engineer. Starting from Silenen, Switzerland, it required a climb of
nearly 2000 feet to reach Göschenen, the adopted northern portal of
the tunnel. This would require an _average_ grade of 200 feet per mile
in the ten miles of distance, or an actual grade of 370 feet per mile
in the upper part of the line, if the river valley were followed. The
line was therefore “developed,” that is, the distance was purposely
increased by adopting an indirect line, in order that the grade
might be less. It was found possible to run the line from Silenen to
Pfaffensprung, a distance of about six miles, on the comparatively low
grade of 137 feet per mile. At this point the line suddenly plunges
into the mountain, and curves around in a circle, which is, roughly,
2000 feet in diameter, while it continues an upward grade of 121½ feet
per mile. After traversing 4845 feet of such tunnel, the line again
emerges into the open air, having turned nearly three fourths of a
circle in the solid rock. About 2000 feet farther on the line actually
crosses itself, the upper line there being 167½ feet higher than the
lower line, which is at that point within the tunnel. By this device,
which is called a spiral, the line is run at a practicable grade, and
an elevation of 167½ feet is surmounted by introducing 6986 feet of
“development.” Near the entrance of the Leggistein tunnel, the line is
less than 500 feet away (horizontally) from a lower part of the line,
which is about 350 feet lower in elevation. Space forbids a further
description of this climb of 2000 feet to Göschenen, where the line
plunges into the bowels of the earth, and does not again emerge until
it has traversed _nine and one quarter miles_, and has reached the
southern slope of the Alps. Even here the portal is 3755 feet above
sea level, and the valley down to Bodio is steeper in places than
the valley of the Reuss. Four spirals are used in descending about
2650 feet in an air line distance of less than 19 miles. In one place
even the upper line, where it crosses the lower line, is in solid
rock. Imagine standing in the gloom of a tunnel and considering that
vertically beneath your feet—more than 100 feet further down in the
bowels of the earth—there is another tunnel belonging to the same line
of road. The great majority of tunnels are straight. A few have curves
at one or both ends, but nowhere else in the world can be found such
examples of spiral tunnels carved out of the living rock.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF ST. CLAIR TUNNEL, NORTH OF DETROIT, MICH.]
ST. CLAIR TUNNEL.—A glance at a map of lower Canada and Michigan
will show that all the rail traffic of lower Canada, and even that
from Montreal and Quebec, that passes as far west as Chicago, must
either cross the Detroit River at Detroit or the St. Clair River, at
or near Port Huron. Plans for bridging the river have been frequently
made, but the Canadian government has steadily refused permission.
The traffic along the river in 1896 amounted to over 35,000,000 tons,
or more than was shipped at the ports of either New York, London, or
Liverpool, and greatly in excess of that which passed through the
Suez canal. Such traffic must not be impeded even by a drawbridge;
and therefore a tunnel was the only alternative. The problem was in
many respects unique. Borings showed that the tunnel must pass through
clay and occasional pockets of quicksand, and therefore it would be
necessary to employ a pneumatic method. Brunel had used a “shield” on
the Thames tunnel half a century before; but all of the earlier tunnels
constructed by this method were much smaller, and the difficulty and
danger increase very rapidly as the size increases.
In 1886 the “St. Clair Tunnel Company,” virtually a creature of
the Grand Trunk Railway Company, was organized, and in 1888 work
was begun. After a false start, made by sinking shafts which were
afterwards abandoned, open cuttings were commenced at each end, which
were extended to points 6000 feet apart, between which the tunnel was
excavated and lined. The circular lining, having an outside diameter of
21 feet, is of cast iron, made in segments which are bolted together,
having strips of wood three sixteenths of an inch thick placed in the
joints. Liquid asphalt was freely used as a preservative and to make
tight joints. The tunnel was excavated for nearly 2000 feet on each
side as an ordinary open tunnel until the excavation was actually
under the river; then a diaphragm with air locks was built on each
side, and that part of the tunnel lying under the river—2290 feet in
length—was constructed under air pressure. Several curious facts were
developed during the construction. The material excavated outside of
the shields was thrown inside, loaded on to cars, and hauled by mules
to the diaphragm. It was found that horses could not work in compressed
air. Mules could do so, but even they were sometimes affected by “the
bends,” a disease akin to paralysis, which frequently occurred among
the men. The shields were forced forward by twenty-four hydraulic rams,
each having a capacity of 125 tons, or 3000 tons for each shield.
