the last 14 years there were only two in which it was below that rate. In the first 11 years the rate of mortality never reached 22 per 1,000, but it exceeded that rate in most of the last 11 years. The loss of life, therefore, was increasing. The majority of the deaths are by drowning. The average annual mortality of mariners in the merchant service by drowning in the seven years, 1866-72, was 13.3 per 1,000 strength. Above a third of these deaths, 5.4 per 1,000, are returned as accidental-an amount surely showing great carelessness of precautionary measures on the part of owners, masters, or men; the mortality by wreck averaged nearly 8 per 1,000, and even this high rate was exceeded in the year 1873, when 2,231 lives were lost by wreck alone, or 11 per 1,000 strength. In 1873 the strength was 202,239, exclusive of masters, and the loss by drowning was 2,362, or 16·1 per 1,000—namely, 2,231, or 11 per cent., by wreck, and 1,032, or 5.1 per cent., by accident. In the whole eight years, 1866-73, no less than 21,748 mariners were drowned-13,244 by wreck, and 8,504 by accident. The average annual rate of mortality by drowning in the Royal Navy in the same period is returned at less than 3 per 1,000 strength, so that the risk of death by drowning in the merchant service is more than four times as great as it is in the Royal Navy. The Merchant Shipping Act of 1875 has its opportunity, at all events.

A TELEGRAPHIC EXPERIMENT. - We are accustomed to talk familiarly of the wonders of telegraphy, but it is not till we are brought face to face with what can be done by the aid of the telegraph that we realize them. An experiment, which is probably unique in the history of telegraphy, was conducted on a recent evening by Mr. John A. Lund (of Messrs. Barraud and Lund, Cornhill), at the offices of the Indo-European Telegraph Company.

It was desired by Captain Sartorius (brother to the captain of Ashantee

celebrity, and son of the gallant Ad▾ miral of the Fleet), who is at Teheran, Persia, to check with absolute correctness the variation between one of the chronometers of this firm which he had there and the Greenwich time here. The instrument is not a full-chronometer, but a half-chronometer, double roller lever, pocket watch, of a kind which Messrs. Barraud and Lund find able to stand the wear and tear of riding and pocket use, and yet keep a rate for scientific observations. To do this it was necessary to have the line clear from London to Teheran, a distance of 3,700 miles. Major Smith, the telegraph superintendent, was with Captain Sar. torius at the Teheran instrument, and Mr. Black was in charge of the London instrument; while Mr. Lund was in at. tendance with a ship's chronometer, set to exact Greenwich time. The time here was eight o'clock, equal to about half-past eleven p.m. in Persia. The first message transmitted broke at Berlin, where the wires had not been coupled; but shortly afterwards the message was sent through from Teheran, and was uncoiling itself on the long tape, like a piece of paper, at the Moorgate-street instrument: "Give the signal current at nineteen past eight, and keep it on till twenty." This was effected by holding down the small handle which connects the zinc and copper wires, thereby causing a current for the space of the minute indicated-Mr. Lund calling out "fifty-eight," 'fifty-nine," sixty," as the seconds went by which completed the minute. At the word "sixty" the handle was loosed, and Capt. Sartorius would the same instant know that it was 8.20 p.m. Greenwich time. To check the minute differences of individual observations, the experiment was repeated two or three times, the result being that Captain Sartorius's watch was shown to be about two seconds behind Greenwich time. It was necessary to take several observations, as there was something wrong with the German "relays' a time or two. The relay is a connection

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with fresh batteries, which feed the wire at intervals, because if the wire were charged with a current sufficiently strong to go the whole distance itself it would soon be worn out. On the other hand, a single weak current would diffuse itself before reaching the end of so long a journey. While the current was flowing, its duration was marked by a long black line on the paper at Teheran, and when it stopped there would be a sharp "click," as the pressure on the London handle was removed. Perhaps the most marvellous fact about the whole thing is that (as is well known to telegraphists) the "earth current," or stream of electricity which completes the circuit from battery to battery, finds its way through the earth from Teheran to London without any wire or other connection whatever till it finds the battery from which it started, and this, too, instantaneously.

When the experiment itself was concluded, there were a few friendly inquiries by Mr. Lund about the chronometer which Captain Sartorius took with him. "How was it going?" 66 Oh, very well, thank you; it was a second slow at Constantinople," comes back the answer, as if only across a shop counter. "Glad to hear it." "Much obliged for the trouble you've taken in London."

'Very welcome." "Good night!" Such exactitude of time is, of course, only absolutely necessary in scientific investigations; but in these, as in the late transit of Venus, it is of great importance to know what the true time is. Messrs. Barraud and Lund appear to pay special attention to this one department, as their Cornhill establishment is fitted in every room with the most ingenious contrivances for registering Greenwich time. In one of them, which is especially worth notice, an electric shock leaves a mark from a hand charged with ink on the face of a chronograph, thus getting rid of even the infinitesimal error arising from observation by the eye or ear in the ordinary methods.-City Press.

