NATURE 
385 
THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1917. 
CIVIL ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTIONAL 
WORK. 
(1) Elementary Strength of Materials. By Ewart 
S. Andrews. Pp. viii+216. (London: Chap- 
man and Hall, Ltd., 1916.) Price 4s. 6d. net. 
(2) Costrusioni di Strade e Gallerie. By Prof. 
Salvatore Rotigliano. Pp. xxiii+8o8. (Milano : 
_ Ulrico Hoepli, 1916.) Price 18 lire. 
(2) ps book is an abridged edition of the 
author's larger work on the subject, and 
has been specially arranged for the practical man 
as well as for students in engineering colleges. It 
is one of the best arranged and most complete of 
the smaller treatises which have appeared on this 
subject, and as the author has made use of the 
latest published results of research on the strength 
of materials, the book is thoroughly up to date. 
The book deals very successfully not only with the 
various problems involved in the calculations of 
the stresses and strains produced by different kinds 
of loads, but also with the methods now adopted 
for carrying out tests of all kinds on the materials 
used by engineers and architects. The author 
gives valuable advice as to the precautions which 
must be taken in order to secure trustworthy re- 
sults when tests are made, and as to the most 
suitable types of machines for different classes of 
tests. Mr. Andrews is to be congratulated on 
havine produced an excellent text-book, which will 
be of considerable use to both engineers and 
architects. 
' (2) The author of this work, Prof. Rotigliano, 
is engineer-in-chief to the city of Palermo, and 
the book is based on the lectures delivered by 
him as professor of road construction at the Royal 
School for Engineers at Palermo. The book is 
divided into four sections, the first section dealing 
with the laying out of roads and railways, the 
second with the necessary earthworks, the third 
with the construction and maintenance of roads, 
and the fourth with the construction of tunnels. 
In the first section, after a general introduction, 
the author deals with the subject of traction on 
roads and railways and the frictional and other 
resistances which have to be overcome, giving a 
number of useful formule which enable the trac- 
tive force to be determined under known con- 
ditions for animal and mechanical traction ; 
the limiting values for gradients and curves 
are also fully discussed. The third chapter 
deals with the setting out of curves, both circular 
and parabolic, and there are a number of practical 
rules as well as a full theoretical treatment of the 
subject. The remaining chapters of this section 
deal with topographical surveys, the laying out 
of roads and railways in various classes of country, 
and the general considerations which decide the 
best route to adopt in a given case. In dealing 
with the laying out of railways in mountainous 
districts, as was to be expected in the case of a 
book written by an Italian engineer, much atten- 
NO. 2463, VOL. 98] 
tion has been paid to the subject of spiral curves, 
reverse curves, and zigzags. 
The first chapter of the second section is de- 
voted to the necessary mensuration for determin- 
ing cross-sectional areas and volumes of excava- 
tion; a number of formule are given for the 
various calculations which have to be made. 
Chap. viii. deals with the problem of equalisation 
of cuttings and banks, and the factors which de- 
termine the distances through which it is econo- 
mically possible to transport excavated material. 
The next chapter deals with the various hand tools 
which are employed in the work of excavation in 
ordinary soft ground, and the methods adopted for 
preparing the shot-holes when explosives have to 
be employed. The tenth chapter is devoted to 
an account of the methods usually adopted for 
transporting the excavated material by wagons 
running on temporary lines of rails. “Chap. xi. 
deals fully with mechanical excavators and steam 
navvies, with the employment of aerial lines for 
the transport of material, and with the utilisation 
of machinery in modern constructional work. In 
the final chapter of this section the author: dis- 
cusses the numerous practical problems which 
the engineer has to solve, more especially when 
roads have to be constructed in mountainous dis- 
tricts. : 
The third section is devoted to a description 
of the various materials employed in constructing 
the road surfaces of main and district roads and 
of urban and suburban streets, of the modern 
methods of testing and preparing these mate- 
rials, and of the work of laying them on the 
prepared road-bed. The questions of road main- 
tenance and of the influence of the various classes 
of traffic on the wear of the road surface are 
fully discussed. 
The fourth and concluding section of the 
book is devoted to the laying out and con- 
struction of tunnels; the author gives a com- 
plete treatment of the whole problem. After a 
brief explanation of the various systems adopted 
for the setting out of the centre lines, the 
methods of carrying out the work of driving the 
tunnels are fully described, and the latest types 
of compressed-air and hydraulic machinery for 
operating rock-drills are explained and discussed. 
One ‘chapter is devoted to a careful account of 
the timbering which is needed when tunnels are 
driven in soft ground, and the work concludes 
with a description of the construction of sub- 
aqueous tunnels, with an account of the special 
difficulties which have to be overcome in 
such work, and with details as to the various 
systems adopted for the ventilation of long 
tunnels. 
The book is extremely well illustrated, and is 
one of the most comprehensive text-books which 
have been published on the subject of earthwork 
construction. As probably few British engineers 
are able to read Italian, it is to be hoped that 
some British publishing firm will undertake the 
work of producing a translation of this book for 
| the benefit of British engineers. torre. Bs 
U 