Usually a force of 1200 to 1500 tons was sufficient. Much gas was
encountered, which, on account of its explosiveness, prevented the
employment of blasting to break up the boulders which were frequently
found. The advantages of electric lighting in compressed air work were
exemplified in this tunnel. In August, 1890, about one year after
the shields were placed on each side of the river, they met near the
centre. The progress of each shield averaged nearly ten feet per day.
Considering the frequency with which the cost of great engineering work
exceeds the original estimate, it is remarkable to note that in this
case the actual cost ($2,700,000) was less than the original estimate,
which was about $3,000,000.
THE CENTURY’S PROGRESS IN THE ANIMAL WORLD
BY D. E. SALMON, M.D.,
_Chief of Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Agricultural Department_.
I. OF ANIMAL DISEASES.
The wars of Napoleon, which in the early years of the nineteenth
century so seriously affected the governments and institutions of
Europe, had an equally marked influence upon the development of the
animal industry in the countries that were brought within the sphere
of the military operations. This chapter of the history of that period
appears to have been neglected by writers who have industriously delved
into details of subjects of far less interest and importance. Enough
has been chronicled by various historians, however, to show that in
many cases those engaged in successful operations for improving the
breeds of domesticated animals were forced to abandon the work to which
they had devoted their lives, and for which long study and experience
had specially fitted them, and to become units in the vast armies which
were organized only to melt away in the bloody and disastrous campaigns
of that epoch. But it was not the men alone that were taken. The best
horses were seized for the use of the officers and the cavalry, for
the artillery and the transportation trains. The sheep and swine were
slaughtered for the subsistence of the armies, and the cattle were
driven off for the same purpose. Neither the choicest flocks and herds
nor the most magnificent individuals produced by the breeder’s art
escaped. The fruits of many years of patient effort in selection and in
guiding the forces of heredity were blotted out; the animals left were
few and inferior. To crown all these disasters, the most deadly forms
of contagion were gathered from their hiding places with the animals
that were seized, the plagues which these caused were propagated among
the vast aggregation of beasts that were required for the service
of the armies, and, finally, they were disseminated throughout all
sections to which these armies penetrated.
The agriculturists of Great Britain, thanks to the isolation due to
the considerable expanse of water which separates their territory from
the mainland, escaped not only the invasions of armed and destructive
hosts, but also the pestilences which accompanied them. While,
therefore, the farmers of the continent were struggling to save a few
of their remaining animals from the ravages of glanders, rinderpest,
foot-and-mouth disease, pleuro-pneumonia, and other plagues, those of
the British Isles were perfecting the work of their ancestors without
molestation. These circumstances, lost sight of by many, explain to
a certain extent the apparently marvelous success of the British
husbandmen in developing so many breeds of horses, cattle, sheep,
and swine to the wonderful perfection which we see at the end of the
nineteenth century. The favorable climate, together with the abundant
and nutritious herbage, have undoubtedly been factors in the production
of the British breeds, but the power and opportunity to select the best
animals and retain these for breeding purposes must also have had great
influence.
The effect of contagious diseases in retarding the development of
animal life may be appreciated from the estimate, carefully made,
that in the closing years of the eighteenth century the cattle plague
(rinderpest) alone destroyed in Europe two hundred million head of
cattle, valued at seven billions of dollars. During the first half
of the nineteenth century, cattle plague, pleuro-pneumonia, and
foot-and-mouth disease were particularly disastrous to the animal
industry of the Continent of Europe, and unquestionably, also,
throughout Asia, which appears to have been the original habitat of
these plagues. During the last third of this century the development
of veterinary science, together with the enactment of sanitary
legislation and the enforcement of intelligent measures of repression,
have practically eradicated the cattle plague from the countries
of Europe, and we have only to note, as important, its invasion of
Great Britain in 1865, which led to the adoption of the present most
excellent sanitary organization, and the extensive outbreak on the
continent following the Franco-Prussian war. During the last six years
this plague has swept over large sections of the African continent,
destroying nearly every bovine animal in the regions first invaded, and
had it not been for the fortunate and timely discovery of a successful
method of preventive inoculation, the cattle industry would have been
absolutely annihilated.
