Although our present steamers are making fast time and are very economical as compared with earlier vessels, still it is a lamentable fact that on the largest and finest of them, furnished with all the latest improvements and best appliances to secure economy, worked by the most careful and intelligent engineers, we succeed in putting into our steam only about one tenth of the heat realized in our boiler fire, the remaining nine-tenths of the heat being lost. Only in proportion as we make our steam hotter, and expanding it more, shall we economize in fuel. In this respect the voyage of the Anthracite is designed by her owners, we presume, to be an eye-opener for steamboat owners, not only in this country but throughout the world. If a little bit of a boat like this, 84 feet long, 16 feet beam, and 10 feet deep, can carry its own coal and water across the Atlantic, with a pressure of 350 to 500 lb. to the inch, and on one pound of coal per horse power, the natural inference is that our great steamers, when fitted with the same system, will realize far better results. The change from three pounds of coal to one pound per horse power means a shaving of two thirds in the coal bill, which is always an enormous item in the expenses of large boats. We ought to add that another peculiarity of the Anthracite is that she uses the same boiler water over and over, only a trifle of fresh water being supplied to make good the slight waste. Our New York steamboat men, who have to pay so dear for Croton water, will be likely to examine the water tank of the Anthracite with interest. * * * * * A STRANGE EPIDEMIC. On the night of Tuesday, June 15, a remarkable epidemic fell upon several towns in western Massachusetts, the town of Adams suffering most severely. Out of a population of 6,000, several hundred--variously estimated from 600 to over 1,000--were prostrated by a disease resembling cholera morbus. The symptoms were first dizziness, then great nausea, followed by vomiting and prolonged purging, and in some cases delirium. A belt of country two or three miles in width and several miles long was thus afflicted, beginning at the west, the whole number of victims being estimated at from 1,200 to 1,500. No deaths are reported. The cause of the epidemic is not known, but seems most likely to have been atmospheric. For some time the weather had been dry and hot. A heavy local rain fell during the evening, and was followed by or attended with a sudden and great lowering of the temperature. A chilly fog hung over the belt of country invaded by the disease, and a heavy "swampy" odor and taste were in the air.