lOO 



NA TURE 



[May 30, 189; 



the velocity of the flow cannot be computed from a know- 

 ledge of the slope. The character of the ground over 

 which the rain falls — that is, the dejrree of permeability — 

 is a fruitful source of uncertainty in predicting the 

 probable rise. There are many other obvious sources of 

 error, so that no one can be surprised to learn that the 

 theoretical determination of a river rise cannot be treated 

 as a problem in hydraulics. Without a system of gauges 

 along the river, predictions are scarcely possible. With 

 their employment, the problem becomes more or less one 

 of practice and experience. This remark may be illus- 

 trated by shoiving how the rise of the river may be pre- 

 dicted for Pittsburg, a place where the observations of 

 rainfall simply, are of little use in foretelling with accuracy 

 th2 height to which the river will rise. The rise is pre- 

 dicted from observations of the rise at stations above the 

 town, or on tributaries. Gauges are maintained at Oil 

 City, Brookville, Confluence, Rowlesburg, Weston, and 

 Johnstown. These towns lie both north and south of 

 I'ittsburg, and the greatest separation may amount to two 

 hundred miles. The height of the river and its tributaries 

 at each of these places not only exercises a difterent effect 

 at Pittsburg, presumed to be proportional to the square 

 root of the areis drained by the rivers at each station, but 

 the height of the river at Pittsburg itself has also to be 

 taken into the account. The higher the stage at Pitts- 

 burg, the less will the river be affected by the same rise at 

 the upper stations. " It is assumed that the rise multiplied 

 by the mean stage during the rise is comparable through- 

 out different stages for Pittsburg." The factors deduced 

 from the area drained vary from 2"i for Oil City to o"i at 

 Weston, and the observed rise between two consecutive 

 days multiplied by these factors can be easily tabulated to 

 exhibit the expected rise at Pittsburg. Mr. Russell has 

 worked out some examples to show the successful appli- 

 cation of this method. On February 16, 1891, the calcu- 

 lated height of the stage was 31 '3 feet ; the observed, 32 

 feet. On February 6, 1893, the calculated height was 23 

 feet ; the observed, 23'i. It does not appear how far 

 these examples are illustrative of the success attending 

 the general application, but the system seems to leave 

 nothing to be desired. The author takes us regularly 

 down the Ohio River to Cincinnati, Louisville, and Cairo, 

 the junction with the Mississippi, illustrating the moditica- 

 cations which var>-ing conditions may render nccessar>'. 

 The Missouri and the .Mississippi also receive their share 

 of attention, and the book forms a very practical guide for 

 those interested in such matters. The value of the whole 

 process rests on the provision of a sufficient number of 

 well-placed gauges, and a long series of observations, 

 from which may be learnt the probable behaviour of llie 

 river under all circumstances. It is in this direction, ap- 

 parently, that Mr. Russell, of Sydney, finds his oppor- 

 tunity, and the great mass of facts that he is collecting 

 will be of the greatest use as the colony becomes more 

 thickly peopled. We do not understand that he has yet 

 arrived at the stage of predicting with accuracy and con- 

 fidence the vertical rise .ind fall of the rivers over which 

 he watches. His pan, if apparently less interesting, is not 

 less useful ; and he is to be congratulated on the spread 

 of his system of observations and his successful overthrow 

 of many difficulties. 



NO. 13.35. VOL. 52] 



AN ALBUM OF CLASSICAL AXTIQUITIES. 

 Atlas pf Classical AntiqiiHit-s. By Th. Schreibcr. Edited 

 for English use, by I'rof W. C. .Anderson, of Kirth 

 College, Sheffield. (London: Macmillan, 1S95.) 



THIS work should hardly be called an Atlas, since, 

 though it contains a vast amount of matter, the 

 disjointed arrangement is by no means that of an .Atlas. 

 The abundance of illustrations, however, makes the book 

 exceedingly valuable to the student. 



But although there may be, and is the faciiiuliit. the 

 hicidiis ordo is frequently wanting. Still, by the help of 

 the excellent trilinqual index, supplied by the English 

 editor, this defect is much remedied. 



The book should also be judged by reference to wli:it 

 it aims to be. If considered as a work addressed to 

 artists or specialists, great deficiencies in the technical 

 execution of the plates would have to be complained of ; 

 but it should be looked at mainly as a series of rough 

 sketches of ancient life as revealed to us through art, for 

 the instruction of students in literature and commencing 

 arclueologists, or as a general book of reference. The 

 above remarks refer entirely to Herr Schreiber's plates ; 

 nothing but praise should be accorded to Prof Anderson 

 as translator and expositor. The aim of the work is 

 sufficiently stated in the preface. 



''There springs up a desire for facts — facts as to the life 

 of the ancients, their laws and their customs, their beliefs 

 and their cults. Because no fact is despicable from the 

 point of view of science, we further look into their daily life 

 — the fashion of their dress and their houses, the arrange- 

 ments of the theatre and the market-place. .And since no 

 source of facts can be so perfectly trustworthy as the works 

 of contemporary art, those works gain an interest, arising 

 not merely from their own beauty, but as tlic crystallisation 

 of the visible life of the people, a mirror of their thought 

 preserved to us like many actual (ireek mirrors in the 

 g^raves of the dead." 



The series of plates begins with theatres and acting ; 

 and with respect, at least, to Roman or Romanised 

 Greek theatres, they are very fully illustrated, both 

 .as regards the fabric and the actor, but there is a 

 remarkable absence of the characteristics of the Greek 

 theatre as distinguished from the Roman, which have 

 been much under discussion of late years. Plate iii.. 

 Fig. 3, howe\er, introduces a representation of the raised 

 stage or Aoy«oi', which, if the dale ascribed to it in the 

 text be accurate, bears strongly .against the theory that 

 all the action took place on the level of the orchestra 

 until the raised//////////// was introduced by the Romans. 

 In Plate ix. we see that some of our modern building 

 appliances have been in continuous use since classical 

 times. In Plate x.. Fig. 3, after Uurm, the contrivance 

 of the wooden blocks and pin in the joints of the columns 

 of the Parthenon is not .accurately shown, and it is there- 

 fore not surprising that in the text a difficulty is hinted at. 

 The smaller shallow circle was not provided for the pur- 

 pose of receiving a wooden cylinder to turn in. This was 

 the function of the smaller pin or cylinder of hard wood, 

 which was centred in the square wooden blocks which 

 were fixed in each bed of the joint. The sh.illow circle 

 in the stone was provided to receive the detritus caused 

 by rubbing the stones together. In the same plate 

 ornament is shown on the echinus of ihe Doric capital. 



