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BUILDING AN AIR SHIP. Anotiidr Inventor Who Claims He Has Solved Aerial Navigation- fTli<-B ("tllrlfil Ihr ' AlpJia ' Will Hake Tbl.-ljr ,l\ !! mm Knur, IB *mj Irrrlloa *a<\ BelBrst la IBe riai-r *r Mania*. I f we could navigate the air M ocoes*- fully M we have accomplished locomotion on th land, what a triumph would be achieved ! If swift aod sate progress above the surface of the earth could be achieved a* readily aa swift and cafe movement on the lace of the water, how much further along the road of progress would our (low aixl heavy human race have gone ! There w\s a time, doubtless, when the only sate movement from one place U> an- other teemed to be by mean* of walking. Then man found that certain creature* of the brute creation could carry him, aud he wcquered them and (objected them to hi* will. Bat when he name to the margin of the water another problem confronted him, and he aet about solving that. The ruiieet oanoe, the tint raft ever, conttructed, wae the beginning of dominion over a wcond lament. Later, wheel* made progress more iwift, more eaiy and more royal on land. Another step in overcoming dutance bad been taken. And the line* of invention for centurt** were along those two direction*. Men teamed to travene the face of the solid sarth with a (wiftnee* that would have teemed miraculous to the age* that pre- ceded them. And they had *o far con- quered the aea that they could croc* .'(,000 mile* of oueau in lee* than a week of time. They can attain an even higher spaed on the ground. Two elements) have confewwd the reign of man, but he ha* Dot been satis- fiex]. For more yean than any scholar can tell he) baa been directing hi* theugbt by day and hi* dream* bynight to the problem of air navigation. He finds many tiling* in that itudy to attract and encourage mm. He find* a difficulty *o itnliborn, an element to *lu*ive, that hi* geniu* i* challenged. And he reeolvei to conquer thi* third of (he element*. No problem in mechanic* i* 10 ledactive; BO task in applied science i* *o charged with a noble zest, *o rich in promises. *o perpetually approaching fulfillment. The mm who hopea to build a machine in which he can navigate the air look* upon the land and water mean* of transportation a* quit* beneath him. He aim* to conquer the cloud*. There i* a man in Chicago who ha*, if mathematics are true, a plan which will re- ult in the completion of a machine for navigating the ir,more successful than any of those that ha** gone before it. That man I* P. E. McDonnell, a machinist and inventor. McDonnell i* well known among inventors in the west, having produced a number of ingenious contrivance* that give him a high rank. He i* a native of Chicago, having been born here just fifty years ago. He i* the father of a large family, nis sons assisting him in hi* studies and hi* labors. Mr. McDonnell is itriving toward* the perfection of a machine which shall com bine the principle* of the flying machine with that of the buoyant chamber. Hi* machine will, when completed.be supported by a bog of gas, much a* in the csae of the others, but it will not depenil upon the escape of gas to lower it toward the earth, nor upon that same ga* to gain its desired elevation. The lifting power of the gas will be three ton*, and the weight of the entire machine, ex- clusive of the motor, will be two tons. But the motor alone will weigh '2,500 pounds, so that the lifting power of the gas will fall 60O pounds short of raising the machine from the ground. There begin* the loope of the flyi ng- m.tchine principle, and with it tho buoyant chamber will be reinforc*jL>a*>d the whole affair will bo raised from the grouud, will be propelled through the air at a rate of peed that rn'iat be admitted U sufficient, ami will be guided in any direction, at any elevation, and returned at any time to the point of departure. That i* th* successful machins. The motive power will be (applied by three gasoline engine*, each weighing 820 pound* and combine thirty-six hone power and are all connected to a shall which runs from their location below the middle of the cigar shaped buoyant chamber to the pro- peller wheel*, which are located at either snd of the machine. These wheels them- wive* mark an era ip mechanical instruc- tion. They are similar, to the paddle wheels of a side- wheel steamer, two on each tide of the gas bag and each armed wit h tix blades of light frame work, covered with TUB TE1AT. TEIP NEXT JWIT. (tout canvas. Bslow each pair, and play- ing horizontally, ia sst a similar though smaller wheel. Kach of th* six wheel* is independent and may he managed separately from the engine. The forward