The same thing on a larger scale will doubtless take place as a result of the present European War. From the Baltic to the Dardanelles, both sides have sown the waters thick with contact mines, hundreds of which have already broken loose and been cast up on the shores of Denmark, Holland, and other neutral lands. How many more have been picked up on the coasts of the different belligerent countries, the military censors have naturally kept a close secret; how many of these infernal machines are now drifting about the North Sea, the North Atlantic, and the Mediterranean it is impossible to compute. Scarcely a week passes without the publication of such news items as the following extracts from “Current events in Norway,” in the “American-Scandinavian Review” for July-August, 1915: “One hundred and fifty mines had been brought into Bergen up to April 12. The steamer _Caprivi_ of Bergen, which sank after being struck by a mine off the coast of Ireland, was on its way from Baltimore with a cargo of 4150 tons of grain, the property of the Norwegian government.... The German government has declared its willingness to comply with the demand of the Norwegian government for compensation for the _Belridge_, provided it be proved that the sinking of the steamer was the result of a German torpedo. The pieces of the shell found in the side of the vessel are to be sent to the German government, and in case there should be any disagreement about the facts they will be submitted to arbitration.” Unfortunately in most cases where a neutral ship is so sunk, the exploding mine automatically destroys all evidence of its own origin, and each belligerent promptly and positively declares that it must have been planted, if not deliberately set adrift, by the other side. The neutral is left to get what satisfaction he can out of the ruling of the last Hague Conference that all contact mines must be so constructed as to become harmless after breaking loose from their moorings. There is nothing mechanically difficult about installing such a safety device, and all the great powers now at war with each other solemnly pledged themselves to do so. But the temptation of perhaps destroying a hostile battleship as the _Hatsuse_ was destroyed, by a drifting mine, has apparently been too great. Premature explosion of the mine during handling and planting, such as caused the destruction of the _Yenisei_ is, of course, carefully guarded against. One of the simplest and most effective safety devices is that used in the British navy, where the external parts of the exploding apparatus are sealed with a thick layer of sugar, which is dissolved by the sea-water after being submerged for a few minutes. By then the mine-laying vessel has had time to get safely out of the neighborhood.