LITERARY NOTICES. 



125 



The Boy Engineers : What they did and 

 HOW THEY did IT. A Book for Boys. 

 By Reverend J. Lukin. New York : 

 G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 344. Price, 

 $1.75. 



This useful book is another result of 

 the author's intelligent interest in the me- 

 chanical education of boys. He has con- 

 tributed various volumes to this object, 

 dealing with the subject in different ways, 

 but all aiming at a practical familiarity 

 with mechanical operations, and successful- 

 ly to combine working and thinking. The 

 " Boy Engineers " begins with the construc- 

 tion of a plain and simple workshop which 

 a couple of boys extemporize, and then it 

 follows them through a course of self-cult- 

 ure in mechanics. They first get up a grind- 

 stone for their purposes and learn to sharp- 

 en tools. Then they make a lathe and go 

 on with the preparation of various work- 

 shop appliances. A wooden clock was next 

 constructed, and then they proceeded to 

 make an organ. Carpentry and the problem 

 of house-construction were next attacked, 

 and after that they devoted themselves to 

 all sorts of mechanical contrivances and 

 operations such as might constitute a fitting 

 preparation for the thorough study of en- 

 gineering. The book is well adapted to in- 

 terest enterprising boys, and is full of ii 

 formation that will be useful to many grown 

 men. 



American Sanitary Engineering. By Ed- 

 ward S. Philbrick, C. E. New York : 

 *' The Sanitary Engineer." 1881. Pp. 

 129. 



In the dozen lectures comprising this vol- 

 ume Mr. Philbrick has made a very excellent 

 statement of the main conditions to be ob- 

 served in sanitary construction, and present- 

 ed the chief considerations which show the 

 need and importance of such work. In his 

 introductory lecture he points out the great 

 progress that has been made toward a high- 

 er standard of cleanliness, and the need of 

 a continuance in the same direction to meet 

 the conditions of modern life. The first of 

 bis two lectures upon ventilation he devotes 

 to a very full statement of the conditions 

 which affect the purity of the air, the vitia- 

 tion of it produced by respiration, lights 

 and fires, the proper amounts of watery 

 vapor for different temperatures, the influ- 



ence of the materials of walls in allowing 

 an air circulation, and the position of the 

 rooms with regard to exposure to the ex- 

 ternal air, the results of the most trust- 

 worthy experiments being given on these 

 points. In the second lecture on this 

 subject the various ways of moving air 

 are considered ; and in this connection the 

 different methods of heating are treated, 

 their several advantages as determined by 

 experience being indicated. In speaking of 

 gaslight he points out what has been fre- 

 quently pointed out before, but has been 

 very little heeded, that, by the simple device 

 of placing a duct above a chandelier, air 

 vitiation by gas can be entirely obviated. 

 This construction also secures excellent ven- 

 tilation. The chapters upon drainage and 

 sewage include a consideration of the dif- 

 ferent systems of sewage disposal, the 

 proper construction of sewers, the means of 

 ventilating them, and brief descriptions of 

 closets, traps, and the various appliances 

 connected with the water-carriage system, 

 which the author regards as the only prac- 

 ticable system for cities. The subject 

 throughout is considered with reference to 

 American climatic conditions. 



The Food of Fishes. By S. A. Forbes. 

 Bulletins of the Illinois State Laboratory 

 of Natural History, November, 1880. 

 Pp. 62. 



The author assumes that, by reason of 

 its isolation from the land and from other 

 water systems, a far more complete and in- 

 dependent equilibrium of organic life and 

 activity is found in a single body of water 

 than in any equal body of land. Hence 

 each form of life must be studied with ref- 

 erence to its relation to other forms and to 

 its whole environment, of which its food 

 relations are one of the most important 

 features. A number of definite general cor- 

 respondences between structure and food 

 are indicated by the study of certain struc- 

 tural conditions about the mouth, throat, 

 and gills of fish, of which it is hoped a full 

 enough knowledge may be reached to en- 

 able the character of the food of an un- 

 known species to be determined by a mere 

 inspection of the fish itself. The present 

 paper is a contribution to the study in these 

 relations of the Acantliopteri. 