right-hand and the hinder left-hand wheels my be run while the others rest, the effect being to turn the whole machine in the air, a* a boat pulled by a single oar is turned in the wa'nr. But, what is null more important, the axle* of the several wheels are supplied with cams, which can also be managed from the engine- room, and th* beating of the air may be ac- complished from any desired angle. Supposing the machine to have been lift- ed to tie required altitude. The wheels would then be mado to strike the air in their backward motion, Jusc as do the pad- dle wheels of the steamer. But if it was desired to ri*e higher, the ca:n would h* shifted, and the wb**l* would strike down- ward, as -oe* a bird's wing; and the ship would bo lifted. But there is this difference between the paddle wheel* of the steamer just mentioned, and the paddle wheel* of the air ship. Those double blades strike with all their breadth in the direction de- sired, and then close together, as do the wings of a butterfly, presenting but the narrowest surface to the resistance of the air as they return to their position for force, whan they are opened again, and again strike upon the air with all their lilt- ing or propelling force. In like manner the horizontal wheel* may be made use of in gaining ii<-ed bv hif"u AH Tttm IXCIS-EER WILI, APPEAR I* Till CABIN. their cam* so they would only strike at the proper angle for that purpose. Now, th* weight of the entire machine being 500 pounds, or thereabouts, heavier than the buoyant chamber can lift, the power to be gained from th* wheels must lift the balance. And this U the problem Mr. McDonnell has had to solve and the problem tnwsri which h* has not been afraid to address himself. The figuring of thi* weight and the power which must raise it is one of the nicest of mathematical cal- culations. But it i* a maticr of demonstra- tion. Scholar* have found that a certain area of surface, striking the air at a certain peed, exert* a certain force. Ani the total* of these forces exerted by the paddle wheels will constitute the power of the ma- chine*. When completed the Alpha, which Mr. McDonnell has named his machine, will be 2TJ feet long, and will support a weight, aside from that of itself and the engines and necesirary implements, of fully one ton. Twelve men can be carried without difficul- ty. T!ie cabin in which they will be hopou* is about twenty feet long half as andbroad. It i* supplied with windows, seat* and all the conveniences of a modern car or (Mom boat cabin. And it will achieve a (peed of thirty -six miles an hoar. A >.RIAT ADVANTAGE. It will bit observed that the car in the Alpha is no. lashed at a great distance from the buoyant chamber. It is, in fact, close up against the under side of the bag. By this mean* none of the power will he lost, as was th* case in th* machine* of the earl* ier maker*, because the power will be ap- plied directly. Agd there is no danger of the ship turning on its side or rolling clear ov*r in the air, because the action of the blade* of the wheel* can at all times man- age it* movements, Th* two horizontal- acting wheels could alone counteract any tendency of that kind. And, also, when it is desired to descend to th* earth the vertical wheels will simply strike down- ward, but ISPS swiftly, ex Tting less power than is necessary to sustain the weight ; and as the gas bag alone will not carry the ship it will sink just a* slowly or as swiftly as the engineer wishes, There is another element in th* mechan- ism of the Alpha. Along each side of th* buoyant chamber, the entire length, run* on each side a curved wing, like a longi tudinal section of a cylinder. It also is of strong canvas, (trongly supported, and it act* a* a support, resting upon the air, wherever the ship may go. In descents, (imilarly, it will break the fall, after the principle of the parachute. But its straight line* will enable it to pass without resiit anc* through the air when the (hip is mov ing forward or backward. A word in connection with the buoyant chamber is interesting. Tha entire tube is constructed in sections. Each is filled in- dependently of the others. Then i* no communication between them. So if blow or shot from the gun of an envious mortal on the earth should penetrate the side, letting out the gas in that compart- ment, the strength of the ship would only be affected by that much ; while in a bal- loon, or in any of the air ship* heretofore constructed, one hole in any part of the ex- tended buoyant chamber would render worse than useless the entire machine. Two kinds of economy wiil he observed iu the arrangement of the applied power ot thi* ship. In the first place, as the