196 



NA TURE 



[December 28, 1905 



For the rest, one notices that Prof. Loeb derives his 

 inspiration from internal sources, and that quotations 

 from other authors and from the Archiv f. allge- 

 meinen Physiologie occupy but a small place. What, 

 however, is more natural, if an author has sufficient 

 now and interesting' material to draw upon, than to 

 confine himself to his own observations? Enough has 

 been said to convev our impression that the two 

 volumes now under review well repay careful con- 

 sideration, and that the facts recorded therein mark 

 an important advance in our knowledge of general 

 physiology. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 

 Civil Engineering : A Text-book for a Short Course. 



By Lieut. -Col. G. J. Fiebeger, U.S. Army. Pp. 



xiii + 575. (New Ycrk : Wiley and Sons; London: 



Chapman and Hall, Ltd.) Price 21s. net. 

 Tins text-book on civil engineering is especially 

 intended for the use of cadets of the U.S. Military 

 Academy, whose duties later are often those of a 

 civil engineer. A short course on this subject is 

 therefore provided, and this work is evidently based 

 on tin author's lectures at West Point. It is natural 

 t3 expect that in these circumstances the treat- 

 ment of the theory of structures will be that of the 

 engineer rather than of the pure mathematician, and 

 that it will be of the simplest possible character. It 

 is therefore disappointing to find that this section is 

 treated in an almost purely academic way involving 

 much chasing of x, with little or no appeal to 

 physical ideas. This is well illustrated by chapters 

 iv. and v., mainly on the deflections of beams under 

 various conditions of loading and fixing, a section 

 of forty-nine pages, involving one hundred and ninety- 

 three numbered equations, with little or no indication 

 of their physical meaning. A semi-graphical treat- 

 ment would have been far preferable for military 

 cadets studying this subject with a view to practical 

 applications, and this remark applies to other parts of 

 the book ; thus we should imagine that a student, after 

 reading chapter iii., on the flexure and bending of 

 beams, would have considerable difficulty in calcu- 

 lating the moment of resistance of a section such as 

 a bridge rail, a perfectly easy problem by a semi- 

 graphical method and one likely to require solution by 

 an officer who " in an isolated station finds himself 

 called upon to act as an engineer and constructor of 

 buildings, roads, and bridges," with possibly a 

 miscellaneous collection of materials. 



In the purely descriptive part of the book the 

 author is much happier, and a great deal of valuable 

 information is contained in this section. Through- 

 out the book the author is somewhat free with his 

 terms; thus his us? of the word molecule leads him 

 to the statement that " the unit shearing stresses on 

 the vertical and horizontal faces of the elementary 

 molecule are equal," while other terms, such as 

 : ' curve of mean fiber " and " spontaneous axis," 

 might be amended with advantage. F. G. C. 



Thunder and Lightning. By Camille Flammarion. 

 Translated by Walter Mostyn. Pp. 281. (London : 

 Chatto and Windus, 1905.) Price 6s. net. 

 Tins book contains no translator's preface, so one 

 is apt to believe that it is a translation of M. Flam- 

 marion's " Les Phenomenes de la Foudre." A 

 comparison of (he two volumes shows that the titles 

 of the chapters in each are identical, with the excep- 

 tion of two chapters of the French work which are 

 merged into one in the translation. A closer 

 NO. 1887, VOL. J3~] 



examination leads one to conclude that the English 

 edition is a very abridged form of the French, and 

 the illustrations, which number fifty-four in the latter 

 volume, only total nine in the translation. It is 

 clear, therefore, that the two volumes are very 

 different from each other, although one is supposed 

 to be a " translation " of the other, since nothing is 

 said to the contrary. 



Apart from the above mentioned differences the 

 English translation is well done, and will be found 

 very interesting reading. The greater portion of the 

 book is devoted to the effects of lightning flashes, 

 and a large number of examples are described. Thus 

 we have the effects on mankind, animals, trees, 

 plants, metals, objects, and houses. Many instances 

 are narrated of the vagaries of fireballs, and two 

 chapters are devoted to atmospheric electricity and 

 storm-clouds, and the flash and the sound. 



Photography for the Press. By the editor of The 

 Photograni. Second edition. Revised and very 

 largely rewritten. (London : Dawbarn and Ward, 

 Ltd., 1905.) Price is. net. Cloth, 2s. net. 

 This very complete and practical book contains hints 

 to the photographer who wishes to make use of his 

 pictures for press purposes. The editors acknowledge 

 that this is a new departure in photographic literature, 

 but the fact that the present edition is the second 

 indicates that a want has been supplied. So large 

 is the number of illustrated journals, books, &c, at 

 the present time, and they are still on the increase 

 and likely to become much more numerous, that time 

 and possibly disappointments will be saved to the 

 photographer if he becomes acquainted with many 

 of the hints included in the present issue. In addi- 

 tion to some general remarks about the relation of 

 the editor and publisher to the photographer, prac- 

 tical field and workshop methods are also discussed. 

 Interesting and valuable information on the copy- 

 right union, copyright law, permits to photograph, 

 &c, are next taken up, and lastly there are lists 

 ot agents for press photograms, publishers of picture 

 post-cards, and the principal illustrated periodicals 

 with all up-to-date information, such as class of print 

 preferred, size of page, date and time to which 

 originals are usually received for current issue, &c. 



From the above it will be gathered that the book 

 is intended to serve a very practical purpose, and the 

 editors have produced a book that will be serviceable 

 to many photographers. 



How to Know the Starry Heavens. By Edward 

 Irving. Pp. xvi + 313. (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 

 1905.) Price 8s. 6d. net. 

 This volume is, avowedly, not so much a text-book 

 for astronomical students as "an invitation to read 

 text-books on the subject," but while it contains a 

 large amount of real information, we fear that the 

 matrix is so bulky that the reader to whom the book 

 is intended to appeal will find great difficulty in dis- 

 covering and assimilating the real facts. After dis- 

 cussing the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies 

 and the rival theories concerning them, the reader 

 is conveyed towards a Centauri in " The Chariot 

 of Imagination " in order to gain some idea of the 

 cosmological insignificance of the earth and to view 

 more closely the sun and his system. Then the author 

 attempts to instil a concrete idea of the dimensions of 

 the visible universe. To this end he gives about 

 twi nty different illustrations, each one under a promi- 

 nent subtitle such as " A Pile of Blood Discs " or " A 

 Spider's Web," the whole occupying about fourteen 

 pages. Succeeding chapters deal with other astro- 

 nomical subjects in a popular manner and with more 

 or less convincing illustrations. 



