GREAT DISASTERS OF THE YEAR.

THE STORM AT GALVESTON.

A terrible storm which devastated Galveston, Texas, causing the loss of from 5,000 to 7,000 lives and destroying property valued at upward of $25,000,000, swept over that city September 8. It began at 2 o'clock in the morning and raged for more than twenty-four hours. The records in the Galveston Weather Bureau showed that the wind had attained a velocity of eighty-four miles an hour when the measuring instrument was blown away. Before 2 o'clock in the morning of Saturday, September 8, a great storm was raging in the Gulf, and the tide was very high. The wind at first came from the north and was in direct opposition to the wind from the Gulf. The rain fell in torrents. On the beach side of the city the waters of the Gulf rose, and on the bay side the waters of the bay were piled up by the north wind. Then the waters of the bay and Gulf met, and by dark the city was submerged and the residents were like rats in a trap. The lighting plant of the city was quickly destroyed and all night the city was in darkness. For twenty-four hours the wind and the waters continued rising. At one time in the highest part of the city the water was from four to five feet deep and in many streets it was ten feet deep. At daylight on September 10 the streets were free of water. When those who had escaped left their places of refuge they saw on every hand bodies of men, women and children who had been either drowned in the flood or killed by falling buildings. Whole sections of the city were in ruins, and along the waterfront small tugs and sailboats were found jammed partly into buildings where they had been landed by incoming waves and left by receding waters. Rescue and relief work was begun promptly all over the country, and as soon as possible the work of clearing the city began. Thousands of bodies were taken out into the deep water of the Gulf and sunk, and many more were burned in huge fires built of the wreckage, these measures being necessary to avoid a pestilence.

HOBOKEN'S GREAT FIRE.

Between 200 and 300 people lost their lives in a fire which destroyed the pier system of the North German Lloyd steamship line, at Hoboken, N. J., Saturday, June 30, 1900. The fire wrecked three of the large ships of the company, and was the most destructive blaze that ever visited the piers and shipping of the port of New-York. An estimate placed the loss of life at nearly 300, and the damage to property at about $10,000,000, but the company's estimate of the loss of life and the value of the property wiped out was considerably less. Four of the North German Lloyd liners were moored at the piers, and they all caught fire quickly. They were the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, the largest and the finest of the fleet, which was towed out of danger and was uninjured; the Saale, the Bremen and the Main. There were also several heavily loaded barges and lighters moored to the piers, and on some of them men perished. When the flames were discovered on one of the piers there were on the Kaiser Wilhelm about 400 men, on the Bremen 200 men, on the Main 300, on the Saale 300 and from 500 to 600 men at work on the piers. The fire started in some cotton on one of the four large piers at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. In a few minutes the pier on which the fire broke out was enveloped in flames, and in six minutes the whole pier system was burning. The flames spread so quickly that many men on the piers and on the vessels, lighters and barges were hemmed in by fire before they realized that their lives were in danger. From the Bremen seventeen men were rescued from a coal bunker after being penned in it for some hours, and sixteen men who took refuge in the bunkers of the Main lived through the fire that destroyed the ship and were rescued. The Main was burned at her pier and most of her crew perished in the flames. The Bremen was towed across the river by tugs, and the Saale was towed to the flats off Communipaw. Many charges of heartlessness and cruelty were made against tugboat cap ains, who were said to have refused to save lives in the hope of gaining salvage from the steamship company. An investigation was made, but there were no arrests in consequence of the charges.

THE INDIAN FAMINE.

The famine in India in 1900 was caused by a failure of the monsoon in the summer of 1899. In years when the monsoon does not blow little or no rain falls throughout the greater part of India. The absence of the monsoon in 1899 caused an almost complete failure of the crops in British and native territory in India, inhabited by about ninety-five million persons. Relief work was begun in some districts as early as the beginning of December, 1899. The Government began making investigations in October, but did not actually proclaim the famine until January, 1900. The Government relief works were opened early in the year. These works consisted chiefly of the construction of large reservoirs, dams and canals for the storage of water for use in case of famines in the future. Employment was given the starving natives on these works, each able bodied person receiving two cents a day. As the year advanced and the famine became acute the number of persons employed on the relief works increased steadily, until at one time, just before the rains began in the summer, more than six million persons were employed. The Indian Government made strenuous efforts to relieve the distress of the people, but in spite of everything that could be done more than five hundred thousand persons perished of starvation and thirst. It is estimated that 95 per cent of the actual number of cattle in the affected districts died of lack of food and water. Charitable committees were formed in all countries where

the English language is spoken, and funds to the amount of more than $5,000,000 were raised and sent out to be distributed by missionaries and committees of civilians. Up to November 1 the Government had spent about $27,000,000 in relief work. time about two million persons were employed on Government works.

