regards their weight, which in many cases appears to be excessive. It is a fact difficult to explain that electromotors have hitherto been so much neglected, whereas dynamos have received all the attention. There are a number of firms in this country whose principal business is to manufacture dynamos, but there is no firm of importance occupied exclusively with the manufacture of motors. Consequently, when motors were required for transmission of energy-as, for instance, in electric railways-the only means of doing the work was by adapting a dynamo to act as a motor, and thus get a rough-andready arrangement, by no means the best which could be devised. This state of things is gradually mending, as some dynamo makers have begun to devote attention to the manufacture of motors. In doing so they are forced to abandon, for the most part, their special " systems,' because the conditions to be fulfilled by dynamos and motors are different. This, however, is rather an advantage than otherwise. Some years ago the first requirement of an electric company who aspired to get the confidence of the public, was to have a special system. This magic word was the key to commercial success-for a time. Now we have grown wiser. We know that prac tical success does not so much depend on the system, as on the men who plan and carry out electrical work; and the less of a special system and the more of general good engineering there is, the better. Many of the general public, and even many of our professional brethren, regard