_Lee-Burton_.--The bolt action is the same as the Lee, but the box magazine is attached to the right side of the shoe, instead of being underneath, as in that rifle. When the magazine is raised to its higher position, the cartridges pass successively into the shoe by the action of gravity alone, and are thus pressed home into the chamber by the closing of the bolt. [Illustration: FIG. 11.] A number of the Lee-Burton and improved Lee rifles are now being manufactured for issue to the troops, in order to undergo experimental trials on an extended scale. Several other magazine rifles have the box central magazine, but placed in different positions as regards the shoe and the axis of the bore. In the original pattern of the Jarman (Sweden and Norway), the magazine is affixed to the upper part of the shoe, inclined at a considerable angle to the right hand (see vertical cross section, Fig. 11). Here the operation of gravity obviates the necessity of a magazine spring, but the magazine was found to be very much in the way and liable to be injured. It has therefore been replaced by a magazine underneath the barrel, as in the Kropatschek and other rifles.--_Engineering_. (_To be continued_.) * * * * * PRESERVATIVE LIQUID. For a few weeks' preservation of organic objects in their original form, dimensions, and color, Prof. Grawitz recommends a mixture composed of 2½ ounces of chloride of sodium, 2¾ drachms of saltpeter, and 1 pint of water, to which is to be added 3 per cent. of boric acid.--_Annales des Travaux Publics_. * * * * * KENT'S TORSION BALANCE.