The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

_.,■. ..jjtaesmniazBwmmmyiHUMSfiiZi: A- T. 8. FAXTON AND ENTERPRISE. The out representing the steamer T. 8. Faxton la frprh the Niiutleiil Gazette. The oojitrast between the Fnxton mid the stennf- bont of seventy yfinrs ngo Is very groat. The Enterprise whs the ttrst stern-wheel bout ever built. 81c win built nt Brldgc- port, opimslto Bnivvnavllle, Pa., In 1814. She made n trip to New Orleans, nnd wns the first bont that ever enme up the Ohio river, milk¬ ing the run from Now Orleans to Pittsburgh in forty-four duvK. Ths Mntlno Journal snys her wheel wna In n recess nt the stern or sterns, as the hull run lift past the wheel on either side, leaving nbnut four feet of deuk I on each Bide of the wheel. Tradi¬ tion saj'B the engine u aa mi osoi- lntlng one.nnd v ns built by Will¬ iam French, of Brownsville, Pa. UNSINKABLE SIJIP8. An exchange writer says: "Much has been written In re- fard to making ships unslnkuble; ut the subject of so packing gpods ns to make them Impervious to water, has not been n subject lor discussion. I propose to Bay something on both points, In the hope of con¬ tributing material "that will tend to Bnve life and property. In or¬ der to carry out fully my plans, I must assume that In the near fu¬ ture the commerce of the Allan- tlo,'between Europe and the Unl ted StuteB and Canada, will bo don) by two and perhaps three classes of steamer*. First, tire ibjr> -devoted exclu¬ sively to Urst-class goods and tlist class passengers. Coming to I ho westward, this class will not cur¬ ry, as u rule, any goods that will not of themselves Hunt; by this I menu no railroad metals, no boxes of tin, no soda ush, In short, no grufl goods. Supposing this ship to be of steel, and to be divided Into at least ten eoinpiiitiuciits on two docks, exclusive of those occupied by the moth e power uiid the tuel; supposing that the two lower decks are to be of metal and the hatches secured so as to be wntui tight llko tlie manhole in a boiler, the ship would have twenty wa¬ tertight cargo spines. I assume that the tippei ot tliese decks wojild bo near the mean oi aver¬ age wutei-lliic.^nnd that every compuitmciit have means to pump in air and tu pump out wa¬ ter. Such n snip, If laden Willi an ordlnnty cargo, could not \cry well sink even It the space devot¬ ed to the luel uiid to the mothe fiower should be Irnclured, len\- ng the working ol the pumping gear Intact. Now supposing that all the goods in the twenty compart¬ ments be packed In wuiei-light bales, boxes or casks, and that every package would tloat It lelt to Itself, and supposing that ev¬ ery one of the compartments should have a fruetuio in It. the • ship could not sink even If the means lor pumping. In air and pumping out wntoi'Toiild not he availed ot. The amount ol untei which could under such linpiub- nblu conditions be tound in the cargo spaces would at the worst only firing the ship-down a foot or two; but suppose the system which I advocate should bo'coiu- pletoly arranged, nnd nil goods packed In square or nearly square boxes or* bales, the amount ol water coining In would hn very much less than It the gootjs nero packed In casks. .Still I should, ns a general rillc, pre¬ fer casks, because they would have <ienily theiroilginal value when unpacked, wheio- ' as bales and boxes would not. Casks would "be avullnble tor roturn goods. In the days of tho East Iiullu Company, all the goods sent to China were in water¬ tight bales, and valuable goods were sent to the Philippine Islands packed In copper J cases; or, I s+rotihl say, In wooden boxes carefully soldered. At llr't sight it would seem ihnt this wnsjinstly, but this was nut so, for the tonsen thai the copper paid no duty and was worth in ire than it cost. I assume that If we can afford to Import Bordeaux wine, costing Iniin (00 to $100 u cask, weccitiiinly enn aflord- to put goods of Iroin two to ton times, those values In the same sort ol packages, I \ assume that In¬ surers would he glnd to tajto. risks free from ilnlins of piitlul loss on goods packed ns I suggest fur very much less than when packed ns Is now theNcustoin, nnd subject to i a claim foi partial losl. This saving to the I i'ear; time will bo required to make the change; manufactoriesof-bnrrcls hf wood nnd ol paper would have to bo vastly In¬ creased. BATTLES IN THE AIB. The tornadoes that bavo swept away coun¬ try houses and whole villages, nnd killed | RCirficanf people possess some pecullm'fea¬ tures which render them peculiarly worthy of attention. Tho first thing noteworthy is their number nnd the grout extent of terri¬ tory they cover A wiIter In tho Hamilton Times speaks of them us a nest of atmos¬ pheric eddles-tjprmlng nil over our country, nieichant would pay for the botwrf