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Show WHY THE SEINE OVERFLOWED. The unprecedented rise of the Seine river, by which the city of Paris suff ered " incalculable loss through inundation, has been the subject of much speculation among the scientists of France, who, after considering all the circumstances, lay it, not to the heavy and prolonged rains which occurred this year, but to the fact that the soil of the basin drained by the Seine and its tributaries was thoroughly thor-oughly water-soaked before the rains 6et in and hence had lost their ability to absorb moisture. This explanation is probably as good as any other. That the Seine overflowed certainly was due to the fact that too much water fell upon the surface for the channel of the river to accommodate. That is why our American rivers overflow. The Scientific American, in discussing the inundation in-undation of the city of Paris, says one of two plans must be adopted if any guarantee of future safety is to be had. The first is that the Seine must be ; deepened and widened, the bridges with piers removed re-moved and suspension type bridges adopted, or tunnels tun-nels under the river dug. The 6econd plan is to provide pro-vide an extra channel for the river around the city, in which the flood waters may be turned, the channel chan-nel to enter the river at some point below the city. The latter plan, the American points out, was adopted by Vienna to prevent the flooding of the city by the Danube. The cost of either of these two plans would probably be prohibitive. Like our American Amer-ican cities which occupy advantageous positions on navigable rivers, Paris will probably repair the damage dam-age done by the flood and go about its business, waiting for the next inundation and hoping that it will never come. |