STORM WARNINGS. Some of our readers are, of course, familiar with the primitive style of "storm-warning" introduced many years ago at certain stations in hurricane latitudes, as at Port Louis, Mauritius. Barometers were placed not only in the Post Office, but in the Main Guard, with directions that they should be read every four hours daily, and any fall of the mercury below a certain point duly reported-a contingency at once publicly notified by flag or other signal. Despite occasional false alarms, the arrangement has been the means of averting much needless damage and destruction, by giving timely warning of the proximity of danger. It would seem that something of the same sort is possible in the case of earthquakes. Reports from Martinique state that during the occurrence there of repeated earthquake shocks in September last, each shock was preceded by a very marked, unmistakable disturbance of the needles of the electric telegraph. This disturbance preceded the shocks by intervals varying from twenty minutes to two hours, and continued until the shock had passed. It is possible that timely warning thus afforded might often save life and property, especially at places where experience shows that shocks, even when slight, are frequently accompanied by excessive tidal action.

FORMATION OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. It was not until the great Sir Francis Drake captured five large Portuguese caravels, laden with the rich products of India, belonging to certain merchants of Turkey and the Levant, and brought from Bengal, Agra, Lahore, Pegu, and Malacca-and undoubted intelligence of the wealth of the country had begun to flow in through other channels that any anxiety was manifested by the English to participate in the riches of the East; and on the departure of the first Dutch expedition in 1595, under Cornelius Hootman, their national pride and rivalry were tho.

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roughly roused. In one of those five caravels taken at the Azores, named the 'St. Philip,' there were found many papers and documents, from which the English fully learned the vast value of Indian merchandise, and also the method of trading in the Eastern world. cordingly, a company was suggested for that purpose, in September, 1599, the petitioners being Sir John Hart, Sir John Spencer, knights of London; Sir Edward Mitchellson, Wm. Candish, Esq., Paul Banning, Robt. Lee, Leonard Holiday, John Watts, John More, Edwd. Holmden, Robert Hampson, T. Smith, and T. Campbell, citizens and aldermen of London; and upwards of two hundred more, being those "of such persons as have written with there owne handes, to ventor in the pretended voiage to the Easte Indias (the whiche it maie please the Lorde to prosper), and the somes they will adventure: xxij Septumber, 1599." Such was the origin of that wonderful commercial body of merchants, who in time to come were to carry the British colours to the slopes of the Himalayas, to Burmah, Ava, Java, and through the gates of Pekin. The sum subscribed amounted to £30,133 6s. 8d., and a committee of fifteen were deputed to manage it. They were formed into "a body corporate and politic" by the title of "the Governor and Company of Merchants of London, trading into the East Indies."-Cassell's History of India.

NAVAL PRIZE MONEY IN THE OLDEN TIME. Mr. Edward Preston writes: "Observing in a recent number of the Broad Arrow a notification as to prize money due to the officers and seamen for the capture of the slave dhow 'Mwanbo Kivamongo,' the captain's share being £16 16s. 8d., and a seaman of the tenth class being entitled to no less a sum than 7s. 2d. (!), induces me to send you the following extract from "Schomberg's Naval Chronology," which gives some interesting information as to the

amount of money contained in two French vessels captured by Captain Talbot in the year 1745. . . The proprietors' share was £700,000, which they received soon after the rebellion broke out; but they, with a noble generosity, made a voluntary tender of it to the Government to prosecute the war. This was accepted, and an interest paid to the proprietors. Upon a division of the prize-money each sailor's share was £850. The treasure and plate taken filled forty-five waggons. In the same year Captain Butler took a prize worth £400,000; and in 1762, the time of the Spanish war, Captain Pownall, during a cruise off Cadiz, captured the 'Hermione,' a large Spanish vessel. She was the richest prize made during the war; the net proceeds of her cargo, after paying all charges, amounted to £519,705 10s., the admiral and commodore taking £64,963 3s. 9d.; the captain, £65,053 13s. 9d.; three commissioned officers, £13,004 14s. 1d. each; each seaman, £485 5s. 4d. There is no such luck for our tars of the present day.

THE 81-TON GUN.-This monster gun has proved a great success. It was fired with a charge of 240 lbs. of powder and a projectile of 1,300 lbs. Its range is eight miles. Its bore is to be enlarged, when it will be capable of bearing a charge of 300 lbs., and of throwing a shot which at ten miles will penetrate twenty-four inches of solid iron armour. The experiment is said to have proved that it is perfectly practicable to make guns twice as large and twice as powerful, and capable of throwing a shot a ton in weight.

LAST YEAR'S WRECKS.-The annual return of the vessels lost and missing during 1875 shows a marked decrease in disasters compared with the return for the previous year. The number of vessels known to have been lost was 2,553, compared with 3,109 in 1874. The number of missing ships is 82, or 46 fewer than in 1874.