It is claimed that even a sea-level canal would require a lock at the Pacific end because of the enormous difference, sometimes 20’ between high and low tides. Even the majority of the Board of Consulting Engineers, the supporters of the sea-level type, considered such a lock necessary. Since they made their report, however, a noted scientist, Dr. C. Lely, formerly minister of waterworks of Holland, has made an extended study of the question and states that the currents in a sea-level canal at Panama would not exceed those now common at Suez, namely, 2½ miles per hour. On the other hand six huge locks are to be built on the lock canal, and they must be used at every passage of a boat. Their upkeep and operation will be a constant source of expense which would not exist in a sea-level canal. If one pair of locks is destroyed or put out of commission, the whole canal will be disabled and useless. Not only is this so, but they are a constant source of danger. The destruction of the gates of an upper lock, which is by no means an unknown occurrence, would allow the upper lake to empty into the canal channel, and probably destroy everything to the sea, including the dams. That such accidents can occur was demonstrated at the Welland Canal when a small steamer struck one gate and continuing her progress crashed through four other separate gates, the locks being 240 feet long. Again, at the Manchester Canal a vessel collided with a gate and carried it away, allowing the water to escape in such great volumes that it caused the other gates to give way also. Some conception of the force held in leash by the gates at Panama may be gained when it is stated that the “fall from the upper lock at Gatun to the empty second lock is over five times the rate of fall in the Whirlpool Rapids at Niagara and the depth is greater”. It is true that various safety devices are to be installed at the locks but they can serve only to minimize not eliminate a danger which would not exist on a sea-level canal. The curvature in the proposed sea-level canal is gentle, but for 19 miles of its course a large ship would continually be changing direction in a channel having a width of from one-fourth to one-fifth of her own length and in a current which may be as great as 5 feet per second. On the Manchester Canal all large vessels are aided by two tugs whose duty it is to help in steering. Through the above mentioned 19 miles speed could not exceed 6 miles an hour, and whenever a ship going the opposite direction passed, one or the other would have to stop and tie up to the shore as they do on the Suez Canal.