packing ten times over. It would he easy to olto statistics to show ,that the huge amount of valuable goods coming from Europe to this country and, to other countries would wnrrnnt packing In water tight packages The theory of water¬ tight pnckagcH Is well llliis(iatid In China, whole every chest ol tea Is lined with load; tho object being to preserve tho llnvor ol the precious herb, but not one chest 111 ten Is really light; raw silk; nnd silk piece goods lire packed in bales and boxes quite pervious to water. It Is not expected that my suggestions 1 can bo curried out In n single day or a single | and darling out to devastate the country In tornadoes, cutting clean swathes many miles long and only n lew hundred yauls wide. Some general cause must of course have been at ivoik to produce the exliaordluary n ctenrolnglcal conditions fa volatile tor the simultaneous development ol these s'orms, so widely separated, nnd yet so similar In theli character and effects. This cause Is found In the conflict lietwecn the cold storm current which was nt the time sweeping acioss tho whole country from the westward and a less extensive but povicrlul warm cur¬ rent advancing fioin the gulf. When) these currents iret there Was a sort f f stn.ggle (or the master^ which ,esul.ed n.?h. .^ Id£^ tlon of tornadoes along the line of meeting. Another fnct of special Interest la the won¬ derful electrical discharges which accompa¬ nied tho tornadoes. Electricity .Is always strongly developed during Such storms, but In this case the lightning scorns to have been Incessant, reminding one of accounts ol thunder storms In the tropics. Books am) newspapers Were read and letters written by the almost unceasing Illumination of the clouds, There seems to bo no means within human reach to cope with these powers of the nil. A tornado cannot be arrested in its course. The only thing to do is to get out of Its way. -But at present there is not even any means of predicting their coming. The_Slgnul Service can only deal with ordlnnry, storms that sweep lit an almost unvnry- ing.course clear across tho conti¬ nent. The telegraph can give warning of tho approach of such S a storm, but tornadoes spring In to being and rush away rn their caieer ol destruction In tho most unexpected manner. Still, if the theories of the meteorologists are correct, nnd tornadoes are gener¬ ally formed where opposing .cur¬ rents meet, nnd us otl-shoots of . a mair -storm, it should bo possi¬ ble to obtain some warning even' thoufeh short, of the times nnd places where these filghtful bat¬ tles In tho air are likely to be fought. THE CDLOK OF WATER. It Is well know n that the water of different lakes and rivers dlPeis in color. The Mediterranean sen Is Indigo blue, the ocean sky blue, Lake Geneva Is azure, while the Lake of the Foui Forest Cantons nnd Lake Constance In Switzer¬ land, ns well as the river Rhine, are chronio green, and Klocn- thaler lake is grass green. Tj n- dall thought that the blue color ol uatci had a similar cause as the hlue color In the iilr, being blue by reflected light, and led by tinusmlltcd light. W. Spring has leeeutly communicated to the Belgian Academy ihe results ol Ills Investigations li| on the eclor ot Bnteu lie proved that perfectly pure water In a tube ten tueties long liiul ii distinctly bluocohii, yt bile it ought, according lo-Tj n- dnll, to look red. i-pring also showed that watel In wlnili car¬ bonate ol lime, silica, Ha},,'inil salts wcie suspended In a tint slate ot illvirlou ollned a reslst- mice to the passage ol light that was not iniouthlerahle Since Ihe lid and violet light of they spediurn aie much more feeble than Ihe jellow, the lonicP will he loiuplelcly absoibcd, wldle i tin latin passes through, pjodui- luguith the blue ol the walei It- sell, dllleient shades ol gieou WA I*. KG A.N AN FUKI. FOR bTIAMEIlh. - A lest Is about to bo made in England ol the use o( niilcr-gns us Iflel lm steamships. The Man- ' rlllus Steamship J.lro has built n steamship culled tho Huron ol 1,0*10 tons burden and provided It Hlth'lhc appiiialiis IiiM'iitcd by Dr. C. Holland for making watei gas. Di.. Holland's process has ■ been tested on the Loi|gklslanil nnd Eiio " . railways hut this Is the first tlmo that It, or any similar process has been applied tit a steamship. The Huron Is to ply between London und the Islands ol Mauiltlus nod Madaga«cnr. She has Icon titled out with six furnnccs pieclscly llko thosu placed Hy Pi. Holland liuhcjcxpoilmcntnl locomo¬ tive iiunicd after him on the Erie road, and sanguine believers In tho process have cal¬ culated that tn« saving In the one (torn of luel will be $10 000 on each voynge to Mau¬ ritius nm! return. Another English steam¬ ship Co. hnssuhiclent confidence in the Hol¬ land fuel to begin tho construction of i 1