4-H 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



by Commander Gorringe, for the difficulties 

 he had to meet, whether proceeding from 

 the tempers of men or the stolidity of nat- 

 ural forces, and the means by which he 

 overcame them, are clearly described and 

 illustrated in the interesting and often amus- 

 ing narrative that forms the first third of 

 the volume. The account of Commander 

 Gorringe's experiences in getting the great 

 stone afloat and across the ocean is supple- 

 mented by descriptions of the methods, also 

 illustrated, by which other obelisks have 

 been transported to Paris, London, and 

 Rome. The rest of the book is mainly his- 

 torical and archaeological. In it are in- 

 cluded a review of the " Archaeology of the 

 JS"ew York Obelisk," its symbolism, trans- 

 lations of the inscriptions on it, and its his- 

 tory ; a " a Record of all Egyptian Obe- 

 lisks," with photographs, and translations 

 of their inscriptions ; and " notes on the 

 ancient methods of quarrying, transporting, 

 and erecting obelisks," including all that is 

 known on the subject. The final chapter, 

 arranged by Professor Persifer Frazer, de- 

 scribes the analyses of the materials and 

 metals found with the obelisk, and is illus- 

 trated by polariscopic sections of rocks. 

 The work thus combines a narrative of per- 

 sonal adventure and professional achieve- 

 ment, an exhaustive historical and archaeo- 

 logical account of Egyptian obelisks, and the 

 results of scientific study, in a setting in 

 which no expense seems to have been spared 

 to make it worthy of the subject, and to 

 leave nothing wanting. 



Experimental Researches into the Prop- 

 erties and Motions oe Fluids, with 

 Theoretical Deductions therefrom. 

 By W. Ford Stanley. London: E. & 

 F. N. Spon. 1881. Pp. 538. Price, 

 86. 



Having been engaged in an experiment- 

 al examination of the undulatory theory of 

 fight, from which he was obliged to desist 

 on account of failing eye-sight, Mr. Stanley 

 took up this subject, he tells us, from the 

 interest awakened by the previous work, 

 and in the hope of making clear to his own 

 mind certain points left obscure by his pre- 

 vious investigations. It soon, however, ap- 

 peared to him that " there was yet an im- 

 mense amount of work to be done in re- 



searches in the motions of fluids before 

 theoretical principles of the sciences of hy- 

 drodynamics and acoustics could be fixed 

 upon mechanical principles with any great 

 precision," and he consequently entered 

 upon the extended investigations set forth 

 in the present volume. Of the unsatisfac- 

 tory state of much of the work in this 

 branch of physics the author instances the 

 case of wave-motions on water. The true 

 procedure in this case is to determine the 

 manner in which waves are produced on the 

 surface of water by the action of the wind, 

 and then, as a secondary consideration, to 

 investigate the action of gravity in bringing 

 the surface to equilibrium. The reverse of 

 this order, the author asserts, is usually fol- 

 lowed, the question being made a case of 

 the oscillations of fluids through gravitation 

 only, and thus begged, as you have then to 

 assume the wave in existence, while its pro- 

 duction is the thing to be accounted for. 



The first three chapters, the author 

 states, are speculative, and he puts them 

 forth simply as helping to a clearer concep- 

 tion of the nature of a fluid. In the fourth 

 chapter he develops a theory of rolling con- 

 tact of fluids moving upon static bodies ; and 

 in the fifth and sixth chapters he offers 

 principles of conic resistance in fluids which 

 give simple mechanical laws for the class of 

 motions known as vortices, eddies, and cy- 

 clones. The eighth chapter is devoted to 

 an exposition of the " principles of motive 

 resistance to the projection of free solids in 

 extensive fluids," and the ninth to the " dif- 

 fusion of flowing forces in fluids." 



These nine chapters constitute the first 

 section of the work, the principles estab- 

 lished in which are applied to the elucidation 

 of the manifold phenomena of natural cur- 

 rents produced by the combined effects of 

 heat, gravitation, and the earth's rotation. 

 In the third and closing section of his work 

 Mr. Stanley takes up the subject of the for- 

 mation of waves upon the surface of water, 

 on which he reaches conclusions not mate- 

 rially different from those of M. Flangergues 

 and Mr. Scott Russell. A fourth section 

 upon sound-motions in fluids, which should 

 have made a part of the present treatise, 

 the author withholds from publication until 

 he has opportunity to go over the subject 

 again, with the help, which he anticipates 