ga* is not allowed to escape in order to lessen the altitude, the gas does not have to be re- newed at intervals. In the second, as sand or other ballast does not have to be carried in order to increase the altitude when de- sired, so no loss for dead weight is necessi- tated, and no returns to the earth for a fresh supply of useless sand need be made Mr. McDonnell has been very fortunate in the selection of the materials, and has found one outof which hi* buoyant chamber is constructed which is almost entirely im- pervious to gaa. The best that ha* so far been achieved in balloon building was a loss of 1 per cent, in forty-eight hours. But there is no loss in the Alpha. This i* not altogether due to the material which is simply a secret coating on the canvas bag confining the gas. It is in a measure at tn bit table to the fact that in all other ma shines of thi* kind the formation of the bag o*ued^j^contriction upon the volume of Tlt ALPHA, MR. 4'lMlXNKll .'' AlKSIIIf. gas contained. No matter how close I lie meshes of the weaving, while the air press- ed from without the gas was squeezed through, and it escaped even from the ex- cellent government, balloon r, the world's fair grounds last summer. But here th* iramewoik which supports the gasbags i* 4 rigid frame* ork. It will not allow the en- velopes to collapse. Kven if they were empty the pressure of the air from without cauld not cruib them in. While at r>st upon the ground the Alpha will be supported ou four wheU, light enough not to add materially to the weight of the ship and yet strong enough to sup- port it while resting. And, as the wholo contrivance, a>t whatever stage is rigid and not liable to collapse, the machine will run lightly on the ground propelled by the six paddle wheels just the same as if at an alti- tr.du of a hundred feet, and, when ready for starting, will so run forward if desired till the action of ths motor* issiirujiently downward to overcome gravity, when the whole ship will rise in the air. But if it is desired to lift it directly that can be eaily accomplished by an adjustment of the cams, which will cause a downward atrike in- stead of one pushing from the front back- ward. WHAT AS Aim SHIP MEANS. It is not easy to measure the value of such a machine when in actual operation. To tnvel it would he a boon beside which railway and iteamboat progrevs i* heavy, low and crude. The great ocean of atmos- phere which surrounds our earth is a ready and waiting highway for this better, more ingenious vehicle. Dunk of tiie rwnefit science would derive. We know comparatively nothing now of the currents of the air. Then they might be studied at any altitude desired. In a larger hip than that on which Mr. McDonnell is now engaged a higher rat* of speed could and would be attained, and a proportion- ately heavier load could be carried. " The speed of th* wind would actually be ex- ceeded and th* problem* over which our meteorological officer* have been kimply guessing in the past would reach an easy and certain solution . Think of it in ess* of a war. Yon know those lines of Tennyson, referring to the navies which combated above the clouds. Well, that air sl.ip, which can do what the Alpha is destined to do, could be a realiza- tion of that dream. But before so dread a consummation th* air ship would have rendered war a custom known only to the memory, for the power of a single air ship would be greater in destroying armies a nd cities than could all the fleet* and armies of the world. Cosst defense would be guaran- teed by half a dozen air ship*. in the shadow of which all th* ironclad* afloat would be helpleu and full of danger to ths very m*n who managed them. Armiee that now exhaust treasuries would In-come needless, because a single air hip, armed with a quarter ton of dynamite, could rout all enemies, pursue them, drop- ping destruction upon them, hover above them, shattering tneir force* and finally, with a sheer might from the heavens, silence all defiance to authority. But it i* in th* gentler walks of peace that the McDonnell air ship would more vividly appear. No continent so broad that It might not be traversed while two days were passisg. No forests so dense that their secret* could be hidden ; no riv so deep that their riches could elude man'* search. No stress of temperature could be so severe as to penetrate within that cosy cabin, and no storm so sever* M to blow it out of it* course. Th* pole* and the equator would become equally known and the bidden places of the earth be found. Storm Waroinn- Storm warning* were first issued in Hol- land in 1SOO through M. B.iys Ballot. Hi* " Law ot the Winds" point* out the rela- tion between the direct-ion