When fitted out for actual service, this novel war cruiser will have a most formidable armament, consisting of four 24 centimeter Hontorio guns (each of 21 tons), six 12 centimeter guns (also of the Hontorio type), six 6 pounder Nordenfelt guns, fourteen small guns, and five torpedo tubes--one at the stern, two amidships, and two at the bow of the ship. It is worthy of note that this war cruiser was constructed in fifteen months, or three months under the stipulated contract time; in fact, the official trial of the vessel took place exactly eighteen months from the signing of the contract. Not only is this the fastest war cruiser afloat, but her owners also possess in the El Destructor what is probably the simplest torpedo catcher afloat, a vessel which has attained a speed of 221/2 knots, or over 26 miles, per hour. --_Engineering._ * * * * * OLIVER EVANS AND THE STEAM ENGINE. A correspondent of the New York _Times_, deeming that far too much credit has been given to foreigners for the practical development of the steam engine, contributes the following interesting _resume_: Of all the inventions of ancient or modern times none have more importantly and beneficently influenced the affairs of mankind than the double acting high pressure steam engine, the locomotive, the steam railway system, and the steamboat, all of which inventions are of American origin. The first three are directly and the last indirectly associated with a patent that was granted by the State of Maryland, in 1787, being the very year of the framing of the Constitution of the United States. In view of the momentous nature of the services which these four inventions have rendered to the material and national interests of the people of the United States, it is to be hoped that neither they nor their origin will be forgotten in the coming celebration of the centennial of the framing of the Constitution.