THE TARRANT EXPLOSION.

At that

were

An explosion of chemicals in the wholesale drug house of Tarrant & Co., at Warren and Greenwich sts., New-York City, on Monday, October 29, caused the loss of four lives, more or less seriously injured a number of people, never accurately known, but estimated at from 60 to 100, and caused a property loss of more than $1,000,000. A number of buildings in Warren, Greenwich, Washington and Murray sts. damaged by the explosion or destroyed by the fire which followed it, and the west, or downtown station of the elevated railroad at Warren and Greenwich sts., was wrecked and thrown to the street. The cause of the disaster was never made entirely clear, but it was charged that the firm had a large amount of chemicals stored in the building which, while not explosive in themselves. were made so by a small fire which it was asserted preceded the explosion.

EARTHQUAKES IN VENEZUELA.

Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, was visited by several earthquakes in the course of 1900. The most severe occurred at 4:46 a. m., October 29. Fifteen persons were killed and many others injured Great damage was done to buildings, including the Pantheon and the churches. The United States Legation was badly damaged, but all the occupants escaped unhurt. President Castro, who leaped from a balcony on the second floor of the Government House, had one of his legs broken, William Henry Doveton Haggard, the British Minister, a brother of Rider Haggard, the novelist, had a miraculous escape, the second floor of the British Legation having fallen upon him and buried him in the wreckage. The effects of the earthquake were widespread, the disturbances being felt as far as the regions of the Andes. In July there was a series of seismic disturbances, which did considerable damage to property. There were seven terrific shocks in quick succession, and the residents of the city were terror stricken. President Castro and his family slept for several nights under tents in the Plaza Bolivar, and all the theatres and churches were kept closed for a week.

The most appalling earthquake in the history of Venezuela was in 1812, when nearly every building was shaken from its foundations and 20,000 people were buried in the ruins.

LOSS OF THE YOSEMITE.

The United States auxiliary cruiser Yosemite was wrecked on a reef sixty miles from the Island of Guam on November 15, 1900, and five of her crew were drowned. ,The collier Justin rescued the remainder. There went down with her $681,000, Mexican. She was commanded by Lieutenant Bierer, and was used as a station ship, being at the disposal of the Governor of Guam. She was anchored off Guam when the typhoon of November 15, which devastated the island, struck her. Her two anchors dragged a mile across the harbor. At 11 a. m. she struck a reef and stove in forward. She drifted for an hour, and at noon struck the rocks near Somaye, carrying away her rudder and damaging her propeller. A launch had been sent in search of shelter, but it capsized, and the five men in it were drowned. The Yosemite was blown seaward and was kept afloat until the afternoon. The collier Justin attempted to tow her, but the cables parted, and soon after the officers and crew were transferred to the Justin the Yosemite sank.

DESTRUCTION OF THE THEATRE FRANCAIS.

The Théâtre Français, one of the most famous playhouses in Paris, was destroyed by fire on the morning of March 8, 1900. It contained no audience at the time, but several actors, who had just finished a rehearsal, had narrow escapes, and one of them, Mlle. Henriot, perished. Priceless art treasures which adorned the playhouse in large number were utterly destroyed.

The Théâtre Français was opened in 1789 under the name of the Variétés Amusants. As the House of Molière, the home of the Comédie Française, founded by the great dramatist himself, and a treasure nouse of art, it was famous the world over. Among its actors had been Molière, Adrienne Lecouvreur, Talma, Mlle. Mars. Rachel, Frederick Lemaître, M. Got, Coquelin, M. Mounet-Sully, Mlle. Reichemberg, Sarah Bernhardt and the greater part of the prominent French actors who have lived since it was founded. The building was owned by the Government, which gave the use of it rent free to the company, and also gave a subsidy of about $50,000 a year. The dressing rooms were luxurious, and many of them were adorned with valuable works of art. It had a large gallery of pictures and statues of actors and dramatic writers, a special gallery of busts of notable persons connected with the drama, a library of great value and the archives of the Comédie Française, containing manuscripts of priceless value. The fire was caused by an old fashioned hot air furnace, and the building was enveloped in flames in an instant. Attempts to save paintings and statues were successful in some instances, but most failed. Mlle. Dudley was car ried from her dressing room attired in the costume of Roxane in the drama of "Bajazet." Albert Lambert saved Mlle. Delavair. Mlle. Henriot was suffocated while dressing for her part in the drama, and her charred body was found later. Sylvain, the veteran actor, and Delaunay saved several persons.

