Supplement to ''Nature" March 5, 1908 



stresses in reinforced concrete beams and columns; 

 in the case of beams of rectangular and T section, 

 flexure formulae are deduced, based on the assumption 

 of linear variation of the compression of the concrete 

 for working loads ; and for rectanglar beams on the 

 assumption of a parabolic variation of this compres- 

 sion for ultimate loads, in both cases neglecting the 

 tension in the concrete ; examples are fully worked 

 out to illustrate the use of these formula;. A con- 

 siderable amount of lengthy arithmetical work is 

 necessary in using these formulae, and a series of 

 diagrams has been prepared, published on pp. 213 — 

 223, by means of which problems may be solved with 

 rapidity and with a degree of accuracy quite sufficient 

 for all practical purposes.' These diagrams are 

 at the end of chapter vi., in which the authors 

 have collected together into a convenient form for 

 reference all formulae deduced in the earlier chapters 

 of the book. Any engineer or architect who did not 

 wi?.h to check the accuracy of these formula; or to 

 become familiar with the principles upon which they 

 are based, but merely desired to apply the results 

 directly to some problem of design, would find every- 

 tliing he wanted in a compact form in the forty pages 

 of this chapter. 



Since T beams are often continuous over their sup- 

 ports, and since at such points there is a negative 

 bending moment throwing the flange into tension and 

 the lower part of the web into compression, a system 

 of double reinforcement must be adopted in such cases, 

 and this problem is fully worked out, as is also the 

 problem of computing the stresses when the resultant 

 of the external forces acting on the one side of the 

 section of a beam is not parallel to that section. The 

 remainder of chapter iii. is devoted to a discussion on 

 the shearing stresses in reinforced beams, and to the 

 strength of reinforced columns ; as the authors point 

 out, in ordinary construction the ratio of length to 

 least width seldom exceeds 15, hence they have dealt 

 w ith the problem simply as one of short columns. 



In chapter iv., the results of a large number of 

 tests of reinforced beams and columns are given, in- 

 cluding many tests carried out by the authors them- 

 selves ; not only are the actual numerical results of 

 these tests of importance, as they afford the only safe 

 test of the accuracy of the formula; used in their 

 design, but also much valuable information in regard 

 to the design of such reinforced members may be 

 gained from a study of the way in which the final 

 collapse takes place; several plates are given, repro- 

 ductions of photographs of the fractured beams, which 

 show clearly how the disposition of the reinforcing 

 bars in the beam influences the manner in which it 

 gives way when the destructive load is reached. 



In the next chapter the working stresses which can 

 be permitted with this material are fully treated, and 

 such constructive details as the use of steel of high 

 elastic limit, the durability of the material, and its 

 power of resisting the effect of fire. In the last 'three 

 chapters a number of practical details in reinforced 

 concrete work is given, and the problem of the deter- 

 mination of stresses in arches is dealt with in a very 

 neat and compact fashion. T. H. B. 



NO. 2001, VOL. ']-]~\ 



THE EVOLUTION OF DRESS. 



The Heritage of Dress, being Notes on ilie History 



and Evolution of Clothes. By \A'. M. Webb. 



Pp. xxvi + 393. (London : E. Grant Richards, 1907.) 



Price 1 5.?. net. 



THERE was certainly room for a scientific account 

 of the evolution of dress. The present book, 

 however, which professes to be " a popular contribu- 

 tion to the natural history of man," is hardly more 

 than a collection of curious survivals in modern 

 fashions, uniforms, the dress of the Court, the Church, 

 the Bar, and other learned and official personages. 

 The bibliography consists largely of articles in maga- 

 zines and nev\^apers, and the author seems to have 

 little acquaintance with the scientific literature of the 

 subject, such as the frescoes of the IMinoan Age un- 

 earthed by ?>Ir. -A. J. Evans; the contributions of Mr 

 H. Balfour, Mr. Skeat, Dr. Westermarck, and Dr. 

 Haddon on the evolution of ornament ; Prof. Ridgeway 

 on the penannular brooch; Dr. J. G. Frazer's classical 

 paper on mourning as a disguise to baffle the ghost. 

 He appears not to have read even such popular works 

 as those of the late Mr. Elworthy on the " Evil Eye " 

 and " Horns of Honour." 



But if Mr. Webb has not written a scientific treatise 

 on the " Heritage of Dress," he has given us, within 

 its limits, an interesting and suggestive book, pro- 

 vided with excellent drawings which really illustrate 

 the many topics with which he attempts to deal, and 

 with an index which, if not quite accurate, is still 

 sufficiently comprehensive. His aim is to furnish a 

 record of survivals, and perhaps in no department of 

 modern life are these more numerous than in that cf 

 dress. It is a fact of much scientific importance in 

 connection with the history of social development that 

 so many details in modern costume which we are in- 

 clined to believe capricious or accidental, due to the 

 inventive genius of the tailor or the milliner, are really 

 traceable to primitive forms, and that the perpetual 

 changes of fashions are the result of a process of 

 evolution, advancing on conservative lines, in which 

 the influence of early ideas is apparent. 



This can be readily illustrated from the wealth of 

 material supplied by Mr. Webb. Thus perhaps the 

 earliest form of dress is the shawl or wrapper, the 

 fringes of which in the modern examples date back 

 to the most early kind of loom. From this are derived 

 the jacket of the woman as well as the trousers of 

 the man. It is more hazardous to trace the shape 

 of the hat to that of the primitive hut; but the band 

 on our silk hats and " bowlers," now purely orna- 

 mental, is almost certainly a relic of the fastening 

 af the original cloth headdress. 



The origin of liveries, which represent the costume 

 of the wearers' masters in earlier times, is equally 

 curious. When we come to uniforms, almost all their 

 distinguishing features have a history as survivals. 

 The red coat todi its colour from that of the best 

 coat in the days of Charles II., and it has thus 

 naturally descended to the fox-hunter and golfer; the 

 baton of the field-marshal is the box in which he used 

 to carry the orders of his sovereign ; the epaulettes of 

 the Imperial Yeoman take us back to chain-mail ; the 



