"ROCK SAND," THE WINNER OF THE ENGLISH DERBY. Ard Patrick in 1902, and now "Danny" Maher. civilizers. Theoretically, the trolley car Judge Himes, 3-year-old colt belonging to Charley Ellison, won both the Kentucky Derby and the Hawthorne Handicap in the West. He took the Kentucky Derby on May 2nd at Louisville and on May 25th won the handicap at Hawthorne in Chi cago. CYCLING.-Harry D. Elkes, the middledistance champion, was killed in an accident in a cycle race at Boston May 30. That more men are not killed behind the motors is wondered at by the spectators, for hardly a middle-distance race of the present time is run without at least one accident, generally caused by a bursting tire or something going wrong with the motor. Elkes met his death through a tire accident. Elkes was undoubtedly the greatest middle-distance rider that ever mounted a bicycle, not even excepting Jimmy Michael. Not only in this country, but abroad, did Elkes demonstrate his superiority and as a speed merchant back of pace he had few rivals. A — The sanitary effects of overcrowding are not speculative. The accumulation of statistical and analytical evidence to prove that persons who breathe poor air and occupy crowded quarters furnish high deathrates, has gone on steadily for years. Moreover, it is well-known that air vitiated by the lungs is low in oxygen, high in carbonic acid, and high in organic matter. Want of enough oxygen, in the presence of products of respiration in the air, causes a reduction of heart-action, increases the rate of respiration, tendency toward headache, loss of appetite, reduction of vitality, nervous exhaustion, and in severe cases or in delicate organizations, nausea may be an immediate result of breathing foul air. Many who have traveled in overcrowded street cars are familiar with some of these effects and are aware of their injurious nature. Foul air, crowding, and jostling combine to make street-car riding a hardship. The fatigue of the street-car posture often proves the last straw that breaks tired humanity's back. Several cases have been cited of individuals who have succumbed to this riding weariness. A seat at the right moment often prevents a collapse. Pleas for seats in the cars used to be based solely on the desire for comfort and convenience, but now they might be demanded in the name of humanitarianism. So trying on the nerves and temper is the present state of things in connection with street-car travel that a man may enter a car a gentleman and come out a savage, and no woman can feel like a lady when STREET CARS, CROWDED, MENACE TO HEALTH AND DIGNITY.The general public is practically ignoring a subject whose vital importance has long impressed every physician and every student of hygiene, the menace to public health and the ruffianizing of popular manners and instincts from the unsanitary and uncomfortable condition of the street cars in our large cities. With the spectacle of the crowded street car before us, the boast of the "achievements of civilization" seems a hollow mockery; for this packed vehicle is the greatest of un she is being elbowed and shouldered about in a crowded car. Culture cannot preserve dignity and equanimity when it is raised off its feet one moment, to be let down and have its toes trodden on the next, and every moment to be dug in the ribs with elbows and squeezed. Most of those whose health is not ruined by years of such experience become selfish in spirit and boorish in manner. Of course the most dangerous thing about a crowded street car is its bad air. Poor ventilation impairs the natural vigor of the tissues of the air-passages of the nose and throat, which normally have the power to reject or destroy dangerous bacteria, and thus paves the way for bronchial and pulmonary diseases. The part played by human beings in gathering and giving off bacteria in the cars should be borne in mind. The number of bacteria inhaled by a human being under ordinary circumstances may reach many thousands during one hour's tranquil breathing. Bacteria are freely given off in particles of moisture by persons in the act of speaking, coughing, or sneezing. To those who have ridden during the "rush" hours of winter in the street cars of New York and Chicago, the fact that these cars are poorly ventilated needs no demonstration. The public appreciates that the musty odor noticeable in ill-ventilated street cars indicates the presence of waste matters in the atmosphere, which should have been promptly got rid of. The respiration of an average adult vitiates 396 cubic inches of air per minute. The great amount of dilution necessary to make this vitiated air suitable for further respiration is easily understood; for we know that, while fresh air contains about three parts of carbon dioxide, and air which has. passed through the lungs 441 parts of carbon dioxide per ten thousand volumes, the air of inclosed spaces becomes close when the carbon dioxide exceeds about five parts per ten thousand. From these data it is found that about 50 cubic feet of fresh air per person should be admitted to each car every minute. It need not be stated that no such allowance of fresh air is supplied to passengers on any closed cars when they are running beyond their seating capacity. The only ventilation is afforded by the opening of the doors for the entrance or exit of passengers, or by primitive transoms, and not by carefully regulated ventilators. Repeated accounts of New York trolley cars in cold weather have shown that about sixty per cent. had all their transoms closed, and some of them were found to contain 26.2 parts of carbonic acid gas. Nor are the street cars of Chicago in any better condition. Analysis has often shown that the street atmosphere of cities contains many species of bacteria; but examination of the mats on street-car floors has shown that fibers an inch and a half long may hold three or four million bacteria. To anybody who has noticed the universal and disgusting habit of spitting, the origin of many of these disease germs is obvious. The steps and platforms, with their disgusting accumulations of sand, the cocoa mats of the elevated roads, and the gratings on the floors of the surface cars are favorite places for those who indulge in this dangerous habit. The findings of bacteriology leave no doubt as to what becomes of the products of expectoration. After they dry they are pulverized underfoot and then fly through the air with the dust. How