The Bradford Manuscript.-The manuscript of Gov. William Bradford's "History of the Plymouth Plantation" was formally received at the Statehouse, May 26. An address was made by Senator Hoar, who mentioned the previous attempts to recover the document by John Sinclair in 1860 and by John Lothrop Motley in 1869. Nothing came of proposed attempts in 1877 and 1881. Then came the last and successful appeal started by the Senator himself.

This manuscript disappeared during the Revolution, and was supposed to have been taken by the British soldiers who occupied the Old South Church as a riding school, or to have been carried away by Gov. Hutchinson in 1774. It was discovered in the Fulham (England) Library, still bearing the bookplate of the New England Library.

Legislative Session.-The Legislature convened Jan. 7, and was in session till June 12. The new State government was inaugurated Jan. 7. Politically the Senate stood: Republicans, 33; Democrats, 7; and the House: Republicans, 181; Democrats, 58, and 1 Prohibitionist.

There was a contest before the Legislature in reference to the election of councilor in the Fourth District. The election commissioners declared the Republican candidate, Isaac B. Allen, to have been elected; but the Democratic candidate, John H. Sullivan, alleged that more than 340 ballots that should have been counted for him were improperly rejected because the mark which should have been placed in the square after his name was by mistake placed in the square opposite a vacant line just below his name, and these ballots were cast by persons who had voted for all other Democratic candidates. His opponent contended that the Legislature had no authority to go behind the returns. The legislative Committee on Election Returns decided that it was not necessary in this case to determine this important constitutional question, because the majority were of opinion that the ballots so marked should not be counted for the petitioner. The minority were of opinion that there should have been an examination. The majority report was accepted, and Mr. Allen was sworn into office.

Among the more important acts passed was that giving a charter to the Boston Elevated Railroad Company. The company promises to give five-cent fares and free transfers over all systems owned, leased, or operated by it, and if it pays dividends it will pay a franchise tax based upon the gross earnings of all such lines.

An act was passed which was intended to stop the killing of birds for ornamental purposes. As few Massachusetts birds are used in millinery, the act seems to have failed of its intent.

The Governor was authorized to appoint a special commission to investigate the subject of the relation between street railways and the municipalities of the State. He appointed Charles Francis Adams, William W. Crapo, and Elihu B. Hayes.

Among acts passed were these:
Providing a special penalty for theft of bicycles.
Providing for inspection of dairy products.
To incorporate the Roman Catholic archbishopric

of Boston.

Relating to newspaper libel. Increasing the aid given for school purposes to towns having low valuations.

Resolution relative to exercises in the public schools commemorative of the inauguration of the President of the United States.

An appropriation of $250,000 was made for use in the extermination of tuberculosis in cattle. The mill school-tax bill was to authorize a State tax of a dollar on a thousand for the support of public schools. This the Governor vetoed on

the grounds that it would not necessarily increase the sum to be expended for their support, for it contained no provision preventing the towns and cities which will receive money under the proposed tax from reducing their own appropriations for schools by an equal amount; that it would not tend to aid the weaker and overburdened communities in maintaining schools, since a large proportion would go to cities and towns.

Political. There were five tickets in the field for the State election in November. They were: Republican For Governor, Roger Wolcott; Lieutenant Governor, Winthrop Murray Crane; Secretary of the Commonwealth, William M. Olin; Treasurer and Receiver General, Edward P. Shaw; Auditor, John W. Kimball; Attorney-General, Hosea M. Knowlton.

Democratic National: For Governor, Dr. William Everett; Lieutenant Governor, James E. Cotter; Secretary of the Commonwealth, Bernard M. Wolf; Treasurer and Receiver General, Horace P. Tobey; Auditor, Harry Douglas; Attorney-General, William W. McClench.

Democratic: For Governor, George Fred Williams; Lieutenant Governor, Christopher T. Callahan; Secretary of the Commonwealth, Charles D. Nash; Treasurer and Receiver General, Thomas A. Watson; Attorney-General. John A. O'Keefe.

Socialist-Labor: For Governor, Thomas C. Brophy; Lieutenant Governor, Edward A. Buckland; Secretary of the Commonwealth, Addison W. Barr; Treasurer and Receiver General, George A. Brown; Auditor, Joseph Ballam; Attorney-General, William Harrison.

Prohibition For Governor, John Bascom ; Lieutenant Governor, Willard O. Wylie; Secretary of the Commonwealth, Edwin Sawtell; Treasurer and Receiver General, Robert C. Habberley; Auditor, Herbert M. Small; Attorney-General, Wolcott Hamlin.

