I So 



A^A TURE 



[June 20, 1901 



water-works constraction and hydraulics, is subdivided 

 into three sections, treating successively of works for the 

 collection, purification and distribution of water, in six, 

 five and six chapters respectively. The works for the 

 collection of water comprise river and canal intakes, the 

 collection of ground-water, impounding reservoirs, earthen 

 dams, masonry dams, and timber, steel, and loose-rock 

 dams ; the section relating to works for the purification 

 of water includes the objects and methods of purification, 

 sedimentation, sand filtration, mechanical filtration and 

 miscellaneous purification processes; and the section 

 dealing with the distribution of water describes systems of 

 pipes for conveying water, conduits and pipe-lines, pump- 

 ing machinery, distributing and equalising reservoirs, 

 the distributing system and operation and maintenance. 

 From this summary of the contents it will be seen that 

 all the principal problems and works relating to water- 

 supplies are duly considered in succession : whilst in 

 several chapters the careful classification of the sub- 

 jects is carried a step further, by the consideration of 

 different branches of the subject to which the chapter 

 is devoted, under separate headings ; and the purport 

 of every main paragraph is clearly indicated by a black- 

 letter heading. Moreover, the descriptions are illus- 

 trated by two hundred and thirty-one figures in the te.xt ; 

 and the quest for further information is greatly facili- 

 tated by a list at the end of each chapter of the prin- 

 cipal publications on the special subject treated of in 

 the chapter. Naturally, on such a subject as masonry 

 dams, for instance, more particulars might be desired 

 than can be compressed into twenty-two pages, espe- 

 cially as a considerable portion of this limited space is 

 occupied by cross sections of notable dams ; and in 

 this case the list at the end of the chapter contains 

 fifty-two references to books, pamphlets, and periodicals 

 describing masonry dams, and six references in addi- 

 tion to failures of these dams ; whilst at the end of the 

 chapter on earthen dams there are twenty-seven refer- 

 ences to descriptions of such dams, and eleven to their 

 failures. The book, indeed, dwells rather upon general 

 principles and problems than on descriptions of works, 

 except in smaller print by way of illustration, and re- 

 liance is placed mainly on the consultation of the pub- 

 lications given in the list for information about details 

 of works. A sound groundwork is presented to the 

 student in a concise form, with reference to the consider- 

 ations affecting the sources and quality of water, and the 

 nature of the works carried out for the collection, purifi- 

 cation, and distribution of water-supplies ; and it is ex- 

 pected that he will add to his knowledge thus acquired 

 by the aid of the authorities indicated, and the teachings 

 of experience. This volume, moreover, though specially 

 valuable to students, should also prove useful to experi- 

 enced engineers, owing to the excellent classification of 

 subjects, the amount of information collected within its 

 pages, and the lists of publications on the various sub- 

 jects ; and whilst engineers will derive special benefit 

 from the full chemical consideration of the quality of 

 water, the diseases transmissible by it, and its purification, 

 chemists interested in water-supplies may gain some 

 advantage from the clear and concise explanations given 

 of the engineering problems and works relating to water- 

 supply. 



NO I 65 I, VOL. 64] 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Leitfadcn dcr ]]\-tlerkHndi'. Gcincinverstdndlich bear- 

 beitet. Von Di'. R. Bornstein, Professor an der Konigl. 

 landwirthschafllichen Hochschule zu Berlin. Pp. 

 viii-|-i8i. (Braunschweig: Meweg und Sohn, 1901.) 

 It is one of the peculiarities of foreign countries that 

 they have professors of meteorology in their universities 

 and departmental colleges, and the book before us 

 reminds us of that fact. It is a professor's book. It 

 gives a survey of the present state of knowledge of the 

 subject in a form suitable for presentation to a class of 

 intelligent and educated students. The arrangement of 

 the text is systematic and methodical, not historical. It 

 begins with the composition of the atmosphere, and then 

 deals with the elements of climate, namely, temperature, 

 moisture, cloud and precipitation. Then it passes on to 

 consider pressure and its relation to wind and weather, 

 and concludes with an account of the weather services of 

 different countries. It is "genieinverstandlich " in the 

 sense that the special application of mathematics to 

 meteorology is not treated in detail. Instruments are 

 referred to and described, but the details of the process 

 of observation and instructions for observers are not 

 considered. 



Within the limits indicated the work is quite success- 

 ful. The most recent developments of the science are 

 appropriately referred to. The portions dealing with 

 thunderstorms and with weather types are especially 

 satisfactory sections, and all the different parts are 

 effective and concise. The more experienced students 

 of the subject will find the references to original sources 

 of information collected together at the end of the book 

 especially useful. They form a short but comprehensive 

 bibliography of the most important recent work on 

 meteorology. They follow the arrangement of the text, 

 but the excellent alphabetical index to the book makes it 

 easy to look out a reference either to a subject or an 

 author. One misses from the index the names of some 

 prominent .American meteorologists, and there are several 

 departments of the science which are only lightly treated ; 

 but, as already stated, the book is a professors presenta- 

 tion of the subject, and is not intended to be exhaustive. 

 The classification of clouds is the international one, 

 under which clouds of certain types are assigned to 

 certain limits of height. The nine plates of cloud forms 

 are excellent reproductions from the International Cloud 

 Atlas. In other respects also the book is well illustrated, 

 and the print and binding are good. 



Mylhs of Greece explained and dated. An Embalmed 

 History from Uranus to Perseus, including the Eleu- 

 sinian Mysteries and the Olympic Games. By George 

 St. Clair. 2 vols. Pp. 796. (London : Williams and 

 Norgate, 1901.) Price lbs. 

 We do not understand what Mr. St. Clair means by an 

 " embalmed history," and we do not think that the work 

 which he calls by this strange title will be of the least 

 use either to archreologists or ethnologists. Mr. St. Clair 

 starts with the preconceived notion that all myths are of 

 astronomical origin, and argues on the basis of this pre- 

 conception, e.g., p. 38, "The voyage of the Argonauts 

 was an astronomic quest, as we must surely recognise 

 as soon as we learn that the golden fleece which they 

 sought belonged to the Ram of the Zodiac "(!) The 

 rest of the book is mostly in this strain. The 

 author cannot prove Hera, Leto, Artemis, Hades, 

 Hephaistos or Uionysos to be astronomical, so calmly 

 says (p. 37) " The shifting of pole and equinox and 

 the sponging-out of constellations — which may have been 

 required by calendar-reforms — have made the mythology 

 to appear less astronomical than it was. . . . Most 

 likely many of the Greek divinities may still be found in 

 the sky, under some alias or disguise." And so forth. 