PROGRESS IN SCIENCE.

In aeronautic science the chief event of the last year was the test made by Count Von Zeppelin, at Friedrichshafen, on the Würtemberg side of Lake Constance, of an immense airship. The gas holder was 400 feet long and 37 Aerial Navigation. in diameter, and it was pointed at both ends. From this were suspended two small boats for passengers. Two gasolene engines, of 15 horsepower each, drove the propellers with which the craft was driven. Ascents were made early in July and late in October. It was demonstrated that the ship would maintain her equilibrium in comparatively calm weather, could be steered readily, and could make a speed of eight or ten miles an hour. The colossal size of the airship and the patronage lent by the King of Würtemberg to the affair rendered the event important, but the record for speed made by Krebs and Renard in 1885, fourteen miles an hour, was not beaten.

Races between_balloons were held in Europe for the first time in October, under the auspices of a French club devoted to such sport. Fourteen races were started in one day, and there were twenty-seven participants. The long distance race carried three or four competitors into Germany and Poland. This contest was won by the Comte de Castillon, accompanied by M. Mallet. They covered 830 miles before landing. M. Balsan, with M. Godard, came next, and the Comte de la Vaulx was third. The greatest astronomical event of the year was the total eclipse of the sun, on May 28. This was visible along a narrow path extending from Northern Mexico through the Gulf and South Atlantic States across the ocean into Spain and Northern Africa. The form of the corona observed conformed closely to the type peculiar to the minimum stage of the sunspot period. Endeavors to locate the characteristic green line of the corona in the spectrum were unsuccessful. What is known as the "Flash Spectrum" was not seen so distinctly as during the eclipse of 1898, in India. An attempt was made by the Americans, Professors Langley and Hale, to measure the heat radiation from the corona, but while their delicate apparatus showed some influence from that source, it was impossible to put the result in figures.

Solar Eclipse.

The tiny asteroid, Eros, which was discovered in 1898, and travels in an orbit that brings it nearer to the earth, at times than any other celestial body except the moon, came into opposition on October 31, and was eagerly followed by observers and photographers for months afterward. The closest approach to the earth was expected in February, 1901. From the observations made during this period the astronomers hope to calculate the distance of the sun from the earth more accurately than ever before.

A marked advance was effected in astronomical photography by G. W. Ritchey, at the Yerkes Observatory, who placed a transparent yellow screen at the eye end of a telescope and thus made it possible to get sharp pictures with an instrument intended for visual work only.

The theory that the germs of malarial fevers are communicated to human subjects by the bite of a mosquito received substantial confirmation from several sources. But

Mosquitoes and
Malaria.

the most significant evidence was that of two English physicians, Drs. Sambon and Low, who went to the Roman Campagna, famous for its malaria in summer, erected a hut, shielded themselves at night by mosquito netting at the windows, but in the daytime went about freely. They breathed air from freshly turned earth and drank what was believed to be contaminated water. At the end of five months they had not suffered an attack of fever. But a mosquito which had first sucked blood from a malaria patient was afterward made to bite a lad in London, who had been carefully kept from all malarial influences, and the boy came down with fever in a few days.

Investigations conducted by United States Army surgeons in Cuba lead to the suspicion that yellow fever is communicated by mosquito bites, too. A search for the bacillus, which Sanarelli regarded the cause of yellow fever, failed to show it in the blood of a large number of patients or in corpses.

At an international medical congress in Paris a favorable report was made on the Crotte system of treating tuberculosis. This consists of an application of some germicide, like iodine or formaldehyde, to the surface of the body, and trying to drive it inward by electricity. This operation is known as cataphoresis. Tests made early in 1900 with the Crotte system, at St. Luke's Hospital, New-York City, gave such unsatisfactory results that in this country the plan is not regarded with confidence. By Marconi's system of wireless telegraphy messages were sent for the army in South Africa for distances of sixty miles, and for the navy fully eighty.

Applications of
Electricity.

British
The

inventor is satisfied that he can easily cover a hundred miles or more now, and hopes to develop this feature still further. He has made two marked improvements within the last year. The vertical wire which was formerly attached to both sending and receiving instruments has been dispensed with, and a compact device that can be accommodated indoors in small space is substituted therefor. Receivers at the same station can now be so regulated that each will take messages only from a certain sender and thus avoid confusion.

