February 24, 19 10] 



NA TURE 



4^3 



beautiful photographs and drawings by the author; 

 especially worthy of mention are the photographs of 

 ■' Les Gorges des Twingen " and " Le Hamlau de 

 Z'Binnen"; there are also excellent maps, in the 

 execution of which his position as Geographe du 

 JNIinistre des Affaires etrangeres has given him excep- 

 tional facility. 



The first chapter describes the streams and water- 

 falls, the contour of the surrounding mountains, the 

 valleys and passes, taking the more important moun- 

 tains in separate groups. Chapter ii. deals with 

 the geology of the district, and is accompanied with 

 some sections after Dr. Schardt and a geological 

 map after Prof. .Schmidt and Dr. Preiswerk. Until 

 recently this district has presented one of the most 

 difficult geological problems in Switzerland, but 

 through the study of the arrangement of the rocks 

 exposed in piercing Monte Leone for the Simplon 

 tunnel, MM. Schardt,.! Schmidt, and Preiswerk have 

 been enabled to elucidate the geological difficulties of 

 the Binnenthal district. To geologists visiting this 

 valley, this chapter and the numerous references to 

 other authors will be of much assistance, even though 

 M. Desbuisson's deductions may not be entirely 

 accepted. 



Chapter iii. is devoted to mineralogy, a subject 

 occupying nearly half the book. The number of 

 different minerals found in this district amounts to 

 more than eighty ; of these, fourteen are new minerals 

 found in the Lengenbach quarry. The author gives 

 a short description of the different minerals, with 

 references to original papers. The arrangement is 

 puzzling, as he mixes the carbonates, the sulphates, 

 and the oxides together, and writes calcite CaCO^, 

 siderite CO^Fe, anhydrite SO'Ca, barytes BaSO'. 

 There are ten plates of various crystals photographed 

 by the author from specimens in the collections of 

 M. Gustave Seligmann, of Coblenz, the Ecole des 

 Mines, Paris, and from the author's own collection. 

 They may be interesting as records of these specimens, 

 but are of little assistance in helping the collector to 

 recognise these rare minerals. Photographs of 

 minerals are seldom satisfactory, except those in 

 Miers's " Mineralogy," which have been outlined and 

 shaded by Miss Miers. Chapter iv. describes the 

 history and customs of the people. This is written 

 in a very interesting manner, and gives a vivid pic- 

 ture of the development of the valley and the lives of 

 the inhabitants. References are made to that very 

 interesting book of M. Charles Biermann, "Valine de 

 Conches," and to Dr. Bernouilli's account of the pre- 

 historic remains found when enlarging the hotel at 

 Binn. The rings, brooches, and other objects found in 

 the graves are now preserved in a case in the hotel. 



Slight mention is made of the animals and birds 

 of the district, but a complete list of the plants 

 is given in an appendix by Dr. A. Binz ; we should 

 like also to have seen an equally complete list of the 

 rare and beautiful butterflies and beetles for w-hich 

 the Binnenthal is remarkable, and which so greatly 

 attract the notice of entomologists. The last chapter 

 gives a clear and accurate description of the walks 

 and climbs, but of the latter many are too difficult and 

 NO. 2L04. VOL. S2I 



hazardous to be attempted without a guide. We may 

 conclude by saying that this artistically written and 

 carefully compiled account will add much to the 

 interest and enjoyment of those visiting the Binnen- 

 thal, and we think that an abridged edition in English 

 would be most acceptable to the English and American 

 visitors. 



IIYDRAVLICS. 

 Text-hook on Hydraulics. By G. E. Russell. Pp. 

 vii+i83. (New York : Henry Holt and Co., igog.) 

 Price 2.50 dollars. 



WITH the advent of electricity, and in the first flush 

 of its successful application to many purposes 

 hitherto served by water, it was claimed that the days 

 of hydraulic power were numbered, and that ere long 

 the study of hydraulics would lose all except merely 

 academical interest. That such has not proved to be 

 the case is now a matter of common know^ledge, and, 

 in fact, the rivalry between the two motive agencies 

 can only be said to have been stimulating alike to both 

 of them. In regard to their industrial application, 

 there are wide and distinct fields of usefulness for 

 each, and, rightly understood, the two sciences are 

 collaterally valuable, and even, to some degree, com- 

 plementary. Altogether, far from the relegation of 

 hydraulics to a background of obscurity and neglect, 

 there has, of late years, been a decided recrudescence 

 of interest in the science which engaged the attention 

 of philosophers more than 2000 years ago, and 

 has been dignified by the researches of Archimedes, 

 Bernouilli and Pascal. 



Many are the text-books which have been written 

 for the benefit of the student, and the majority of 

 them approach the subject from a practical point of 

 view, or, at any rate, give a decided prominence to its 

 more utilitarian aspects. Mr. Russell considers that 

 there is still room for a text-book dealing with princi- 

 ples alone, and he has accordingly restricted his work 

 to a discussion of the " more common and important 

 problems." This programme does not, of course, 

 afford much scope for originality of matter nor for 

 novelty of treatment; moreover, it does not appear 

 that either of these was the author's intention. The 

 object aimed at, as a matter of fact, has been to pro- 

 duce a book " suited for use in a number of courses " 

 (at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) "where 

 the amount of prescribed time and the ground to be 

 covered varies in each course." 



The volume is divided into ten chapters, dealing with 

 hydrostatics ; the laws of fluid mqtion ; discharge 

 from orifices; flow over weirs, through pipes and in 

 open channels ; and the dynamic action of jets and 

 streams. Each chapter terminates with a number of 

 problems, the solutions of which, however, are not 

 given ; and there are useful reference lists to other 

 literature on the subject-matter. Most of these are 

 .Vmerican and English works, and one notes casually 

 the omission of any mention of the studies of 

 Boussinesq. Neither is there any account of stream- 

 line flow, and the experimental researches in this con- 

 nection of Reynolds and Hele-Shaw. But these 