The People's party held a State convention Sept. 24, but put out no State ticket, although the "middle-of-the-road" section were opposed to fusion. The power to make nominations was given to the State Executive Committee, and it was instructed to confer with the Democratic party at its State convention. In accordance with these instructions fnsion was effected, and one place on the Democratic ticket, that of Secretary of State, was given to the Populist candidate. Charles D. Nash.

At the Democratic convention, held in Worcester, Sept. 28, the Chicago platform was approved, and the proposal to substitute bank notes for national notes was condemned,

The resolutions favored legislation to encourage municipalities to establish their own systems of water supply, gas and electric lighting, heat and power distribution, street-railway service and other service of similar character; postal savings institutions: provisions to enforce the existing laws requiring returns of property for taxation; taxation of personal property at a uniform rate in all cities and towns; a tax on inheritance and successions; an income tax; abolition of irresponsible commissions; popular election of Senators; an eight-hour day for labor; more efficient inspection of factories, etc.; and amendment of the employers' liability act. They declared in favor of settlement of disputes between nations by arbitration, but were opposed to a treaty with one nation exclusively.

The National Democrats issued an address to the public in which they said:

"Our party is organized by those who believe that there ought to be a trustworthy political party pledged to establish a sounder and better system of banking and currency; to practice honesty and economy in expenditures; to use public office as a

The qualifications for membership are these: A white male person, born in the United States of North America, or under the protection of its flag. Of good moral character. A believer in the existence of a Supreme Being as the Creator and Preserver of the universe. Opposed to union of Church and state. Favorable to free education and the American public-school system. Between sixteen and fifty years of age for beneficial membership; over fifty years, honorary membership.

The weekly dues are from 10 to 15 cents, and the minimum entrance fee for charter members is $2. Sick benefits range from $2 to $5 a week. Funeral benefits are graded from $20 to $250. The following extract from an official statement recently issued gives the present condition of the organization, or rather its condition at the end of 1896. The figures for 1897 are not yet complete, as the work of the order extends over the entire country: The amount paid for sick and funeral benefits to Dec. 31, 1896, is $3,500,000. The amount received by subordinate councils is $9,000,000, and the amount paid out for all purposes is $7,500,000. The report of the national secretary to the National Council shows that the year ending Dec. 31, 1896, notwithstanding the stress of the times, was an evidence of the progressiveness of the Junior Order. It is as follows: Number of councils Dec. 31, 1896, 2,237, a gain of 106. Membership Dec. 31, 1896, 177,732 (about 200,000 at this writing), a gain for the year ending Dec. 31, 1896, of 10,899. The receipts of subordinate councils for the year ending Dec. 31, 1896, were $1,562,287.28, being a gain of $284,943.51 for year. The amount paid for benefits and relief during the year ending Dec. 31, 1896, was $550,860.29. The amount in the treasuries of subordinate councils Dec. 31, 1896, was $1,624,846.94, being a gain over the last year of $192,210.42.

the

In addition to the foregoing, the National Council has established a National Orphans' Home at Tiffin, Ohio, for the care of needy orphans of deceased members. The home has been in operation about one year, and 38 little ones have found their way to it. The property and improvements are valued at $50,000, and are clear of debt.

"Our various State legislative committees have secured the enactment of laws providing that the United States flag shall be displayed on all public schools; providing for compulsory education and for free text-books, and much other legislation for the protection and advancement of the publicschool system.

"The National Legislative Committee is endeavoring to secure from Congress laws to restrict immigration, to amend our naturalization laws, to prevent sectarian appropriations, to prevent the desecration of our flag, and other laws that are truly American in their operation."

The word "junior" in the title has no relation to the age of members. It was adopted to distinguish the order from the Order of United American Mechanics, and has no other significance. The word "mechanic" is not construed literally; it embraces every pursuit.

The following detailed exhibit, compiled from the last official report, gives an idea of the strength of the order in the respective States and Territories: The actual membership, as reported up to and for Dec. 31, 1896, was: Maine, 542; New Hampshire, 645; Vermont, 955; Massachusetts, 1,468; Rhode Island, 569; Connecticut, 879; New York, 5,343; New Jersey, 26,676; Pennsylvania, 78.803; Delaware, 2.081; Maryland, 16,987; District of Columbia, 1,088; Virginia, 5.271; West Virginia, 7,044; Kentucky, 998; Tennessee, 1,178; North Carolina, 974; South Carolina, 569; Georgia, 274; Texas, 660; Ohio, 13,534; Indiana, 1,041; Illinois, 501;

Michigan, 249; Wisconsin, 225; Minnesota, 482; Iowa, 280; Missouri, 1,507; Nebraska, 186; Kansas, 322; Colorado, 2,112; Montana, 211; Washington, 355: Oregon, 488; California, 2,452.