The longest underground electric road in the world, the Central London, was opened in the British capital in July. Shortly afterward a similar road was put in operation in Paris. Before the close of the year the first electric trial train was run over the Second-ave. elevated road in New-York City. Electricity has been used on such lines

in Brooklyn and Chicago for several years. The greatest novelty in electric traction is the trial of alternating current motors on several European roads. A line in Northern Italy, 65 miles long, is now being equipped to run with such apparatus.

A new transatlantic cable, connecting the United States with Germany, was put into operation in September.

At the Blue Hill Observatory, near Boston, a new record in kite flying was made on July 19, when six kites, tandem, were sent up, and the highest reached an elevation of 15,900 feet, or about three miles.

Liquid air was applied to automobile traction for the first time.

Fast Warships.

The submarine torpedo boat Holland, of the American Navy, was tried during the naval manœuvres off Newport in September, and gave satisfactory results. The French submarine boat, the Gustave Zede, was similarly tested in the presence of President Loubet in October, and showed that she could launch a torpedo successfully while running. The Russian navy received an important accession in the Variag, built at the yards of the Cramps in Philadelphia. On her trial trip she averaged 23.7 knots for seven hours, and made a single mile at the rate of 24.6 knots. She is the fastest war cruiser in any navy and beats even the crack steamships of the merchant marine.

This speed has been greatly exceeded, however, by the new British torpedo boat destroyer. Viper, which in July made six runs of a mile each, averaging 36.58 knots, and a single mile at the rate of 37.1 knots. This is the best record made by any steam craft in the world, and is partly due to the Parsons steam turbine, with which she is equipped.

A notable feature of the policy of the United States War Department in 1900 was a decision to abandon the disappearing gun carriage for coast defences as unsatisfactory. This is regarded as a victory for General Miles.

The Russian Government has officially adopted the metric system of weights and

measures.

An expedition to the Arctic regions, led by the Duke of the Abruzzi, a cousin of the present King of Italy, approached more closely to the North Pole than man ever went before. His ship wintered at Taplitz Bay, in Franz Polar Research. Josef Land, in about latitude 82. During a sledging trip the Duke so badly froze his fingers that two were amputated, and the ship's doctor advised him not to accompany any of the other excursions. But the navigator of the Stella Polare, Captain Cagni, and three companions started from the ship in April and pushed northward with dogs and sledges. On April 25 they reached a point on the ice which they estimated at 86.33 north latitude. This was nineteen minutes further north than Nansen went after leaving the Fram, almost exactly four years before. Captain Cagni returned to the ship on June 23. The ship was liberated from the ice so as to start homeward on August 15. She reached Hammerfest on September 5.

Peary, not having realized his ambition of attaining the Pole, did not return from the vicinity of Greenland, but is wintering at Fort Conger in Grant Land, west of Greenland, with the purpose of making a push early in the summer. Sverdrup, who followed him up with Nansen's old ship the Fram, is wintering in Jones Sound, south of Ellesmere Land. The party led by Dr. Robert Stein, which landed near Cape Sabine in August, 1899, for the purpose of exploring Ellesmere Land, passed the winter of 1899-1900 safely, and carried on their work with fair success. Two of the three members came down to Cape York, Greenland, late in the summer, and there one of them, Dr. Kann, took passage for Scotland on a whaler bound for Dundee. Dr. Stein waited at Cape York several months, preparing to renew his explorations.

The Antarctic expedition provided for by the wealthy Englishman, Sir George Newnes, and commanded by Captain Borchgrevinck, spent most of 1899 near Cape Adair, Victoria Land, and left early in 1900. Their ship, the Southern Cross, reached a port in New-Zealand in April, and subsequently came back to England. Captain Borchgrevinck thinks that he located the south magnetic pole more exactly than did Ross. Two other expeditions will start for the Antarctic, one under English auspices and the other under German leadership, in 1901. These will co-operate with each other, and are to be so admirably equipped that great expectations are entertained by scientific men regarding them.

A party led by Evelyn B. Baldwin, an American, and provided for by William Zeigler, will start from this country this summer to seek the North Pole. Paleontologists were delighted in 1899 when the fossil remains of five horses of a prehistoric race were discovered in the Staked Plains of Texas by a party sent out by

The Native American Horse.

the American Museum of Natural History in this city.

