first day of about 180,000, was brought to a close on December ist, with a record of over 200,000 admissions. The closing day was marked by ceremonies expressive of the debt which the Exposition owes to the executive ability and enthusiasm of its president, the final addresses being delivered in the Plaza St. Louis, and at the foot of the Louisiana Purchase Monument, where seven months ago the Exposition was formally declared to be opened. The Exposition buildings were closed at four o'clock in the afternoon, and at midnight the splendid illuminations of Festival Hall and the Cascades slowly faded out for the last time, leaving this, the largest, most ambitious of the great international expositions, a matter of history.

Interest naturally centers at this time in the finances of this great undertaking, and according to a statement of the secretary of the project, since its inception, has cost about $22,000,000 to the Exposition Company, while the several States and Territories have expended a total of $9,000,000. There were 18,500,000 admissions, and the receipts reached a total of about $10,000, ooo, which is made up of admissions and concession royalties. It was announced that when a few current accounts have been paid, most of the $1,000,000 in hand will have been consumed, leaving only a small amount for the stockholders. From the amount of royalties collected, it is estimated that the various concessionaires must have taken in at least $10,000,000. The entire cost of the whole fair, including the various concessions, is estimated at about $50,000,000. With the bringing to a close of one more of these colossal expositions, the question will be asked again as to whether they pay. From the figures given above it is evident that financially they do not; but everyone who has visited this fair and taken note of the character and behavior of the multitudes that streamed through the various Exposition palaces, will surely give it as his impartial conclusion that as a great educative force, whose influence is much wider than can be measured in turnstile statistics, the last of the world's fairs must, in a broad sense, have been a profitable undertaking.-Scientific American.

Mining and Metallurgical Section.

Stated Meeting, held Thursday, December 22, 1904.

Fundamental Principles Involved in Blast-Furnace Practice.

BY EDWARD A. UEHLING, M.E., New York.
Consulting Engineer and Member of the Institute.

To produce with the greatest possible regularity and fuel economy, the maximum per cent. of the quality of iron desired, and the maximum output of which the design of the furnace and its mechanical equipment will permit, none of the recognized essentials must be overlooked, and many things observed and attended to, that have not received the consideration which their importance merits.

RAW MATERIAL.

The Ore should be of uniform quality, or a uniform mixture of ores of dissimilar qualities, chemically adapted, to yield collectively the iron desired, and to produce with the flux available that quantity and composition of slag best adapted to fulfil its proper functions in the process of smelting. Neither a very lean ore, or ore mixture, nor yet ores that are exceedingly rich in iron, are conducive to obtaining the best results, but a regular mixture of low grade ores will yield better results than an irregular mixture of much higher average grade, certainly as to quality and generally also as to quantity of output. In regard to a few of the chemical elements the ore must be, and always is, selected and mixed to produce the desired iron; but in regard to the physical condition there is at best but a limited choice and frequently none whatever. It may be laid down as an axiom, that the more refractory an ore is the finer it should be physically to become readily reduced. In the storeroom of nature we find, however, that the more refractory ores occur generally in compact masses, while those easily reducible