reason that they will cause the spike in a short time to slip from its
place; to fill the holes with sand is much better, and spikes driven
in holes so filled will hold much more firmly. The best form of spike
I have seen is the curved safety railroad spike; this spike takes in
the tie a position which enables it to resist the thrust of the rail
against it much more effectually than the ordinary spike can possibly
do. I have seen in good condition, one of these curved spikes which
was said to have been driven eight times. The cost of the curved
safety spike is more than that of the ordinary spike, but it is better
made, holds the track better, and, I believe, is worth more than the
difference asked for it.--_J.A. Hall, on Construction and Maintenance
of Track, before American Society of Civil Engineers._

* * * * *




THE EXPERIMENTS AT THE ANNAPOLIS PROVING GROUNDS.


The desperate war that has been waging between the gun and armor
plate, ever since the period when protective plates were first applied
to naval constructions, is familiar to all. In this conflict the
advantage seems to lean toward the side of the gun, the power of
penetration of which can be increased to almost indefinite limits, at
least theoretically, while we quickly reach the extreme thicknesses of
metal that can be practically employed for the protection of ships.

So, in recent times, researches have been making upon the efficacy of