All of the specimens were small. This year a skeleton of a full grown horse was found in the same spot. These are the only representatives of the species ever discovered. They are much larger than the primitive horses found by Marsh years ago, and experts think that they show the final development of the native American horse. This animal was about as big as a zebra, but had a head as large as that of a heavy draft horse. Zoologists are satisfied that it could not have been the ancestor of the modern horse, which was probably derived from Asiatic stock.

Dr. Ernst Haeckel, a German zoologist, who has given much study to the origin of man, went to Java to hunt for more fossil remains of the "missing link" between man and his ancestors.

The bubonic plague appeared at several points in Australia and New-Zealand during the summer, at San Francisco in May and June, and in Glasgow in August. In both of the latter places it was promptly suppressed.

EXPOSITIONS.

THE PARIS EXPOSITION.

The Paris Exposition of 1900 was inaugurated and opened to the public at 3 p. m. Saturday, April 14, by President Loubet, who on Monday, November 5, with imposing ceremony, officially closed it. As was the case with the exposition of 1889, visitors were permitted to enter the Exposition of 1900 for a fortnight after the official closing. The Paris Exposition of 1900 covered a much larger area and contained exhibits far greater in number, variety and value than any exhibition previously held in that city. The site cccupied comprised the Champ de Mars, the Esplanade des Invalides, the Trocadero Gardens, a part of the Champs Elysées, the quays on both sides of the Seine, between the Alexander III Bridge and the Iéna Bridge, and the park at Vincennes. The local superficial area was as follows: Champ de Mars, 124 acres; Es planade des Invalides, 30 acres; Trocadéro Gardens, 40 acres; Champs Elysées, 37 acres; quays on left bank of Seine, 23 acres; quays on right bank of Seine, 23 acres; park at Vincennes, 272 acres; total, 549 acres. The superficial area occupied by buildings and covered in was 4,865,328 square feet, distributed as follows: French sections, 2,691,000 square feet; foreign sections, 1,829,880 square feet; park at Vincennes, 344,448 square feet; total, 4,865,328 square feet. The space assigned to the United States sections was 338,087 square feet. The strip of land on each side of the Seine devoted to the Exposition extends for a distance of 14 miles. About one hundred French and seventy-five foreign pavilions and detached buildings were erected in the grounds, without counting the thirty-six official pavilions of nations participating in the Exposition; these official or national pavilions were situated in a double row along the Quai d'Orsay. Forty foreign countries were represented at the Exposition. The number of countries invited by the French Government to take part in the Exposition was fiftysix. Of these fifty accepted, but ten of them subsequently withdrew. The forty countries which participated in the Exposition, and each of which had a distinct and separate representation at it, were as follows: The United States of America, Great Britain and the British Colonies, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy, Russia, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Turkey, Morocco, Servia, Rumania, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Egypt, the South African Republic, China, Japan, Corea, the Orange Free State, Persia, Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua, Siam, Salvador, Liberia, Luxemburg, Monaco, the Republic of San Marino, the Republic of Andorra and Ecuador. The method of classification was to show together on the same site all products of a similar nature, no matter what country, district or region the products came from. This principle was adhered to, so far as practicable, and the classification comprised eighteen groups, subdivided into 121 classes. In addition to showing in eighteen groups in the French buildings, the United States, British, German, Austrian, Hungarian, Italian, Russian and Belgian exhibitors erected separate buildings in various parts of the grounds for the exclusive exhibition of their wares. Another characteristic of the Exposition was the attempt to represent on one site, so far as possible, the raw material, processes of manufacture and finished products of an industry, thereby showing machinery in conjunction with the manufactured article so as to illustrate the method of manufacture. The attempt proved successful. Machines were shown in operation all over the Exposition, those employed in certain manufactures being exhibited together with the raw and finished material in the groups to which they belong. The central generating station was on the main floor of the building devoted to electricity and developed 40,000 horsepower; several of the dynamos had a capacity of over 2,500 horsepower each. The two main arteries of transportation were supplied by an electric railroad and a moving sidewalk, each having a length of 2 miles 200 yards, encircling the quadrangle lying between the chief centres of interest, the Esplanade des Invalides and the Champ de Mars. The number of exhibitors at the Paris Exposition of 1900 was 75,531, and 42,790 awards were distributed. The total number of United States exhibitors was 6,916, of whom 2,204 received awards, comprising 215 grand prizes, 547 gold medals, 593 silver medals, 501 bronze medals and 348 honorable mentions.