REVIEWS 337 



Mathematics for Engineers, Part I. By W. N. Rose, B.Sc. Eng. (Lond.). 

 [Pp. xiv + 510.] (London : Chapman & Hall, 1918. Price 8s. 6d. net.) 



A PROFESSOR of mathematics was recently asked his opinion as to the best text- 

 book on practical mathematics for engineers. His reply was, "any good textbook 

 that is practically mathematics." 



With so vast a science as mathematics, it is desirable — in fact necessary — to 

 follow a definite sequence in the training of engineers. In this matter the 

 author has arranged and developed an excellent scheme which is " practically 

 mathematics." 



At the same time we greatly doubt the wisdom of keeping exclusively to 

 technical, or even scientific, data for the purpose of example. In this volume too 

 much engineering detail is introduced. 



For instance, unless the student has studied and understood his steam engine, 

 and, further, has a very good idea of projection, the example on p. 133, "calculate 

 the weight, in cast-iron, of the D-slide valve shown in fig. 67," will only embarrass — 

 it certainly will not help. On p. 134, fig. 58, is a figure of a plate for a cast-iron 

 tank ; p. 135 has two figures— one, a stamping for a dynamo armature, the other, 

 a link for a chain ; p. 136 has an illustration of a curved cast-iron pipe ; p. 137, a 

 wrought-iron crank ; pp. 138 to 143 contain too many details even to catalogue 

 but one of them — a cast-iron plummer block — the weight of which is required. 

 The article in question is 7 inches long and 2 inches wide. 



The practical engineer would put it on a scale and weigh it. A bunker of 

 irregular shape, only partially filled with coal, would be a much more practical 

 problem. 



The chapter on "the construction of practical charts" is. distinctly useful and 

 very thorough. 



Plane trigonometry occupies 67 pages and should be taken by the author as a 

 typical section when revising his book, as a very great deal of the 474 pages could 

 be eliminated without loss — including many of the illustrations just named — par- 

 ticularly as a book of reference for engineers— one of the primary objects of the 

 author. 



J. Wemyss Anderson. 



The Training and Work of the Chemical Engineer. A general Discussion 

 held by the Faraday Society. [Pp. 60.] (Reprinted from the Transactions 

 of the Faraday Society, Vol. XIII., September 191 7. Price y. 6d.) 



The chemical industry and the chemical and engineering departments of our 

 colleges are under a great debt to the Faraday Society for inaugurating this 

 discussion. 



Where practically every word is weighty it is difficult to differentiate, but it is 

 impossible to pass over the suggestions (1) of Sir Robert Hadfield that "it 

 is evident, therefore, that no one course of training can cover all the requisite 

 ground " ; (2) of Sir George Beilby, particularly where he outlines a new phase of 

 academic activity, " because I hold very strongly that in the later years of the four 

 years' course, which ought to be regarded as the absolute minimum required for 

 all serious chemists, the heads of the department in university and college training 

 laboratories ought to be in a position to differentiate the various leading types of 

 students into investigators, routine workers, and men of administrative ability. 

 The heads of the engineering department might on their part pick out from the 



