Submarine tunnels, or tunnels excavated under the beds of rivers, lakes, etc., have been constructed in large numbers during the last quarter of a century, and the projects for such tunnels, which have not yet been carried to completion, are still more numerous. Among the more notable completed works of this character may be noted the tunnel under the River Severn and those under the River Thames in England, the one under the River Seine in France, those under the St. Clair, Detroit, Hudson, Harlem and East Rivers, and the one under the Boston Harbor for railways, that under the East River for gas mains, that under Dorchester Bay, Boston, for sewage, and those under Lakes Michigan and Erie for the water supply of Milwaukee, Chicago, Buffalo, and Cleveland in America. For the details of the various projected submarine tunnels of note, which include tunnels under the English and Irish Channels, under the Straits of Gibraltar, under the sound between Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmö in Sweden, under the Messina Straits between Italy and Sicily, and under the Straits of Northumberland between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and those connecting the various islands of the Straits of Behring, the reader is referred to the periodical literature of the last few years. Previous to attempting the driving of a submarine tunnel it is necessary to ascertain the character of the material it will penetrate. This fact is generally determined by making diamond-drill borings along the line, and the object of ascertaining it is to determine the method of excavation to be adopted. If the material is permeable and the tunnel must pass at a small depth below the river bed, a method will have to be adopted which provides for handling the difficulty of inflowing water. If, on the other hand, the tunnel passes through impermeable material at a great depth, there will be no unusual trouble from water, and almost any of the ordinary methods of tunneling such materials may be employed. Shallow submarine tunnels through permeable material are usually driven by the shield method or by the compressed air method, or by a method which is a combination of the first and second.