of the wind and the atmospheric pressure. In great Britain the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade was ectabliihcd in 1H.V> under Admiral FiUroy, but it was not until I Mi I that they felt justified in issuing warnings as to storms, aud on the 6th of February, Istil, the first cautionary or warning signals were issued by th* office, ann first published on the 31st of July, 1S61. The warnings, which were suspend- ed between December, lsfl, and Novem- ber, 1S67, were reissued at Christmas, 1807: since which time they have been issued as occasion needed. Forecasts) of the weather are prepared, under tha authority of the Meteor dogical Council, three time* a day, at 1 1 a, m , .1 :IO p. in., and 8. 30 p. in. The forecasts at 11 a. m. refer to the probable weather between noon of the day of issue and noon of the following day. They are exhibited in several place* in London, includicg alansion House, Lloyd'* Room*, Mesar*. Stanford*', Charing Cro**, and at the office*, 63 Victoria street,and are also supplied to the afternoon editions of the newspapers. The 3.30 p.m. forecasts are employed for storm warning* only. The H. .'li) p. m. forecast* are specially prepared for publication in the morning newspapers, but all are available on application at Vic- toria street. Storm warnings are furnished to 1 stations : 7'2 in Kngiand, 16 in Wales, 44 in Scotland, I.", in Ireiand, .'! in the Isle ol Man, and 3 in the Channel Island*. The complete successes of forecast* of the three year* ISSS-91 cover 49 per cent., and th* partial or more than half successes 32 per cenU, the average of successes over that- period being Kl per cent. ; S4 per cent, of those in IS!)-2 were successful. On the doath of Admiral l-'itzroy in April, 1865, Mr. Robert H. Scott, M.A., F. K. S., took his place, which position he still holds. TO 111 r\llfl- MB*. M Ulllt II K rrof Tyndall Will *nll rr Kuclnad Wllh Tkat h|r. i IB view. Prof. Alex. J. Me Vicar Tyndall, of New York, who claim* that he can discover th innocence of alleged criminal* hy hypnot- ism, has sailed for England on the steamer I iallia, for the purpose of persuading the Knglish authorities to allow nim to hypnot- ize Mrs. May brick, who is serving a lite sentence in England for the murder of her husband, and while in that condition forc- ing ',ier to recall all site know* about her husband's death, so that bar guilt or inno- cence may be demonstrated. Prof. Tyndall i* the tna,i> who claim* that he can hypn<>ti/e himself, remain apparently dead for day*, and then come back to life. He offered to allow himself to be buried for thirty days in Chicago during tin- world's fair, but the Chicago authorities told him there was no vacancy for him in the Potter's field, virs. May- brick is kept in close durance. There is no likelihood that Tyndali will b* allowed to see her. Anitralia U the only country in the world in which no native pipe* have been found. THE WEEK'S NEWS. CAN AD (Alt. A deputation waited upon Sir Charles H. Tapper, at Ottawa, and urged him to open up the lakes in the Rat Portage district to tinning. The Rev. Dr. Douglas and Mr. Duncan Mclntyre, of Montreal, who have been se- riously ill, are improving. A local bankers' association, 1:1 affiliation witli the Montreal Board of Trade, i* being established. Mr. John Callalian,a well-known resident of Peterborough, committed tuioide by cut- ux Ins throat with a razor. There is high authority for stating that a movement is now under way in Montreal to organize a branch of the P. P. A. The Industrial Kxhibition Association of Winnipeg will ssk the Doimnon Govern- mrnt for * grant of $10,000 to thi* year's exhibition. It is stated that several of the newly- elected aldermen of Hamilton are liable to be unseated, owing- to a lack of proper qualification. Nearly half a million dollar* was realized in < Utawa by the tale of Messrs. Pei ley ft I'attee'* timber limits. The auctioneer was Mr. Peter Uyan, of Toronto. Albert Siroebel, who murdered Marshall in a cabin in the Sumas district m British Columbia, suffered the full penalty of the law for bis crime on the scaffold on the 30th. Abb* Lame, acting superior of the Sem- inary of St. Snlpioe, gives an emphatic denial to the report that the Seminary recently inue*td half a million dollar* in bank (lock. The heirs of John Ross, of Quebec, are proceeding in the Exchequer Court with their claim for more than rive hundred thousand dollar; for work den* on the in- tercolonial railway. Mr. W. W. Ogilvie* of Montreal, the great Hour man, (peaking of the reported distress in the North- Wei t, said that ht had never heard of less grumbling nor *o little misery a* thi* year. Mr. O'Malley, a