TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13250, 19 October 1908, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Three years ago an EngTho lish journalist asked tho Ship chief engineer of a larg© of tho liner what ho thought would Future, bo th© motivo power of the future—steam or electricity. The reply was, "Neither; suction gas," whereupon the journalist had to enquire what suction gas was. Suction gas has been used suceesrfully on lanel for tho last three years, but most people aro in the same state of ignorance about it as was tlio journalist. Yet there is more than a possibility of it revolutionising marine propulsion. The "Daily Mail" gives an interesting account of the experiments which havo been made with it on the Rattlev, an obsolete warship. Th© gas is prepared by passing water and air through a furnace in which coal or coke 'is burnt, and tho gas produced, after being cooled:, and cleaned) by its passage through a "scrubber" filled with damp coko, is sucked or drawn off by the engine jtut as it is required for driving it. Only so much gas aa is wanted to feed the engine is thus produced. Tho Rattler, a clumsy old vessel, very foul, was, when tho writer visited her, driven by a suction gas engine at the rate of nearly eleven, knots, at a ©ost in fuel of tlireepenco a mil©. A ship driven by this power has no boilers, and no funnels, and is driven smokelessly and noiselessly. Stoking, as wo know it now is done away with, tho furnace requiring attention only about onoo an hour. "On board this vessel really there is no stokehole. There is a huge, airy compartment ,with two or three great upright cylinders in it, not at all hot, and quite clean, and free also from many other objectionable concomitants of stokeholes generally, especially the hideous uproar. Here thero aro only a d©ep, recurring cough—tho exhaust —which may b© heaW by putting the ear to th© side of the cylinder, and a couple of men standing about with a somewhat blasd air, as if really in need of occupation. Well, if the suction gas engine only does away with the stoker it will deserve to rank -with the most humane of scientific achievements." Cheap coal can be used in place of gocd steam coal, and with tho same amount of coal consumption 50 per cent, more power is obtained. What with experiments in suction gas nnd gasoleno engines for large vessels, it looks as if the day may not be far distant when the internal combustion engine will be king of tho seven seas.

In the bright .record* The of womanfs progress Enterprising there stand well known. . Actress. such names as those of Miss Dorothea Kkimpke, astronomer and star photographer, Mme. Michaelis, the distinguished architect, and other members of recognised professions, but a mere remarrkablo feature of to-day is tho feminine gift for finding out new things to do. A series, of photograph**, in the "Royal Magazine" suggests especial versatility in ladies from the stage. Senhora YoHinrt, of Lisbon, deserted th© boards to take up raihva'y work. She has been telegraphist, train dispatcher, erven traffic superintendent and general manager on important sections of line. In* Italy, the clever and popular Signora Mercedes Briguone augments hfir income by a snake farm. Snakes being much in demand

by dealers in all parts cf the world, j she is said to dispose of about- thiirty 1 thousand durir.ig an average year. We j aro not t<u!'.l what her country neigh- j hours say to this uncanny industry, or whether there is much d-rmnnd for the farm next door! A Russian M_*. Teiratsni combines acting with tho proprietorship of a largo '-Mourning .Agency." Incidentally, she is a blessing to tramps, many hundreds of St. Petersburg vagrants looking to her fcr occasional employment as "mourners." Mile. Morkovitch, a quick-change actress, improves the Russian moujik by the country and delivering lectures on good old customs and picturesque d'.-ees, in the interests of the 'Society for tho Preservation of National Costume." But a charming Hungarian*, Mile. Aranka Hegyis, can sraredy bo praised for her share in a bureau "for supplying schoojboys with ready-written essays and prose and verse compositis-iis and translations, in , any language, at- fourpenco o page*'— j though it flourishes like tho bay tree,, and all the 'power and resources of the IV-da-Pcis-th Education Department are brought in vain against this purveyor of literary deceits. "A vendor of hotel .labels" is another unprincipled dame, who reports supplying about four thousand eight hundred American trunks, in only two months, with the European -tamps which may give them an air of experience in regions their owner never knew. Then a New York comedy octrees has left tho stage to paint impressionist posters upon cows that graze in good advertisintg positions besido a railway line, and r.o society for the protection of cows and travellers interfering, sho makes twice her theatre pay. Also- ingenious, if unkind', is tho lady who head- a tattooing firm in St. Petersburg, and when eho is not acting, stands ready to perform upon tiie persons of babies precious enough to require extra proof of identity. So j wo.ll has this idea token, that we aro assured nearly every infant in paiite j society is row as well prepared' against I kidnapping as Pomona's child.

An old Dover beatT. W. Burgess, man once said.that Captain Webb conquered tho Channel "when it wasn't looking.!' It certainly looks as if the "silver streak" were determined' not to bo caught napping again. But if it is to be conquered agaiin it looks as if Burgess is tho man to do it. Tho big Yorkshireman Is ono of tlio physical wonders of the time. To got to within a milo and a half of the French shoro and Eipend neairly twenty-t'hre© hours in j the water, and then climb over tho sido of the tug unaided indicates a magnificent physique. A writer in tlio "Daily Mail" gives an interesting account of how Bun-gees won famo as a swimmer. During tlio Channel swimming epidemic of 1904, h© appeared at Dover and announced that he was going to make an attempt. He had neither tug nor friends, but Weidman, another competitor, invited him to chare his boat. Burgess was so much faster than Weidman that ho spenit most of liis time swimming round 1 tho tog begging some of the witnesses to come with him in a small boat and "give him' his, chance." But Burgess wa3 unknown, and only a side issue, £io no ono would go. Weidman had to give up, and tho tug returned at dawn. Burgess informed the sleepy newspaper men that ho. would start again at nine o'clock, ajid as.ho hed showed himself so- good a sportsman', four decided to accompany him. Bad temper and sleepiness soon gave way to keen interest. In eight hours he swam fifteen miles in a direct line towardCalais,, and only gavo up because - half a gale had sprung up and was blowing tho tug nearly on top of him, even with a sea anchor out. "It seemed as if ho were in imminent peril and l we begged and implored' him to como out. Burgess did' not want to, and it was a great sight to sco tho canny Yorkshireman treading water and arguing with the 6kipprir of the tug as to whether ho should ooane out or not. Ho actually succeeded in knocking off part of tho hire becaus© of tho swim's prematuro end—rand this from a man who had been twico in the water within twelve hours and with scarcely a wink of sleep between two attempts at swimming the Cliarintil." Since then Burgees has mndb a elozen or so attempts. Ho now knows his whereabouts in the Channel very thoroughly. After swimming steadily for an hour, ho will call out: "What are my bearings now?" "North Foreland north-half-east, Varne Bnoy west-south-west, southerly, and Calais Lightliouwo south-south-east," replies the skipper of tho tug. '_3uifges3 sits up and 'dteee sums' to liamself in the water for half a minute. "That makes mo fo ExuMiy miles in a straight line,' he shouts. 'I've two and a half hours' ebb, and the flood will set mc up to sueh-and-sruch a bearing by four o'clock. Right', and thank you. Will ono of you gentlemen oblige mo with a song?' "