The official head of the order, known as the national councilor, is Joseph Powell, of Denver, Col. ; the secretary is Edward S. Deemer, of Philadelphia. The next meeting will be held in Louisville, Ky., June 21, 1898.

METALLURGY. Iron and Steel.-The past ten years was characterized by Mr. E. G. Spilsbury, in an address before the American Institute of Mining Engineers, as having been marked by many and varied improvements in all branches of mining and metallurgy, not so much in startling inventions as in the better adaptations of what was already in use. Among the improvements in mining are the adaptation of the steam shovel, the application of electrical power for mining, concentration, and conveyance, and improvements in wire-rope haulage and transportation. Radical and progressive changes have been made in furnace practice, by means of which increased production is obtained at lessened cost. Among the special improvements in the metallurgy of iron is the mixer of W. R. Jones, by means of which the products of one or more furnaces are tapped into a receiver and there so thoroughly agitated and mixed as to furnish an absolutely uniform metal for further treatment in the manufacture of steel. By allowing the fluid metal to remain a certain time in these mixers, or by the use of lime, the iron is thoroughly desulphurized. The silicon contents are lessened by casting the pig metal in chills, instead of into sand direct, and by Benjamin Talbot's process of pouring the metal as it is tapped from the furnace through a bath of molten oxide of iron. Improvements in the conversion of pig metal into steel have been made chiefly in the open-hearth processes and in the line of mechanical rather than of metallurgical adaptations. These have made it possible greatly to increase the size and output of open-hearth furnaces. Among these improvements are the mechanical charging machines of S. T. Wellman and the Wellman revolving furnaces. Improvements in basic hearths and linings made by Benjamin Talbot have greatly reduced the expense of parts of the process. The Bertrand-Thiel continuous open-hearth process has warm advocates in England. The Stockman process, by the use of nitrate of soda as a means of oxidizing the objectionable metalloids, does away with the necessity for all expensive blowing machinery. Mr. Edison's plant for mining, crushing, concentrating, and finally briquetting magnetic iron ore at the Ogden mine, New Jersey, is mentioned as a theoretical development and improvement of the very highest type, but its cost is very great.

Of two forms of iron of marked peculiarities, described by T. H. Norton, one, part of a mass taken from a deep crevice in the hearth of a blast furnace after the furnace was blown out, where the iron had been maintained in a liquid condition for more than a year, and had then cooled and solidified very slowly, was of a light, silvery color, and exhibited a very marked crystalline structure, with rectangu lar cleavage. It was, however, the reverse of brittle, and was highly malleable. The drill made but slight impression upon it. Portions were tempered, and attempts were made to pulverize them; a slight crumbling was manifested at first, but after a few strokes of the hammer the fragments became perfectly malleable. The piece could be split easily with a chisel, especially along the lines of cleavage. On analysis the only serious impurity in the metal was found to be phosphorus. The second specimen was the result of the prolonged action of the inner

showed the difference between loss of strength from mechanical abrasion and the deterioration of the ultimate crystalline structure of the metal under the fatigue of stress consequent on the presence of internal micro-flaws. He also demonstrated the effect of low temperature in reducing the impact resistance of rails, the influences of corrosion, the manner in which vibratory stress induces microscopic internal growing flaws in rails, and the influence of various kinds of ballast on the permanent way.

