October 30, 1890] 



NA TURE 



635 



are told that "vessels of nearly 200 feet in ividth propel 

 themselves through the canal." This must be a misprint. 



Of the Panama Canal we find a good descriptive 

 account. The many early surveys made to locate the 

 best course for such a project are described, and it is 

 interesting to note that as early as the year 1588 the 

 proposal to construct such a canal is recorded. The 

 floating of the original company, the commencement of 

 the works, and the ultimate complete failure of these 

 • works, are well described by the author. Everything 

 appears to have happened to seriously hamper the work 

 on every side : political strife on the isthmus delayed the 

 work ; an act of incendiarism destroyed a number of 

 buildings erected for the purpose of the canal ; and the 

 heavy mortality among the employh obtained an un- 

 enviable notoriety, and rendered the supply of good men 

 uncertain. Bad as these events proved, the real reason 

 for the ultimate failure of this undertaking must ever be 

 I ascribed to the insufficient data obtained of the country 

 and of its geological formation by the company's en- 

 gineers ; the original estimates have proved to be 

 understated and entirely wrong, and the many engineering 

 difficulties must have been practically overlooked. 



The Report of the Special Commission appointed in 1889 

 to inquire into the affairs of the company was published 

 in May, and describes in detail the position of the 

 undertaking. It is estimated that some 30 millions will 

 be required to finish it, so that its ultimate construction 

 does not appear very probable. 



The projected Nicaraguan Canal, a purely American 

 project, is also described. The author says : — " The dis- 

 tance from ocean to ocean by the route that has recently 

 received the approval of the United States Government, 

 and is now in course of apparent realization, is i69"8 

 miles. Of actual canal there will be 40'3 miles, the 

 remaining I29"5 miles being free navigation through 

 Lake Nicaragua, the Rio San Juan, and the valley of the 

 Rio San Francisco." 



Chapter xxiii. brings us home again, and deals with the 

 Manchester Ship Canal, a monument of engineering now 

 fast reaching completion. From the excellent description 

 given of these works the reader will obtain a good idea of 

 the undertaking generally. 



Chapter xxiv. commences Section III., and deals with 

 the transport problem with special reference to railways 

 and canals. The question of railways versus canals is 

 here discussed, and the steady decline of canal navigation 

 from the date of the commencement of railway compe- 

 tition is pointed out. The author says that at that time, 

 " one by one, canals dropped out of the race, and were 

 bought up by the railway companies, either with a view 

 to getting^ rid of competition, and so securing absolute 

 control over the traffic, or in order to make way for new 

 railway lines." Curiously enough, the Engineer of the 

 3rd inst., in a leading article on this subject, illustrates 

 the above quotation by a reference to the Sheffield Canal, 

 which has been allowed by the present owners — the 

 Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway Com- 

 pany — to silt up and become nearly useless. 



The railways in this and other countries are getting 

 to be considered gross monopolies, and the improve- 

 ments in the canal navigations are being looked upon 

 as a means of relief. The Manchester Ship Canal 

 NO. 1096, VOL. 42] 



is the firstfruits of this feeling on the part of traders 

 and manufacturers, and other ship canals are being 

 talked of. 



On the comparative cost of water and land transport 

 the author has much to say. In discussing the relative 

 cost of carriage in the States and in this country, we 

 must not forget that the capital charges per mile on open 

 lines in this country cannot fairly be compared with those 

 in the States, for the reason that the land was in the first 

 instance bought from landowners anxious to obtain the 

 largest sum ; the average station buildings and fixed 

 plant are of a far more expensive description ; and the 

 kind of traffic carried is of a different type. 



The railways in the United States appear to be able to 

 carry goods at a remarkably low rate, no doubt severe 

 competition for the traffic being the reason ; at the same 

 time, excluding capital charges and the like, the amount of 

 coal burnt per ton mile in this country is far below that 

 used by the American locomotives. 



If traffic is to be moved from town to town at the 

 cheapest rate, it is necessary that it shall be moved in 

 large masses, or trains. It is on this account that the 

 American traffic can be transported by railway cheaper 

 than in this country: were it possible in England to 

 obtain a steady through traffic in any large volume, the 

 weight of trains hauled would certainly increase, and the 

 rates would probably drop in proportion. Canals, when 

 properly managed and with proper appliances, ought to 

 carry heavy traffic with the same regularity as the rail- 

 ways ; but as long as they are controlled by the railway 

 companies, they are, in the nature of things, bound to 

 decay and become a secondary means of transport. 



The author explains in chapter xxviii. various mechanical 

 means of haulage in vogue at the present time, and then 

 goes on to deal with locks, planes, sluice-gates, and the 

 like. The volume concludes with a chapter on the 

 acquisition by the State of the waterways. The subject 

 is handled in a masterly manner. In this book we have 

 a large amount of information put together in a read- 

 able form, and no doubt it will prove very useful to those 

 interested in a very important subject. N. J. L. 



SANITY AND INSANITY. 

 Sanity and Insanity. By Charles Mercier, M.B., Lecturer 

 on Insanity at the Westminster Hospital Medical 

 School, and at the Medical School for Women. The 

 Contemporary Science Series. (London : Walter Scott, 

 1890.) 



TO bring the facts of any department of knowledge 

 before the non-scientific in an easily assimilable 

 form, without offence to the good taste of some one or 

 other section of the community, is by no means so simple 

 a matter as the prolific literature of this class in late 

 years might seem to indicate. It is not every author or 

 lecturer, however able as a man of science, who can thus 

 cater satisfactorily for an omnivorous, but captious and 

 critical public. Every mechanics' institute and popular 

 lecture- room exemplifies this truth — the enthusiasm of the 

 aspirant to public honours in this field is often inversely 

 proportional to his qualifications and actual attainments. 

 The first requisite condition is that the author be 



