4 i6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cries and their consequent social changes 

 brought about one development after another 

 in the forms and methods of the architect. 

 Both of these books are liberally illustrated 

 with engravings of the world's best works in 

 the departments considered, or when mis- 

 takes are presented as warnings of some 

 that are not so good. 



PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF WERNEK TON 

 SIEMENS. Translated by W. C. COUPLAND. 

 New York : D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 406. 

 Price, $5. 



WE have already given the readers of the 

 Monthly a foretaste of this delightful book 

 in the sketch of Dr. Siemens, published in 

 the October number, the data for which were 

 derived from it. The book affords abundant 

 instances of racy incident and adventure, 

 keen character sketches, and historical remi- 

 niscences. The author came to the task of 

 composing his recollections with a hesita- 

 tion he need not have felt, for all the care 

 they called for to give them the living in- 

 terest they possess was the simple telling 

 of them just as they presented themselves. 

 But he was desirous of being his own chroni- 

 cler, in order to preclude the possibility of 

 future misunderstanding and misrepresenta- 

 tion of his endeavors and actions, "and I 

 have an idea also," he adds, " that it will be 

 instructive and stimulating to the coming 

 generation to be shown precisely how a young 

 man, without inherited resources and influen- 

 tial supporters nay, even without proper pre- 

 liminary culture may, solely through his own 

 industry, rise and do something useful in the 

 world. ... I shall, however, at the same 

 time try to indicate those inner and outer 

 forces which have borne me through weal 

 and woe to the desired goals, and which have 

 made the evening of my life an easy and 

 sunny one." All this we find in the book 

 duly presented, with the result, probably, of 

 making the work a more interesting one than 

 if the author had been bound by restraints 

 and conventionalities. As we read, we are 

 shown the surroundings and conditions of 

 his childhood and youth, the salient traits 

 of his various instructors, his joys and mis- 

 haps at school, his first experiments, and 

 the adventures to which they led him ; his 

 military and political experiences, his intro- 

 duction to commercial and public life, the 



gradual development of his inventions and 

 enterprises, and the impression they made 

 upon the arts and industries of the world. 

 The last is, of course, the important feature 

 of the work, around which the other and 

 minor incidents entwine themselves as the 

 vine around the tree trunk. The more we 

 regard his inventions the more we are struck 

 with the importance of the part they fill, and 

 the extent to which they cover the industrial 

 development of the world during the last 

 half century. They include experiments with 

 electricity when that force was still new as a 

 worker ; electroplating, in which Siemens was 

 a pioneer; some of the earliest efforts at 

 electric-telegraph signaling ; the building of 

 the first telegraph lines in Germany ; the 

 carrying of the telegraph through the coun- 

 tries of northern Europe and into Asia ; in 

 connection with these, trials of the relative 

 advantages of underground and overhead 

 wires and experiments in insulation, all of 

 which were then new ; journeys, full of ad- 

 venture, full of amusing and exciting if not 

 often thrilling incident, in connection with his 

 enterprises ; the laying and working of the 

 first electrical submarine batteries ; tentative 

 experiments in cable laying under water ; the 

 laying of the first submarine cables, and the 

 laying of cables thousands of miles in length 

 under all the oceans in all of which Sie- 

 mens had a great part ; the beginnings of 

 electric railroading ; and numerous other in- 

 ventions of greBter or less importance. Then 

 the men with whom Siemens had to do dur- 

 ing his busy life are introduced to us ; per- 

 sons in royal station, statesmen, ambassa- 

 dors, financiers, philosophers, and men of sci- 

 ence the latter classes including, at least in 

 Germany, some of the brightest lights of the 

 half century. Besides the references to them 

 as they come up in the course of the narra- 

 tive, a separate chapter or appendix is given 

 to the account of the author's scientific writ- 

 ings, in which the particular points he wished 

 to bring out in them are more fully indicated. 

 This enables us to mention one which, though 

 only a theory that no one has yet ventured to 

 accept while no one has successfully con- 

 tradicted it must ever be associated with 

 Siemens's deepest scientific studies : his the- 

 ory of the maintenance of the sun's heat and 

 light. 



As may be readily perceived, the Recol- 



