A New York newspaper has been making some experiments in signalling ships at night, which, if as successful as it is claimed to be, will be of the greatest service to sailors for all time to come.

Ships have a regular way of talking to one another, by means of flags arranged in certain ways.

This form of signalling is comprehended by all sailors. It is a universal language, and no matter from what country or in what seas ships may be sailing, the language of the flags makes it possible for them to be understood.

There has been one difficulty with the flag-signals, and that has been that they were useless at night. When it became too dark for the flags to be seen, sailors had no other means of communication.

The New York paper claims to have overcome this difficulty.

In saying that ships have no means of communicating with each other, it must not be forgotten that they can use lights and send certain messages with them. But the flag system enables them to say exactly what they wish to, while through the lights they can only show where they are, and call for help in case of accident.

The invention of the searchlight set men thinking, and at last the idea struck one man that if the searchlight were turned on the flags, it ought to be perfectly possible to see them in the darkest night.

A few nights ago two tugs went down to Sandy Hook to try if the experiment would work. To their great delight they found it did answer perfectly. The tugs were stationed about a mile and a half apart, and could read with ease the messages waved across the water.

More experiments will be made, and if on further trial the method is found to be practical, a great advance will have been made in navigation.

From Amsterdam, another report comes of a method that has been invented, to enable ships to speak directly with the shore at a distance of five miles.

This invention is in the nature of a powerful foghorn. It is, however, made somewhat like a musical instrument, so that different tones can be produced by it; and the idea is to have these tones arranged into a signalling code, after the fashion of the flag-signals, so that a conversation can be kept up in a similar way to that done with flags. G.H.R.

LETTERS FROM OUR YOUNG FRIENDS

We have had a very large and interesting mail this week from the young friends of The Great Round World.

We take pleasure in acknowledging and publishing R.R.'s graphic and clever description of the fire near Wanamaker's in Philadelphia, Helen Z.C.'s pleasant chat about a Chicago suburb, and Seymour U.P.'s nice little note from Saranac Lake.

We also acknowledge the receipt of relief maps for the competition from Adrian Van A. and Harriot M., of Brooklyn.

Dear Editor:

I have just arrived home from school. I wish to tell you of the very large fire down-town. I go to school about one block from where the fire was. The fire started in a grocery store belonging to Hanson Brothers, about 7:30 o'clock. This grocery is No. 1317 Market Street. From there the fire spread to an umbrella store, which had the numbers 1309 to 1313 Market Street. From there a spark set fire to Wanamaker's store; it started there in the large clock tower, which soon after was a mass of flames. It fell with a loud crash soon after. The fire spread to the woodwork of the City Hall, where it was soon put out.

Wishing your magazine years of success, I am

Your reader, R.R.

Phila., Jan. 25th., 1897.

Dear Editor:

I like The Great Round World very much, and anticipate their coming.

I receive them from my auntie of New York City. She reads them first, and then sends them to me.

They are very enjoyable, and as I am just in the interesting part of school, they help me very much. Perhaps you would like to know where Maywood is. It is a suburb of Chicago.

A very pretty place, and so much nicer than living in the city, because here we have fresh air and green grass.

Would you not rather live in the country?

We have a park here which is kept in order by the town authorities. This winter they have flooded it, and made a very nice skating pond, which is free to all.

So after school hours we boys and girls have a bonny time.

Hoping to receive an answer, I remain,

Yours affectionately, Helen Z.C.

P.S.—These "Sylvia's Caramels" you speak of in No. 3 are what we call "Fudges."

They are very nice. We make them often.

Maywood, Ill., Jan. 25th, 1897.

To the Editor of The Great Round World:

I am an enthusiastic reader of your most interesting little paper, and would like you to send me a "Who? When? and What?" chart.

I am up in the mountains for the winter, and there is fine skating and tobogganing here, and I have also a fine big snow house. We belong to the "Pontiac Club," and can therefore skate whenever we want. Wishing your paper much success. I remain

Your fond reader, Seymour U.P.

Saranac Lake, N.Y., Jan. 22d, 1897.

In reply to questions from Miss Lena Penn:

George du Maurier died in London, October 8, 1896, of heart disease.

There is a statue of Hans Christian Andersen in the market-place of Copenhagen. He was the author of the famous Fairy Tales which have given so much pleasure to so many millions of children.

If there are any statistics of the population of the earth since Adam, we are unaware of them.

The population of the earth, estimated in 1891, was 1,487,900,000.

At the death of the Emperor Augustus, the population of the earth was estimated at 54,000,000.

Dear Mr. Editor:

My father receives your little paper, The Great Round World, every week. I like it real well, and all the rest of the people and children I have let take one of the copies liked it so well I let them take more copies. I think it a very nice little paper, and wish you success. I send you the following extract, taken from "Wit and Wisdom," showing that the X-rays are not a recent discovery altogether.

Thomas C. Scott.

Binghamton, N.Y., Jan. 25th., 1897.

"Dr. Milio, the celebrated surgeon of Kieff, while on a visit to St. Petersburg, explained the means he had invented for illuminating the body by means of the electric light to such an extent that the human machine may be observed almost as if skin and flesh were transparent. The Moscow Gazette asserts that to demonstrate the feasibility of his process, Dr. Milio placed a bullet inside his mouth, and then lighted up his face, upon which the bullet became distinctly visible through his cheek. Dr. Milio did not propose to lay bare all the secrets of the flesh, to explore the recesses of the heart, or to perform any miracles, physical or metaphysical. But he claimed to have discovered a new and effective way of dealing with gun-shot wounds: first, by means of electric illumination, he discovered the precise situation of the bullet; next, by means of magnetism, he proposed to extract the bullet, provided always that the bullet contained some portion of steel. Against leaden bullets his system is powerless, and he therefore intended to represent to the International Committee, which met at Geneva, the desirability of recommending an admixture of steel in the manufacture of all future bullets. Dr. Milio's experiments with bullets containing only a slight admixture of steel are said to have been thoroughly successful."

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The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 15, February 18, 1897

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INVENTION AND DISCOVERY

LETTERS FROM OUR YOUNG FRIENDS

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