It would be impossible to do more than give a general idea of the operations carried on in this vast establishment, every portion of which was thrown open to the members of the Institution, while numbers of heads of departments went round and answered every question, and explained every detail with a frankness and a courtesy beyond praise. It is impossible to inspect such an establishment as that at Val St. Lambert without feeling how hard is the battle which manufacturers in this country have to fight. There, as we have said, are to be found every advantage of position, and to this is added a body of workmen, active, sober, industrious, among whom is heard no talk of strikes, and who are content to work every day and all day long; such men, directed by heads possessed of no small scientific ability, and re-enforced by the command of ample capital, cannot fail to make a mark in any market, and we only speak the truth when we regret that we have not such works and such men on English soil as there are to be found at Val St. Lambert. * * * * * MEASURING STARCH GRANULES. It is well known that the microscopist can readily distinguish potato starch from all other starches by the size of the grains. Saare has found that the size of the potato starch granules increases with the quality of the starch. In first quality starch they have an average diameter of 33 micro-millimeters, in second grade 21, in third grade 17, in the rinsing water 12, and in that floated off on the water only 8 micro-millimeters. Saare's paper may be found in full in the _Zeitschrift fur Spiritusindustrie_, vi., 482. * * * * * PROPER SHOEING. In his article on horseshoeing Mons. Lavalard makes some good points, and also some that appear to me to be erroneous. He says, in regard to the frog, "It is evident, then, that the frog helps the hold, but strange to say, it alone of the three parts has a share in the hold when the hoof is shod." We see nothing strange about this where horses travel over hard roads; the case is otherwise on soft roads or race tracks. It is easy to make the ground surface of such shape that it will have sufficient hold, without the action of the frog. In the shod foot, the frog has more to do with keeping the foot healthy than assisting in the hold. With horses used for speeding purposes, the frog helps to sustain the sole of the foot, as when the foot is brought down with great force and the road soft enough to receive the imprint of the shoe. He further says that: "Simultaneous with this preservation and regeneration of the frog, the hold of the horse becomes firmer, and more equally divided toward the heels, and when starting a load, there is no clamping with the toe of the hoof, but the foot is brought down flat."