^g SCIENCE PROGRESS 



the Preface the author writes : " The difficulty with which I have been confronted is 

 hit there is really no aspect of engineering that is not replete with romance," and 



he has "sacrificed the more mechanical side of the work"; in consequence 

 the majority of the examples illustrating the romance of engineering are taken 

 from civil rather than from mechanical engineering. In this, the author is certainly 

 not at fault and his chapters on Canals, Railway Construction, Tunnels, Min.ng, 

 Docks, Harbours and Breakwaters-just to mention a few-seem, under his pen, 

 to be one long chapter of romance. 



On the other hand the reader is never allowed to forget that he is reading the 

 "romance of reality," and stern hard facts are introduced here and there with excel- 

 lent results In the chapter on Tunnels we read : " The Mont Cenis tunnel took 

 thirteen years to build, and cost its promoters ,£3,000,000, the average price for 

 each yard of work completed being ^226 .... The Mont Cenis tunnel pro- 

 gressed at the rate of 7| ft. a day ; the Arlberg tunnel, masonry and all, was 

 completed at the rate of just over 9 yds. a day, and at a cost of only £108 a yard." 

 Also in the chapter on Mining there is food for serious thought in the figures given 

 of the growth of the annual coal consumption in England. The table begins with 

 2,000,000 tons in 1735 and ends with 180,000,000 tons in 1910 ! 



Apart from selecting suitable engineering examples the author is particularly 

 happy in selecting passages from the writings of scientists and engineers. 

 That from Mr. Edgar P. Rathbone in the chapter on Mining is particularly 

 good, and contains an American definition of a mine—" a hole in the ground with 

 a fool at the bottom and a rogue at the top." 



Of the many examples a further one must suffice— a long quotation from 

 the Thomas Hawksley Lecture by Mr. E. B. Ellington : " Peace and the 

 accumulation of wealth are essential to industrial progress ... the remarkable 

 development of science and engineering which has characterised the last 150 

 years would have been anticipated by many centuries if it had not been for the 

 waste of war and loss of wealth incurred in gratifying the ambition and the 

 luxurious tastes of the rulers." 



The author does not stint his own opinions, and these are at once vigorous 

 and sound, although at times an engineer might be inclined to disagree with the 

 more technical statements. On p. 3 the author says : "The aeroplane is a single 

 application of the persistent efforts made in all directions to master the principles 

 of mechanics." On p: 118 we read : "Without the discovery of mineral oil and its 

 products, we should, as regards aerial flight, still be in the Icarus days of classical 

 times" In the Preface we have : " I have omitted, too, all reference to the 

 conquest of the air, the progress of which is now a matter of everyday interest. . . . 

 Throughout, I have aimed at avoiding all technicality, as, though technical know- 

 ledge and skill is the basis of engineering, it is not, to my mind, in the technical 

 side of the work that its romance really is." The majority would agree with the 

 author ; but the engineer would say that if there was any romance in the conquest 

 of the air, it is due to the untiring efforts of the mechanical engineer to produce 

 an engine developing an enormous amount of power in relation to its weight, 

 and able to work for long periods at a time— an almost impossible problem. 



We can heartily recommend this book to all classes of readers. 



J. Wemyss Anderson. 