member of the Manitoba Legislature, has given notice that in addition to moving lor the repeal of the Act incorporating the Law Society, he will move for the abolition of th* Medical, Veterinary, and Land Surveyor'* Societies. Rv. C.O. Johnston, a Methodist minuter of Kingston, Ont., ha* asked all the men attending hi* church who are notprofeasing Christians to send him a post-card stating their reasons for their remaining outside toe Church membership. A schoolmaster named Robinsen.of Ham- ilton, was fined two dollarn tor having whipped a boy. The Magistrate, after ex- amining the rubber (trap with which ths punishment wan administered, pronounced it a bai barous instrument in the bands of an able-bodied man. The oase will be appeal- ed. Honor* Mercier, jr., J.A. Psllaud, and Paal Uemartigny, the three young French- Canadians who attempted to blow up the Nelson monument in Montreal with dyna- mite, were severely lectured by Judge Dugaa upon their offence, and the terrible consequence* which might have ensued, and fined twenty-five dollar* each. tllUTIHII. Sir Henry Ponsonby, the Queen's privats secretary, who i* sixty-nine year* of age, is seriously ill. The death is announced of Mrs. Austen, sole surviving sister of Cardinal Manning, whose senior sh* was. Ths Prince of Wales says that owing to her poor health the Prince** will not take part in social event* this season. Sir William Uarconrt refuse* to ascent to the Radical appeal for a graduated in- come tax to meet the deficit m|tho budget. The Khedive of Kgypt will shortly visit England. He will be given a State re- ception and will mid* at Buckingham palace. Karl DulTerin is said to have exerted great pressure upon the Gladstone Govern* ment to bring about the promised naval re- torfn. The Irish Republic, published in New York, has an appeal to Irioluneu calling upon them to use powder and dynamite to save Ireland from slavery. The negotiations of the Rritish Foreign OftVe with Russia as to the boundary of the Pamirs have resulted in an arrangement to which tb* Ameer of Afghanistan has consented. Sir Hemy Loch has despatched a me*- eager from Cape Town to King Lobengula, pledging in the Queen's name that, if he surrender* hi* life and interests will be assured, and he will not be deported from Africa. The English Colonial Office is in favour of a plan to subsidise the enterprise of lay ing a purely British cable to Australia via Canada ; but the Poet-Office Department cannot commit itself to the policy of a grant. The Moir Company, calico printers, at Glasgow, Scotland, have issued a circular notifying their creditors that tlioy have I been compelled to suspend payment owing to complications in their financial arrange- ments. In reply to a deputation asking an annual subsidy of twenty rive thousand poun Is for ln \ears towards the Canviian- Australian Pacific staamship line, the Marquis of Hi- pnn promised to give Ihe matter hi* con- siderations, and to bring it befor* the Cabi- net. CXITED STATES. Representative Johnson, of Ohio, will champion absolute free sugar without bounty or duty. Mr. John Stewart, of Hamilton, Out, who shot himself in noteljat Buffalo, died there on Monday night. Douald Kennedy, of Toronto, the alleged opium smuggler, wa* held to the grand jury by United State* Commissioner Grave* at Detroit. Mrs. Alma Krhardt wa* placed in tho asylum for the insane at Newark on Friday on account, of a mental disorder caused liv her love for another woman. The worst snowstorm in year* i* reported from point* in the northern part of Cali- fornia. Snow fell forty-eiolu inohe* in twenty-four noun. The Charity hospital at Blauk well's Isl- and, which contains eight hundred pa- tient*, has been quarantined, owing to an outbreak of smallpox. Hurry J. Woollry. the engineer who wa* charged with manslaughter in connection with the Rattle Creek horror, has bran dis- missed from custody. Ninteen of Lsvi P. Morton'* Guernsey cows, which were infected with tuberculosis, were killed at Rhmebeck, N. Y. They were valued at $7,000. The Guion Steamship Company, which next to the Cunard, is the oldest transatlan- tic steamship line entering New York, ha* withdrawn from the passenger serVi*. The convict* in the State prison at Iglau, Moravia, revolted ou Friday, and would not return to their cells until fired upon by the troops who had been called to restore order. Col. Nicholas LoU. of Reading, Pa., fur- nished supplies to General Washington'* aimy at Valley Fonte, and his heirs, assert- ing that he was never paid, intend present- ing a claim to Congress for four million dollars. The Buffalo Commercial (Republican) says thht barley raised in a portion of Ontario i* distinctly better