Pleuro-pneumonia, almost equally destructive with cattle plague and
much more persistent, was widely disseminated over the continent of
Europe during the seventeenth century, and reached England about
1840. Many years were lost in futile contentions over the subject of
contagion, and it was not until the last twenty years that vigorous
measures for its extermination were enforced. In the meantime the
contagion had been carried to Australia and South Africa, where it
has since remained domiciled, a constant source of loss to the cattle
growers. The losses from this disease in Europe are now comparatively
unimportant, but in the countries of Asia and Africa, and in Australia,
it is still a great incubus. Foot-and-mouth disease, less fatal in
its effects than the other maladies mentioned, appears to be more
difficult to control, and, in the closing years of the century, we find
it prevailing extensively over the principal countries of Continental
Europe.
The diseases which have most seriously affected the development of
other species of animals are the glanders of horses, the variola of
sheep (sheep-pox), and the three diseases of swine known in Europe as
erysipelas, swine pest, and swine plague. These have been extremely
prevalent and fatal in many parts of Europe. Glanders, swine pest, and
swine plague have been brought to the American continent, and have been
even more destructive here than in their ancient habitat.
The diseases which at present are regarded as most serious attracted
but little attention at the beginning of the century, or were unknown.
Tuberculosis has now become the great scourge of dairy cows and other
highly bred cattle, ruining many of the best herds and threatening the
health of the consumers of milk, if not also of beef. Texas fever, a
disease of cattle first studied in the United States, but now known to
be widely disseminated over the South American, African, and Australian
continents, has during late years retarded operations for improving
and increasing the stock of cattle, and has seriously restricted the
marketing of animals from the infected districts.
[Illustration: THOROUGHBRED.]
This brief summary relative to contagious diseases and their effects
is all the attention that can be given in this article to conditions
which through all historic times have been important, and, in many
cases, have been supreme in their influence upon the tendencies
and development of the animal population. As the twentieth century
approaches, however, the influence of the animal plagues is on the
wane, and with a few more years of active scientific investigations
they will all be so thoroughly controlled that the disastrous
visitations of the past can never be repeated, and they will not even
be a hindrance or menace to the stock grower.
II. INCREASE IN NUMBERS.
As might be expected, there has been an increase in the numbers of the
domesticated animals held in the various countries of the world, but
this increase has been far from uniform, and cannot be measured either
by the growth of the population or the degree of prosperity. Evidently
the density of population, the development of manufactures, and the
fertility of the soil have had much influence.
In the United Kingdom there were 1,500,000 horses in 1800, and but
2,000,000 in 1898. During this time the cattle had increased from
5,000,000 to 11,000,000; the sheep from 25,000,000 to 31,000,000; and
the swine from 3,000,000 to 3,700,000. Thus, while the cattle doubled
in numbers during the century, the horses increased but one third, the
sheep one fourth, and the swine one fourth. As in the same period the
population of the country was augmented from 16,200,000 to 40,000,000,
or two and one half times, it is not difficult to see why England has
become the world’s greatest market for animals and animal products.
It is important to note the increase in animals in a few of the
principal countries of Europe. In France there were 1,800,000 horses
at the beginning of the century, and there were 3,418,000 in 1896. The
cattle increased from 6,000,000 to 13,334,000; the swine from 4,500,000
to 6,400,000; the goats from 800,000 to 1,500,000; while the sheep
decreased from 30,000,000 to 21,200,000. That is, in round numbers, the
horses, cattle, and goats doubled, the swine increased nearly 50 per
cent, but the sheep were diminished one fourth. The population advanced
from 27,350,000 to 38,500,000, or about 40 per cent.
