STEAMER.

There is soon to set sail from London for New York a new and remarkable little steamer of 70 tons gross burden, named the Anthracite, designed to exhibit the advanced engineering ideas of Mr. Loftus Perkins, of England. The distinctive peculiarities of this steamer are the very high steam pressure that she carries—350 to 500 lb. to the square inch, and the small consumption of fuel—one pound of coal per hour per horsepower. A trial trip of this new little boat was lately made of 46 miles, during which 350 lb. steam pressure was steadily maintained, 132 revolutions per minute of propeller, and a speed of eight knots per hour. Other vessels, some of larger size than the above, have been built on the Perkins system, and are running in England. One of them, the yacht Emily, carries 500 lb. boiler pressure. Most of our readers are familiar with Mr. Perkins' system, which has been fully described in our columns. Those who may wish to refer thereto are directed to an interesting article by Mr. Perkins, with engravings, published in the Scientific American Supplement, No. 81, July 21, 1877; also to the description of the steam ferry boat, run on this principle, given with three pages of engravings in our Supplement No. 217.

Engineering theory and practice have for a long time plainly pointed to high steam pressures as one of the surest ways to economy of fuel. Twenty five years ago our ocean steamers carried only 16 lb. pressure to the inch, and burned 5 to 6 lb. of coal per hour per horse power. To-day they are carrying 75 lb. pressure, and burning 2½ to 3 lb. of coal per hour per horse power.

In 1840 the Britannia, one of the finest steamers of the Cunard line plying between this country and England, burned 5,291 lb. of coal for each ton of paying freight she carried, her speed, then considered fast, being 8½ knots per hour. In 1877 the Britannic, speed 15.6 knots per hour, burned only 551 lb. of coal per ton of freight carried.

Although our present steamers are making fast time and are very economical as compared with earlier vessels, still it is a lamentable fact that on the largest and finest of them, furnished with all the latest improvements and best appliances to secure economy, worked by the most careful and intelligent engineers, we succeed in putting into our steam only about one tenth of the heat realized in our boiler fire, the remaining nine-tenths of the heat being lost. Only in proportion as we make our steam hotter, and expanding it more, shall we economize in fuel. In this respect the voyage of the Anthracite is designed by her owners, we presume, to be an eye-opener for steamboat owners, not only in this country but throughout the world. If a little bit of a boat like this, 84 feet long, 16 feet beam, and 10 feet deep, can carry its own coal and water across the Atlantic, with a pressure of 350 to 500 lb. to the inch, and on one pound of coal per horse power, the natural inference is that our great steamers, when fitted with the same system, will realize far better results. The change from three pounds of coal to one pound per horse power means a shaving of two thirds in the coal bill, which is always an enormous item in the expenses of large boats. We ought to add that another peculiarity of the Anthracite is that she uses the same boiler water over and over, only a trifle of fresh water being supplied to make good the slight waste. Our New York steamboat men, who have to pay so dear for Croton water, will be likely to examine the water tank of the Anthracite with interest.

A STRANGE EPIDEMIC.

On the night of Tuesday, June 15, a remarkable epidemic fell upon several towns in western Massachusetts, the town of Adams suffering most severely. Out of a population of 6,000, several hundred—variously estimated from 600 to over 1,000—were prostrated by a disease resembling cholera morbus. The symptoms were first dizziness, then great nausea, followed by vomiting and prolonged purging, and in some cases delirium. A belt of country two or three miles in width and several miles long was thus afflicted, beginning at the west, the whole number of victims being estimated at from 1,200 to 1,500. No deaths are reported.

The cause of the epidemic is not known, but seems most likely to have been atmospheric. For some time the weather had been dry and hot. A heavy local rain fell during the evening, and was followed by or attended with a sudden and great lowering of the temperature. A chilly fog hung over the belt of country invaded by the disease, and a heavy "swampy" odor and taste were in the air.

The malady reached its climax in about twenty-four hours. It was first suspected that the water supply had been somehow poisoned, but many people who had not used the water were prostrated, while others who used it freely escaped. Adams has hitherto been regarded as an exceptionally healthy town, and the surrounding country is high and wholesome.