The cuts given herewith, taken from the _Illustrirte Zeitung_, represent two statues for the new Post Office at Leipzig. The sculptor, Kaffsack, has represented the post and the telegraph as winged female figures. The figure representing Mail holds a horn or trumpet in her left hand, and a letter in her right hand. The figure representing Telegraphy holds a bunch of thunderbolts in her left hand, and unrolls a band for receiving dispatches with her right hand. It will be observed that the figure representing Telegraphy is made much lighter and more graceful than the figure representing Mail, and has also a more energetic expression of countenance, thus indicating the greater speed of Telegraphy. [Illustration: ADORNMENTS OF THE NEW POST OFFICE, LEIPZIG, GERMANY.] * * * * * COAL GAS AS A LABOR-SAVING AGENT IN MECHANICAL TRADES. By THOMAS FLETCHER, F.C.S. Gas, as a fuel, is an absolute necessity to the economical carrying out of many commercial processes. It is often used in the crudest and most costly way; a burner may be perfect for one purpose, yet exceedingly wasteful for another, and however good it may be, an error of judgment in its application may lead to its total condemnation. An excess of chimney draught, in cases where a flue is necessary, may pull in sufficient excess of cold air to almost neutralize the whole power of the burner, unless a damper is used with judgment. With solid fuel, an excess of draught causes more fuel to be burnt, but with gas the fuel is adjusted and limited; there is no margin or store of fuel ready to combine with the excess of air, which, therefore, lowers the amount of work done by its cooling power. The power of any burner, for any specified purpose, depends not only on its perfection, but to a far greater extent on the difference in the temperature of the flame and of the object to be heated. For instance, if a bright red heat is required, it is not possible to obtain this temperature economically with any burner working without an artificial blast of air; the difference between the temperature of the flame and that of the object heated is too little to enable the heat to be taken up freely or quickly, and the result is a large loss of costly fuel. If we want to obtain high temperatures economically, an artificial blast of air is necessary, and the heavier the pressure of air, the greater the economy. On the contrary, low temperatures and diffused heat are obtained best by flames without any artificial air supply.