since the year 1868, and has required but insignificant repairs. We
think the adoption of it might be recommended for all cases in which a
slight difference between the level of a railroad and that of a water
course would not permit of the establishment of a revolving bridge.--_Le
Genie Civil_.

* * * * *




ST. PETERSBURG A SEAPORT.


The Emperor and Empress of Russia, on Wednesday, May 27. 1885, the
second anniversary of their coronation at Moscow, opened the Maritime
Canal, in the Bay of Cronstadt, the shallow upper extremity of the Gulf
of Finland, by which great work the city of St. Petersburg is made a
seaport as much as London. St. Petersburg, indeed, stands almost on the
sea shore, at the very mouth of the Neva, though behind several low
islands which crowd the head of the Gulf; and though this is an inland
sea without saltness or tides, it is closed by ice in winter. Seventeen
miles to the west is the island of Cronstadt, a great fortress, with
naval dockyards and arsenals for the imperial fleet, and with a spacious
harbor for ships of commerce. The navigable entrance channel up the
Bay of Cronstadt to the mouth of the Neva lies under the south side of
Cronstadt, and is commanded by its batteries. As the bay eastward has a
depth not exceeding 12 ft., and the depth of the Neva at its bar is but
9 ft., all large vessels have been obliged hitherto to discharge their
cargoes at Cronstadt, to be there transferred to lighters and barges