Is it practicable? An excellent authority, although, no doubt, a little of the “go-a-head” class, says, “Yes,” and informs the world that there is judicious “provision for gas lighting, water pipes, electric telegraph and proper drainage, and indeed all that can be desired to make the passage through the tunnel as safe and comfortable as transit on the Metropolitan Railway.” On the other hand, there is the opinion of Mr. Hawkshaw, whose borings we have just referred to. Have they been extended as far to the westward as the diagonal line, or course, proposed by Mr. Remington, and do the “faults” extend to a depth of from 80 to 130 feet below the bed of the ocean? At all events, thinking it would interest our readers, we have had engraved the section of the tunnel from the drawing of it, which was recently published in _Engineering_, and it is herewith inserted. There is no incident or occurrence in life, no matter how solemn or serious it may be, that cannot, in some way or another, contribute to travestie and amusement. We shall therefore, conclude our notice of “Tunnels suggested,” with the following piece of pleasantry extracted from a recent number of the _Scientific American_—“A gigantic engineering project is now the sensation out West—a tunnel under the Atlantic for a railway! The plans are already supposed to be drawn up, complete in detail. Even to lighting the cars with the magnesium and electric lights. The undertaking is to employ one hundred thousand men for thirty years, and when completed it will take the trains but five days to do the journey from Newfoundland to Ireland, _viâ_ the telegraph route. The amount of capital required is estimated at two billions five hundred million dollars.” Well may the Editor of _Engineering_ lift up his hands and exclaim, GOOD GRACIOUS! [Illustration: THE MONT CENIS TUNNEL RAILWAY LONGITUDINAL SECTION] [Illustration: SECTION OF THE MONT CENIS RAILWAY JAMES BRUNLEES ESQ^R. ENGINEER.] CHAPTER XIII. THE GREAT TUNNEL OF THE ALPS—TUNNEL VENTILATION—VENTILATION IN THE METROPOLITAN RAILWAY. By some authorities, the great tunnel of the Alps is called the “Mont Cenis Tunnel.” But this appellation is a misnomer, as the tunnel is as far as 15 miles distant from the Cenis Mountain. It is in reality carried through the Great Vallon Mountain, the narrowest of the Alpine range which separates France from Italy. Nevertheless, between the spot where the tunnel enters the mountain at Modane, on the French side, and makes its exit at Bardoneche on the Italian, there is an intervening distance of more than 7½ miles. It is opposite to Fourneaux, a village 1½ mile from the village of Modane, that the Modane entrance of the tunnel commences. It is 3,709 feet above the level of the sea, and it is at an elevation of about 150 feet over the roadway of the Mont Cenis Pass, between St. Michel and Lanslebourg. It is visible on the right hand side as a traveller is going from France towards Italy.