124 



NATURE 



[June t>, 1907 



which are, or should be, employed in determining 

 the quality both of the raw materials and of the 

 finished product. This portion of the book will be 

 very useful to chemists engaged in Portland cement 

 factories, and to every analyst who may have to deal 

 with the problem of determining whether or not a 

 given sample of cement is up to the standard of 

 some particular specification. The different methods 

 employed are explained with great clearness, and the 

 apparatus necessary is shown in well-drawn illustra- 

 tions; so explicit are the instructions that an 

 engineer who has had a fair training in the elements 

 of chemical analysis could, should necessity arise, 

 make many of these determinations for himself after 

 procuring the necessary apparatus. 



The last section of the book is devoted to the 

 physical testing of Portland cement, and this section 

 will be invaluable for reference purposes to the civil 

 engineer and to other users of Portland cement. 

 The author describes in turn all the ordinary physical 

 tests, and his comments upon the various tests and 

 their value in enabling a conclusion to be drawn as 

 to the quality of any given sample are of much 

 practical value. 



(2) The first edition of this work appeared in the 

 autumn of 1904, and since that date there has been 

 such great progress in the employment, and in our 

 knowledge, of reinforced concrete that a new edition 

 was rendered imperatively necessary; much new 

 matter has been added in addition to a general re- 

 vision of all the portions of the book dealing with 

 calculations. Reinforced concrete is still not used 

 in this country to anything like the extent to which 

 it has been employed both in America and on the 

 continent of Europe, but much of the opposition to 

 its use is now steadily declining. 



The first three parts of the book are devoted to a 

 general description, with excellent illustrations, of 

 the various systems which have been employed up to 

 the present date, and give a brief account of 

 the materials, including both concrete and the re- 

 inforcing metal. Great stress is laid on the absolute 

 necessity of employing only the best material in con- 

 nection with the concrete, and of ensuring that the 

 materials shall be of uniform quality and the con- 

 crete well and carefully made. 



Part iy. deals with the practical construction of 

 reinforced concrete for various purposes, and the con- 

 struction of the necessary moulds for beams, floors, 

 arched ribs, chimney shafts, pipes, sewers, and 

 reservoirs. The next two sections are devoted to a 

 very full and complete account of the experimental 

 researches, and the data deduced therefrom, which 

 form the basis of all calculations necessary in design- 

 ing reinforced concrete ; the authors are to be con- 

 gratulated on the admirable way in which they have 

 brought together, in a most convenient form for 

 reference, information scattered through a very large 

 number of publications, and on the complete way in 

 which they have brought up to date all the data 

 obtained in experimental investigations. The chapter 

 devoted to calculations necessary in design work has 

 been almost entirely re-written and very considerably 

 NO. 1962, VOL 76] 



simplified, with great advantage to the designer who 

 may desire to consult this work, the method of treat- 

 ment adopted for the case of singly reinforced rect- 

 angular and T-beams being entirely new. 



The last section of the book, as in the earlier 

 editions, is devoted to a descriptive account of various 

 buildings and structures which have been erected up 

 to the present time in reinforced concrete ; this chapter 

 contains a series of most admirably reproduced photo- 

 graphs of many large buildings and handsome arched 

 bridges built entirely on this system. 



The regulations which have been laid down by the 

 Prussian Governinent for the employment of rein- 

 forced concrete in buildings are printed in extenso 

 in appendix ii., and another appendix contains the 

 report of the experiments carried out by the United 

 States Geological Survey Department on the per- 

 meability of reinforced concrete pipes. 



The present edition is a great improvement on 

 previous issues, and every engineer and architect who 

 utilises reinforced concrete on anything like a large 

 scale in his constructional work will find this book 

 an indispensable addition to his reference library. 



T. H.' B. 



BOOKS OX ELEMENTARY BOTANY. 



(i) Principles of Botany. By J. M. Bergen and 

 B. M. Davis. Pp. ix-l-55S. (Boston, U.S. .A., and 

 London : Ginn and Co., n.d.) Price 6s. 6d. 



(2) Introduction to Plant Ecology for the Use of 

 Teachers and Students. By Rev. G. Henslow. 

 Pp. X+130. (London: E. Stanford, 1907.) Price 

 2i. 6rf. 



(3) An Introduction to Practical Botany. By E. H. 

 Davies. Pp. x+127. (London: J. M. Dent and 

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(4) The School Garden. A Handbook of Practical 

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 155. (London : Blackie and Son, Ltd., 1906.) 

 Price IS. 



(5) Flowers Shown to the Children. By J. E. Kelman 

 and C. E. Smith. Pp. xii-l-154. (London and 

 Edinburgh : T. C. and E. Jack, n.d.) Price 2S. 6d. 

 net. 



(1) T N the " Princi])les of Botany" the authors 

 ^ have introduced an innovation that offers 

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 the morphology and physiology of the seed-plant 

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 morphology of cryptogams and phanerogams are 

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 explain the construction of the plant as a living 

 entity, and much detail is appropriately transferred 

 to ecology. Whilst most favourably impressed with 

 the book in its entirety, the taxonomic portion, that 

 more particularly demands judicious selection and 



