DECEMBER 3, 1903] 
NATURE 
99 
phenomena that baffle him. To fly at once to the 
hypothesis of direct ‘‘ intervention ” by a “* higher in- 
telligence ’’ is as much as to say that a science of life 
is impossible. It is not our province to enter into the 
theological aspects of the matter; we would only re- 
mark that the author’s language on this head appears 
to us to be a curious instance of survival from a bygone 
epoch. When, as in the eighteenth century, deistic 
conceptions 0 nature were rife, the idea of ‘‘ inter- 
ference ’’ or ‘‘ intervention ’’ rose easily enough in the 
minds of devout persons. The only alternative seemed 
to be the complete banishment of the Deity from his 
universe. But in so far as deism is discredited by 
evolution, its correlative notion of ‘‘ interference ”’ 
must share in that discredit; and it is, to say the least 
of it, somewhat surprising to find the idea revived in 
the supposed interests of religion by one who, like the 
“* Semi-Darwinian,’’ professes neither to ‘‘ question the 
general doctrine of evolution ’’ nor to ‘‘ desire to dis- 
turb the position of the ‘ Origin of Species’ as an 
epoch-making book.’’ BALD: 
WATER SUPPLY. 
Water Supply. A Student’s Handbook on the Con- 
ditions Governing the Selection of Sources and the | tion through sand; and a brief reference is made at 
Distribution of Water. By Reginald E. Middleton. 
Pp. ix+168. (London: Charles Griffin and Co., 
Ltd., 1903.) Price 8s. 6d. net. 
HE provision of a pure and ample water supply is 
constantly growing in importance with the de- 
velopment of sanitary science and the rapid increase 
of the population in cities and large towns; whilst 
adequate and unpolluted sources of supply have to be 
sought at greater distances away, and in a country of 
limited area, such as England, will before very long 
become difficult to obtain, yielding sufficient quantities 
of water to meet the growing requirements of the in- 
habitants. Accordingly, water supply has within 
recent years become one of the most universally needed 
branches of engineering; whereas increasing difficul- 
ties are encountered in the execution of the requisite 
“works. The enhanced value and interest thereby con- 
ferred on works providing supplies of water, have 
naturally led to the publication of several books on 
the subject in the last few years; but the present book 
differs from its more elaborate and comprehensive pre- 
decessors, in dealing with principles rather than with 
practice, and in being intended as a sort of introduction 
to those larger books, and for engineering students 
rather than for engineers. 
The first introductory chapter gives a rapid sketch, 
within the limits of six pages, of the various points 
which have to be taken into consideration in devising 
a scheme of water supply, from the selection of a 
source to the delivery of the water to the consumer ; and 
it provides a clear and useful summary of the questions 
which form the subjects of the succeeding chapters. 
The second and third chapters deal respectively with 
the requirements as to the quality and the quantity of 
water, the former describing the mineral and organic 
impurities liable to be found in water, the sources rom 
which they are derived, and their relative importance ; 
NO. 1779, VOL. 69] 
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whilst the latter explains the variation in the daily 
consumption per head of population in different locali- 
ties, under different conditions, at different seasons, 
and according to the amount of waste, also the pro- 
vision necessary for increase in population, the method 
of measuring rainfall, the gauging of the discharge 
of streams and rivers, and the estimation of the avail- 
able yield from the different sources of supply. s 
In the following chapter, on storage reservoirs, the 
form and construction of earthen dams, and the various 
arrangements resorted to for regulating the discharge 
of the water from the outlet of reservoirs, are the main 
subjects dealt with; and under the heading ‘‘ Com- 
pensation Water,’’ concluding the chapter, after ex- 
plaining this important requirement, a description is 
somewhat irrelevantly added of the earthen embank- 
ments of the Staines reservoirs, with which the author 
is professionally connected, the only definite reference 
to an executed work given in the book. The next 
chapter is devoted to the calculations of stability of 
| masonry dams by analytical methods, but a graphical’ 
treatment of the statical problems involved would be 
found both clearer and simpler. An interesting de- 
scription is given in chapter vi. of the purification of 
water by the ordinary English system of slow filtra- 
the end of the chapter to the American system of 
rapid filtration by aid of a coagulant, usually 
aluminium sulphate, introduced into the water. 
The construction of service reservoirs for providing 
against fluctuations in the consumption is considered! 
in a short chapter; and it is followed by a fairly com- 
plete investigation of the flow of water through pipes, 
occupying twenty-seven pages. The last three of the 
eleven chapters in the book, relating to distribution 
systems, pumping machinery, and requirements in 
| connection with waterworks, together covering less 
than nine pages, add more to the number of chapters 
and the apparent scope of the book than to actual in- 
formation about waterworks, the last chapter, more 
particularly, consisting simply of an appeal for the 
collection of additional and more detailed statistics in 
regard to rainfall, evaporation, the discharge of rivers 
and streams, and other matters pertaining to water 
supply. The book is illustrated by four folding plates 
and sixty-six figures in the text, and a short index is. 
added at the end. 
Though some subjects, such as aqueducts from im- 
pounding reservoirs, water meters, and sections of 
typical masonry dams are not described, and the in- 
formation about springs and wells is scanty, and the 
book, therefore, does not provide a complete account 
of waterworks, it gives a considerable amount of 
practical information, combined with valuable sugges- 
tions for the guidance of waterworks’ engineers in 
several of the chapters. The way, however, in which 
the book is written renders it more likely to be used 
for reference than for reading straight through; and, 
moreover, the number of short paragraphs into which 
it is broken up, even when treating of a single subject, 
is calculated to distract the reader. Nevertheless, the 
engineering student will find a considerable store of 
useful information and valuable hints dispersed’ 
