THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 1912. 
MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL 
ENGINEERING. 
(1) An Introduction to the Study of Fuel. A text- 
book for those entering the Engineering, 
Chemical, and Technical Industries. By Dr. F. 
J. Brislee. (Outlines of Industrial Chemistry 
Series.) Pp. xxii+269. (London: Constable 
and Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price 8s. 6d. net. 
(2) Diesel Engines for Land and Marine Work. By 
A. P. Chalkley. fith an introductory chapter 
by Dr. Rudolf Diesel. Pp. xi+226. (London: 
Constable and Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price 8s. 6d. 
net. 
(3) Transactions of the American Institute of 
Chemical Engineers. Volume ili, = 1910. 
Pp. iv+4o7. (New York: D. Van Nostrand 
Company, and Spon and Chamberlain; London : 
E. and F. N. Spon, Ltd., 1911.) Price 25s. net. 
(4) Reinforced Concrete Compression Member 
Diagram. By Charles F. Marsh. (Diagram in 
case.) (London: Constable and Co., Ltd., n.d.) 
Price 3s. 6d. net. 
(5) Railway Signal Engineering (Mechanical). By 
L. P. Lewis. (The Glasgow Text-books.) 
Pp. xviiit+ 358. (London: Constable and Co., 
Ltd., 1912.) Price 8s. net. 
(1) HERE is scarcely any subject that repays 
scientific study better than that of the 
use (and abuse) of fuel, not only to the engineer 
and chemist, but to those who direct industries 
that consume fuel in one form or another. The 
profligate waste of our natural resources of fuel 
shows direct and melancholy evidence that the 
truths governing its utilisation are the property of 
a limited few, and that those who direct industries 
are only tardily learning that the trained chemist 
can teach many lessons of practical value. Such 
a volume as the one before us is to be welcomed, 
for though Dr. Brislee assumes technical know- 
ledge on the part of the reader, it is no more 
than the elements of chemistry which those who 
control industries should possess or can command. 
Beginning with elementary chemical reactions, he 
shows how the equations of the chemist are not 
mere text-book conundrums, but the representation 
of actual changes taking place in every furnace, 
retort, and heat engine. He goes on to ascertain 
the weight of air necessary for the complete com- 
bustion of fuels of definite chemical composition, 
and chapter ii. makes this clear without unduly 
straining the reader’s knowledge of elementary 
chemistry. The well-known methods of analysis 
are treated admirably, including the Orsat appara- 
tus for determining the CO, CO, and O, in fuel 
NO. 2231, VOL. 89] 
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NATURE 
349 
and waste gases, also the delicate and somewhat 
troublesome explosion method for getting the Ha 
and marsh gas content in fuel gases. ‘ 
Calorimeters and pyrometers of various kinds 
on the market are described, but it would have 
been better if something more had heen added 
regarding the degree of accuracy and sensitiveness 
expected from the various types. In correcting 
for the radiation losses in the 
“bomb” type, the Regnault-Stohmann formula is 
given. The more usual method is by plotting the 
time-temperature curves, which is only suggested 
by the author. Something more might also have 
been said about calibrating 
pyrometers. The correct calculation of the tem- 
perature of combustion, to which a chapter is 
devoted, depends upon our exact knowledge of 
C, and C,, the specific heats at constant pressure 
and temperature, and the author takes the linear 
laws, Cp=a+bT and C,=a,+bT, due to Chatelier 
and Mallard. These relations to be 
only approximate, and therefore the temperatures 
calorimeters of 
cooling curves in 
are known 
are subject to some degree of uncertainty in con- 
sequence. The effect of excess air on the tem- 
perature is of great importance, and as mest boiler 
furnaces introduce an enormous amount of excess 
air over that needed to oxidise the carbon and 
hydrogen in the fuel, the pages devoted to this 
are especially appropriate. 
The chapter on explosion and the explosion 
engine (which is a commendable term for the 
internal combustion engine) is necessary even in 
a work devoted to fuel, and the elementary rela- 
tions between pressure, volume, and temperature 
in an expanding gas are introduced for the pur- 
pose of bringing out the use of fuel in such 
engines. It would be unfair to expect more 
thermodynamics in a work of this kind, and the 
reader must look elsewhere for a thorough treat- 
ment of the cycles, etc. It is our pleasure to 
commend this as an admirable book, quite up to 
date, and we have nothing to criticise in regard 
to accuracy, and but little on the score of insufh- 
ciency. Dr. Brislee has well kept in mind the 
actual needs of the practical chemist, who will 
find it a valuable aid, and the student will welcome 
it as something better than the dry-as-dust text- 
book. 
(2) Whatever we may think of the commercial 
future of the Diesel engine, it is certainly the most 
efficient heat engine considered from a thermo- 
dynamic point of view. With the high compres- 
sion employed, it confirms in a remarkable degree 
the theory of efficiency based upon the compression 
ratio. The commercial efficiency however is 
quite another thing, and notwithstanding the 
commendable faith of the author and the inventor 
7. 
