until he built one across the Red River at Alexandria, La. About the same time he was constructing over two hundred bridges on the line of a certain Mexican railway; and, although he experimented there with a number of paints, he used at first the Detroit product on most of the metalwork, for the reason that it had given him such satisfaction previously. It had not been applied in the field on these Mexican bridges more than a year before it began to fail and to go to pieces rapidly; and about the same time the paint on the Alexandria bridge showed rapid deterioration.

Of course, other paints were immediately adopted for the remaining Mexican bridges; and the manufacturers of the Detroit paint were notified of the trouble. In consultation it was decided that the paint furnished by the company, while excellent for dry climates, was unsuited for very damp ones, especially where the dampness was combined with heat. Thereupon the Company instituted an elaborate and extensive series of practical tests, and learned therefrom how to manufacture paints suited to all kinds of climates, thus regaining for their product the high reputation for excellence which it had previously enjoyed. Today it is one of the best finishing coats for bridges that the market affords; but the Company's agents are now very careful to enquire where any paint is going to be used before they sell it.

Of all the paints tested on the Mexican bridges previously referred to, there was only one that proved satisfactory for the damp climate of the tierra caliente; and, strange to say, that one was located in the worst possible place for paint endurance, viz., close to the elevation of the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico at the very mouth of a river and not far from the city of Vera Cruz-a place noted for its disagreeable, muggy climate. The paint referred to was Z. P. Leiter's "Air-Drying, Salt-Water-Proof Paint." It had proved to be the best of some twenty standard paints tested at Tampico, Mex., for a large wharf there by the late A. J. Tullock, a noted bridge contractor and the founder of the present Missouri Valley Bridge Company of Leavenworth, Kan. It was because of Mr. Tullock's recommendation that the author tried it at Boca del Rio.

Some six years or more after the bridge was built and finally painted, the author received a letter from the General Manager of the railroad company asking the name of the brand of the paint, and stating that, in spite of its being often drenched with salt spray, it appeared to be in as good condition as new paint.*

Soon after that the author was engaged on the building of an important bridge, having the bottom chords quite close to the salt water, at Vancouver, B. C.; and, naturally, he arranged to use the Leiter paint. The metal-work was  being  manufactured  in  the  shops  of  the  Dominion Bridge Com-

* It has been stated that, since the death of Mr. Leiter, the formula for his Air-Drying, Salt-Water-Proof Paint has been lost. If such be the case, it is truly regrettable, for it certainly was a most effective protection to steel against the attacks of salt-water.