In Germany, from 1828 to 1892, the horses increased from 2,500,000 to
3,836,000; the cattle from 9,770,000 to 17,500,000; the goats from
700,000 to 3,000,000; the swine from 4,500,000 to 12,174,000; and the
sheep decreased from 17,300,000 to 13,600,000. The population increased
during the same time from 29,700,000 to 49,500,000.
In European Russia, from 1828 to 1888, the horses were increased from
12,000,000 to 20,000,000; the cattle from 19,000,000 to 23,840,000; the
sheep from 36,000,000 to 47,500,000; while the swine decreased from
15,800,000 to 9,200,000. The population during this period increased
from 45,000,000 to 90,000,000.
These are the countries in which there is most interest on account of
their influence upon the markets of the world. In regard to Europe
as a whole, owing to the lack of statistics, we can only estimate
approximately as to the condition at the beginning of the century. From
such data as are available it appears that there were about 20,600,000
horses, 61,800,000 cattle, 157,500,000 sheep, and 36,600,000 swine.
The population of Europe at that time is placed at 175,000,000. In
the year 1900 there will be in Europe not far from 44,250,000 horses,
108,000,000 cattle, 180,575,000 sheep, and 56,800,000 swine. The
population will reach about 380,000,000.
From these figures it would appear that, taking all of Europe, the
human population has increased more rapidly than have any of these
species of domesticated animals. In other words, the population is 2.17
times what it was at the beginning of the century, while there are but
2.14 times as many horses, 1.75 times as many cattle, 1.55 times as
many swine, and 1.14 times as many sheep.
[Illustration: WATERING THE COWS.]
This growing deficiency in the stock of animals, coupled with an
increasing consumption of meat per capita, has led to the importation
of great numbers of animals and large quantities of meats and other
animal products. The resulting trade has stimulated the production of
animals in other parts of the world, particularly in the United States
of America, Australia, and Argentina, in all of which there has been a
marvelous development.
There are no reliable statistics as to the number of animals in the
United States at the beginning of the century. Some have estimated that
there were only 300,000 horses, 600,000 cattle, and 600,000 sheep; but
the writer is of the opinion that there were from 500,000 to 1,000,000
horses, at least 3,000,000 head of cattle, and from 2,000,000 to
3,000,000 sheep. In 1840, with a population of 17,063,000, there were
4,300,000 horses, 14,900,000 cattle, 19,300,000 sheep, and 26,300,000
swine; while in 1899 the number is placed at 15,800,000 horses and
mules, 44,000,000 cattle, 39,000,000 sheep, and 38,600,000 swine.
In 1888 the horses of Canada numbered 1,100,000, the cattle 3,790,000,
the sheep 2,600,000, and the swine 1,205,000. In the same year Mexico
was credited with 2,000,000 horses, 3,000,000 cattle, 2,000,000 sheep,
and 5,000,000 goats. Taking the whole of North America, and making
allowances for the increase since 1888 in Canada and Mexico, it may
be fairly assumed that at the close of the century there will be about
19,000,000 horses and mules, 55,000,000 cattle, 50,000,000 sheep, and
40,000,000 swine.
In South America, Argentina far outstrips all other countries in animal
production. The horses, which in 1864 numbered 3,875,000, had increased
by 1895 to 4,447,000; the cattle increased in the same period from
10,215,000 to 21,702,000; the sheep, from 23,110,000 to 74,380,000. The
population in 1895 was only 3,964,000. In Uruguay there were, in 1895,
402,348 horses, 5,248,000 cattle, and 14,333,000 sheep. In Paraguay
there were, in 1896, 246,000 horses and 2,100,000 cattle. The last
returns from Chili (1882?) give 450,000 horses, 1,530,000 cattle, and
2,500,000 sheep. As to the condition in Brazil, we have no reliable
statistics.
The animal industries of Australasia have shown the most wonderful
development during the century. In 1800, there were but 200 horses,
1040 cattle, and 6100 sheep. In 1810, there were 1130 horses, 12,440
cattle, 25,900 sheep, and 9540 swine. In 1896, there were 1,923,554
horses, 12,701,600 cattle, 110,524,000 sheep, and 1,000,000 swine.