far the habit of spitting in street cars is responsible for the eight thousand deaths in New York City every year from tuberculosis can safely be left to the reader's imagination. Tuberculosis, however, is probably not the only disease propagated by street cars. From the facts already known concerning the etiology of other infectious diseases, there can be little doubt that the poisons of scarlet fever, measles, influenza, diphtheria, pneumonia, and perhaps smallpox, are communicated from one human being to another through the impure air and close personal contact that occur in the cars. Whether near or far, the time is bound to come when to part with a nickel for street-car fare, instead of insuring the loss of one's health, comfort, and dignity, will insure a seat and the comfort that can never be known in cars while there is standing room only. There are plenty of remedies for the sanitary evils of street cars. In the first place, the public needs to be aroused to appreciate the necessity of utilizing the power of a community to make ordinances for the public safety. Moreover, it seems necessary to state that it is not enough to make laws without enforcing them. The Submarine Boat I BY NICHOLAS J. QUIRK. F Admiral George Dewey's opinion has any weight, the submarine torpedo boat will be an important factor in the naval wars of the future, for he has said that "two such vessels in the hands of the Spaniards would have rendered impossible the work of the American fleet in Manila Bay, May 1, 1898." This opinion is strengthened by the performances of the American torpedo boat Holland in successful attacks on a blockading fleet of warships, and the submergence trial of the Fulton, which on November 23, with a crew of seven, including high naval officers, remained under water fifteen hours, the men eating and sleeping in comfort while a storm raged above them so severe Possible result of night attack on the U. S. Cruiser New York by the Holland boat. bearings and disappear before a gun could be trained upon her. With the advent of the modern armored ships, perfected weapons can hurl hundreds of tons of steel projectiles into an incredibly small area in a wonderfully short time, but since this destroyer has appeared, these costly floating fortresses lose much of their effectiveness. Before the suicidal torpedo boat has had even half a fair trial in actual warfare, she bids fair to be superseded by the submarine. This quiet little turtle-back is exceedingly business-like. Starting from an absolutely safe distance and submerging herself in that cheapest and most effective armor, salt water (a substance as superior to "Kruppized" steel for turning the point of a shell as the latter is to tissue paper), this little viper can, if necessary, clamp torpedoes to the battleship's keel as thickly as buttons on a soldier's blouse. The submarine torpedo boat, Holland, which is one of the most important additions to the navy, is a steel shell 54 feet long and pointed at the ends. She is 102 feet wide. Within this comparatively small space is stowed away 20 tons of machinery and fittings. This apparatus consists of a 50horsepower gasoline engine, which runs the propeller when the boat is on the surface of the water. The engine also charges the storage batteries with electricity. The electrical power is drawn upon to propel the boat below the water's surface when the gasoline engine could not be operated, as it would vitiate the air inside the vessel. In the bow of the boat are her means of offensive warfare. The most important is a torpedo tube pointing straight ahead on a line with her keel. This is for discharging torpedoes under water at hostile ships. There is another torpedo tube in the bow pointing upward at an angle of about 20 degrees, which is to be used for firing aerial torpedoes. This is intended for the purpose of hurling a torpedo through the air at a distance of a mile, either at a warship or at a fortification, .in case the torpedo boat is used as a means of attack against a foreign port. The chief use for which the submarine boat is intended, however, is for coast defense and harbor defense along the extensive sea-coasts of the United States. The boat is made to dive under the surface by opening the air chambers in the LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF HOLLAND SUBMARINE BOAT. THE FRENCH PLAN TO DETECT AN APPROACHING SUBMARINE FROM A CAPTIVE BALLOON. Holland. Not only would the New York have suffered, but the tug Leyden would But it was have gone to the bottom, too. all practice, a night attack, and it was most successful, proving that the Holland boat is a most valuable part of the United States navy. After dark, the torpedo boats Morris and Rodgers and the Holland were sent outside the breakwater, soon to be followed by the Leyden, the last named taking up a position at the entrance of the harbor. As the others made an attack an attempt was made by the Leyden to pick them out with searchlights. So far as the torpedo boats were concerned it was successful, as they were found at will; but with the Holland it was a different matter, and after she had plunged under the water she was not seen again until she was found at her dock when the Leyden went in. lower part of the hull and filling them with In a The crew of the Holland say that the deck of the wonderful craft was dry all the time they were under the water. The Holland approached near enough to the Leyden to fire a torpedo and then turned, crossed the bay, and went within a short distance of the New York without detection. The boat was operated by a full naval crew in charge of Lieut. Caldwell. Naval officers are more than pleased with her performance. The United States government has ordered five more of these boats, and when in commission the Shark, Adder, Moccasin, Porpoise, and Grampus will form a coast defense of a most formidable type, and a new element in naval warfare will have been introduced The danger of the submarine boat's being hit by an enemy's guns is very small, as the little conning tower is only 22 feet in diameter. But precaution is taken to protect it by four-inch plates, which will resist the fire of fourinch projectiles. The big cruiser, New York, the flagship of the North Atlantic squadron, could have been sunk as she lay at anchor in the waters of Narragansett Bay from a torpedo fired at her by the submarine boat INSIDE ONE OF THE LATEST GOUBET FRENCH SUBMARINES. |