than any other, and fetch- es in the United State* market from ten to fifteen cents a bushel more than it* Ameri- can rival. Jenkin* Budlong, seventy-five years of age, who was associated with Edward 9. Stoke* at the time of the murder of Jim Fisk in a business worth Gv hundred thousand, is now dying in the pauper ward of a Chicago hospital. A circle of King'* Daughters at Park City, Ky. , recently raised sufficient money to se- cure tome coal for a poor family. The mon- ey wa* given to the family, who, instead of buying coal, had their photographs taken. The Mayor of Cincinnati ha* been an- thon/ed to expend one hundred thousand dollars from ths contingent fund of the city for the benefit of the unemployed. The plan i* to use it in promoting repair* and other work needed. OBNBBAI. It U reported that the Brazil insurgents are running short of provisions. The decree* expelling ex-King Milan and x -Queen Natalie from Servia have been cancelled. Tha French Chamber of Deputie* baa ap- proved the treaty between France and Haw. Grand Duke George, second son of the Czar, i* suffering from consumption, and cannot live long. Prince Bisrairck will be received in Ber- lin with all the honour due to hi* rank, and hs will be the guest of th* Emperor at th* Castle. Admiral de Gama, in command of th* in- snrsent fleet before Brazil, has received from Kurope two torpedo boat* and a steamer loaded with ammunition. Gen.Saraiva, with reinforcement*) of eight thousand troops for the Brazil insurgent*, is reported to have arrived in Rio Janeiro bay. Owing to the lack of work and scarcity of food among the poorer class** in part* if Spain, tbe bandits are becoming more numerour and daring. The report tha'' King Alexander was a*- inated i* without foundation. He i* actively employed in endeavouring to end tbe criii* in the Servian Cabinet. Tbe Servian crisis for the present is at sn end. Ex- King Milan has come to term* with the leaden of the Liberal Progressist*, snd a new Cabinet has been formed. Emperor William recently eut Prince Bismarck a case of wine, and the Prince replied, thanking hi* Majesty, adding that when his health permitted he would visit Berlin and personally thank the Emperor. A despatch from Bui u way o, dated Janu- ary 14. says that King Lohengula, with a few of hi* follower*, is intrenched close to the Zambesi river. Commissioner Jame- son communicate* that all i* quiet els* where. Tha Governor of Sicily has suspended th* edict against the press, but has warned tb* various newspapers that they will be sup- pressed at once if tl.ey publish objeclionabl* matter. TUB M*B *J*> *. Tke BlE Mes.ni.hlp 4 msmnr *>M to lav* Ossril e Rxlal. A New York special says : Th* Guion Steamship Company, which, next to tha Ciiintrd line, I* tho oldest trans- Atlantic steamship line entering this port, has prac- tically ceased to exist. So far as it* passenger service is concerned, it i* a thing of the |>snU The Alaska was scheduled to ail April 7 snd the Arizona on tno same d.ite from the other suit, to resume tha passenger business for the summer. New* arrived by yesterday '* steamers, however, that these two steamers had been transfer- red to the Anchor line and would lie need in the service of that company tha coining season. These two steamers never belong- ed to the Guion line. They were owned by the builder*, John Elder A Co., of Glasgow. They were run in the interest of the owueia by the Guion line. Ti.at line has also chartrre a number of freight stoamers dur- ing the winter snd h*a run them to thi* port/ at regular intervals. The Guion line goes to Liverpool and the Anchor line to Glasgow. It is understood that hereafter the Anchor line wnl send steamers to both thsao pori*. Walling Patiently for tnnr\.icl,. Tho Engineering News say* that the pro posed enlargement of the Erie Canal with dimension* sutfijient to permit passage of lillht warship* to the lakes and giain in un- broken bulk from Dulutli to Europe is not approved of by State Engineer Schenok, who estimate* the ooit of such an improve- ment at $54)0,00(1,000, and says that befor* it would be completed the present northern international boundary may have ceased to exist. Wnich means that the people of the United States lecugir./e the value ol tho St. Lawrence route and its possibilities. The St. Lawrence route could be deepened f*r one- fifth of what the enlargement of the Erie Canal would cost. In addition, tt would answer the requirements of two nations instead of one. It i* the natural out- let to tha sea. It is the shortest route to Europe. It has no rival. Canada has a trump card in her hands. The only debat- able question is how and at what stage ot the gam* she will fUg il