In Asia there are large numbers of animals, but it is impossible to
give statistics, except for British India, where, in 1895, there were
1,152,000 horses, 49,000,000 cattle, and 17,200,000 sheep.
Mr. Simonds endeavored to ascertain the number of each class of live
stock in the world in 1890, and his conclusions may be accepted as
approximately correct. He placed the total number of horses in all
countries at 63,469,000, the asses and mules at 10,318,000, the cattle
at 309,807,000, the sheep at 588,935,000, the swine at 102,526,000, and
the goats at 59,971,000.
III. IMPROVEMENT OF BREEDS OF ANIMALS.
The increased number of animals now held in various parts of the
world does not give an adequate idea of the enlarged production of
animal food products, as compared with one hundred years ago. During
the last century there has been constant improvement in the various
breeds of animals, with a view to perfect their form and shorten
the time required for their growth. The breeder has learned how to
stimulate development, and has fixed the quality of early maturity,
through hereditary influence, until it is now transmitted with the same
regularity as are other characteristics.
Cattle are no longer fed until they are three or four years old before
being sent to the butcher, and it has been found that they can be
made to yield an equal quantity of beef of better quality at eighteen
months to two years. It is the flesh of such young animals which has
been much discussed under the title of “baby beef.” Not only is this
beef commended on account of its tenderness, its high nutritive value,
and the more even distribution of fat through the muscular tissue, but
because this shortening of the feeding period enables the farmer to
produce a greatly increased quantity of human food from the same number
of acres. That is, by reducing the age at which bullocks are marketed
from three and one half years, as was formerly the rule, to twenty
months, it is possible for the same farm to produce one third more
animals in a given series of years.
It may be admitted that not all of the stock of beef-producing animals,
nor even the greater part of it, has acquired this extreme degree
of early maturity, but most of it has developed somewhat in this
direction. The large-boned, gaunt, and long-horned cattle of Texas have
nearly disappeared, and even in Mexico they are being rapidly replaced
by others of better quality. The most important fact is that breeds
exist which can be depended upon for the speedy transformation of the
entire stock of cattle when the necessity arises.
A similar hastening of maturing has been accomplished with the
mutton breeds of sheep, with numerous varieties of swine, and to a
considerable extent with poultry.
[Illustration: A TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. (HERRING.)]
The development of the dairy breeds of cattle has also been remarkable.
It can be best appreciated by contrasting the half wild cows of our
Western plains, which yield but two or three quarts of milk a day at
their best, and none for half of the year, with the highly specialized
types which produce twenty to thirty quarts daily when in full flow,
and with which the milk secretion continues from year to year without
interruption.
The yield of butter has been increased equally with that of milk,
and among the dairy breeds there are some which are specially valued
because of their aptitude for butter production. While the unimproved
cow yields but one fourth to one half pound of butter a day, good
specimens of the best breeds produce from one and one half to three
pounds, and in numerous instances still greater quantities.
In the production of wool there has also been a wonderful advance. The
fibre has been increased in length, the fleece has been distributed
more uniformly over the surface of the body, and the quality of
the fibre has been modified to conform to the requirements for
manufacturing the infinite varieties of fabrics demanded by modern
civilization. The fleece of to-day is probably three times as heavy as
that of a century ago.
The improvement in the Merino type has been truly wonderful. Not only
have the beautiful long and silky wools of the Rambouillet and Saxony
breeds been developed by persistent selection, but the body of the
Merino, formerly small and almost useless for its flesh, has been
brought to a standard closely approaching that of the best mutton
breeds.
It is unfortunate that the changes of fashion have, during the latter
part of the century, made the production of the extra fine wools less
profitable than the coarse varieties, and that, as a consequence, many
flocks which had been bred to the very highest degree of perfection in
this direction have gone to the shambles, and their peculiar points of
excellence have been lost.
[Illustration: ART CRITICS. (GEBLER.)]