Speaking on "Some Present Possibilities in the Analysis of Iron Steel," Mr. C. B. Dudley observes that few substances have received more study and few present chemical problems more difficult of solution than pig iron; and including the work that has been done upon the substances associated with it in manufacture and the substances derived from it, it is safe to say that the chemical work that has been done in connection with it has been greater than with any other substance in Nature. The complexity of pig iron is very great, and consequently the analytical problems presented are far from being easy of solution. Eighteen distinct substances besides iron are enumerated as having been found in analyses of it, 12 substances as alloyed with some form of iron or steel, and the 3 gases, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, as occurring in these metals and believed to have important influences on their physical properties. Having reviewed the present condition of the methods of analysis for five of these many substances-carbon, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur, and manganese-the author finds all the methods more or less imperfect and needing more work. "What," he asks, "will be our condition as chemists if, as seems probable, nickel, chromium, aluminum, tungsten, and the gases oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, either free or combined, within the next few years come into prominence as constituents of iron and steel and are made elements in important commercial contracts? Still further, thus far our methods are concerned almost entirely with the total contents of the various constituents we are determining. We know very little about the compounds of the various constituents occurring in iron and steel, with the metal or with each other. Is the phosphorus present as phosphide or phosphate, or both? How besides as sulphide does the sulphur occur? Do the various carbides which are revealed by the microscope, and which are believed to be so closely dependent on the heat treatment which steel receives, and which are so intimately related to the value of the metal, differ from each other in carbon contents, or only in crystalline form? Who will be the first to isolate any of these carbides? Who will first give us a practicable, accurate, and sufficiently rapid method for determining oxides in steel? Who will first completely investigate the relation between the chemistry and the chilling properties of cast iron? And who will first give us a study on the form in which nitrogen occurs in this metal and a simple and accurate method for its determination? The advantages to be derived from the formation of an international laboratory for investigating the methods of analyzing iron and steel were pointed out by Dr. H. Wedding in a paper read before the International Congress for the Unification of Methods of Testing. It was represented that the relations of buyers and sellers in the iron and steel trades would be put on a much safer basis if standard methods were appointed so that any chemist of ordinary skill could be trusted to carry them out. This could best be done at an international central laboratory, where the work done in various countries could be collected and reduced to a common standard. A competent director for such a labora

tory had been found in Baron Jüptner von Jonstorff.

In a communication to the German Journal "Stahl und Eisen" concerning the microscopic examination of steel, Prof. Ledebur gives the results of experiments made by him upon the effects of service on steel rails. They show that old rails, as well as those that have been used for only a short time, have a surface layer of harder steel than the rest of the body. This layer, distinctly recognizable under a microscope, averages about 1 inch in thickness, and when it is removed by filing the rail is brought to normal strength again. The effect of the continued use of a rail appears, therefore, to be to develop a thin layer of very hard nature at the wearing surface, which can be removed by reheating. Should the surface, however, show cracks the rail can not be restored to its original strength.

The Ellis-May steel process consists essentially of making the castings in a vacuum, thus precluding, it is claimed, the possibility of occluded air or gases in the metal. The system comprehends a closed casting chamber connected with other vacuum chambers by pipes and valves; these are exhausted by powerful vacuum pumps. When the metal is ready to be run into the mold the valves are opened, the air in the casting chamber is instantly drawn off, and. the casting taking place in vacuo, a flawless, homogeneous piece is claimed to be the result. It is represented, also, that the process entails a considerable saving in metal, since there is no waste in large castings like that which exists with the ordinary process. Some steel makers say, however, that the process is accompanied with considerable difficulty and the operation of the machinery is costly.

"Nickel steel," says Mr. William Beardmore, "has won its spurs, and proved itself worthy of the confidence placed in it by those to whom its remarkable qualities are best known." The results obtained by the author in the manufacture of this alloy for a large variety of purposes have been, he says, eminently satisfactory. It fulfills all the purposes of a metal that can be worked without any special care on the part of the artisan; which in shipbuilding will enable us to reduce the scantlings, take from the weight of the boilers, and add to the strength and reliability of the propeller shafts; and "which will give the same results to-day or tomorrow in China or Peru." It can be bent and punched as successfully as ordinary carbon steel. It has a higher elasticity by 31 per cent. than ordinary carbon steel, and the tensile strength is 31 per cent. greater, while ductility is not adversely affected. It suffers less from corrosion by sea water than ordinary mild steel or wrought iron; whence its fitness for use in propellers is evident. As a material for tires and axles it has many claims on our attention. It is well adapted as a material for shafting, and equally for railway axles, by the fact that a crack appearing in it will not develop as in carbon steel. As a material for castings much can be said in its favor. There are many other interesting points connected with nickel steel," but the facts already cited show that "it fulfills in a most satisfactory manner the conditions required of a material for shipbuilding and engineering purposes.

Experiments by E. D. Campbell and S. C. Babcock have brought out the fact that phosphorus, like carbon, is capable of existing in steel in at least two forms, and that the influence of phosphorus upon the physical properties of the steel in which it is contained is as much dependent upon the form of combination in which it exists as upon the quantity. This peculiarity of phosphorus, with the varying influence upon the brittleness of the steel ac