Mav 7, 1908] 



NATURE 



chapter iv., and in verification of the properties of the 

 link polvson and the cquiHbrium of a general system 

 of coplanar forces in chapter v. 



The principles of s'niphic statics, having thus been 

 well laid and amply illustrated, are further developed 

 in the succeeding chapters by practical applications, 

 such as to stress diagrams for bridge and roof trusses, 

 loaded at the joints, at intermediate points, and under 

 wind pressures ; to bending moments and shearing 

 forces in beams, and the action of travelling loads ; 

 and to problems involving friction and work done by 

 constant and variable forces. 



While the deductive reasoning is well sustained 

 throughout and satisfying to the logician, the subject 

 is everywhere exemplified by concrete examples, fully 

 worked out, and at short stages the student is pro- 

 vided with exercises in abundance, with answers, the 

 author having drawn freely from the examination 

 papers of the University of London, the Board of 

 Education, the Civil Service Commission, and similar 

 sources. 



The very fulness with which graphic statics is dis- 

 cussed and illustrated in this volume makes one regret 

 that some space could not have been found (by omis- 

 sions, if necessary) for the equally important subject 

 of graphic dynamics, founded on the vector concep- 

 tion of Newton's second law, with the application of 

 the hodograph, and illustrations drawn from the 

 motions of machines, the leading idea being to de- 

 velop the fundamental law that force is vector rate of 

 change of momentum. The author rightly emphasises 

 the rieed for good-sized figures, and uses fairly large 

 set-squares, in conjunction with straight-edge, scale 

 and compasses, but he seems content with this com- 

 paratively meagre equipment, the incompleteness of 

 which must surely handicap a student who does much 

 quantitative graphical work. 



With these reservations the book is admirable, and 

 should do much to encourage the teaching of a subject 

 that ought to form an integral part of the mathe- 

 matical training given in our secondary and technical 

 schools. 



Wan and his Fiiturt': A Glimpse jrom the Fields of 

 Science. By Lt.-Col. William Sedgwick. Pp. 256. 

 (London : T. Werner Laurie, 1907.) Price ys. 6d. 

 net. 

 This book is a curiously naive attempt to justify and 

 interpret in the light of modern scientific discoveries 

 a somewhat old-fashioned form of orthodoxy. " The 

 whole universe is the scene of a conflict between two 

 jjowers over the possession of atoms of matter." This 

 confiict is waged by means of the a- and ^-rays of 

 the physicist, which have respectively the power of 

 •' doing building work " with the atoms and of de- 

 stroying the systems thus set up. Man is " a trans- 

 gressing anthropoid ape " who, having wandered out 

 of the regions where alone he could live in a state 

 of nature, has purchased relief from his conditions by 

 taking service with the Power of Repulsion — destroy- 

 ing the forests of the earth for fuel, and analysing 

 compounds (such as ores) for their useful elements. 

 But the growth of his needs has led him from mere 

 destruction to synthesis, and so into the service of 

 (he Power of Attraction. Nevertheless, his original 

 transgression condemns him still to destroy on earth, 

 >j that his synthetic activities — shown, for example, 

 in chemistry, physics, and engineering — must be re- 

 garded as reallv " a training in the art of Universe- 

 building." to be applied seriously only when the pre- 

 sent cosmic order makes way for the New Evolution.. 

 Thus death is " a recruiting agency for the staff " 

 to be engaged upon this gigantic re-conStructive 



NO. 2010, VOL. 78] 



operation, when they have re-clothed their " resting 

 forms " in the protoplasmic garments for which the 

 coal seams and the nitrate beds are perhaps intended 

 to provide materials. 



This work is so sincerely and modestly written that 

 one regrets the necessity of saying that it can have 

 but little value except to the student of the psycho- 

 logical history of discovery, who will note with in- 

 terest and curiosity that, in connection with his 

 " building-up " theory. Col. Sedgwick, in 1902, pre- 

 dicted the existence of non-valent elements having the 

 atomic weights now actually assigned to the members 

 of the helium group. 



Divcloppement et Progres de la Fabrication da Malt 

 pendant les quarante dcrnieres Annces. By Ed. 

 Eckenstein. Pp. 212. (Paris: A. Hermann, 1908.) 

 Price 5 francs. 

 Tins work gives an account of the development of 

 methods of malting on the Continent from the time 

 when the employment of mechanical appliances to 

 supplement hand labour was first suggested to the 

 present day, when, in some maltings, hand labour 

 has practically disappeared. The author makes no 

 attempt to discuss the progress of scientific know- 

 ledge in relation to malting, but confines himself 

 alrnost entirely to a description of the manner in which 

 the engineer has overcome many of the practical diffi- 

 culties met viith when attempting to deal with large 

 bulks of germinating grain other than by hand labour. 

 Problems such as the controlling of the heat generated 

 bv respiration of germinating grain in mass, and 

 establishing an equal distribution of moisture through- 

 out the individual corns of the mass, together with 

 equal conditions of aeration, have to be solved. The 

 solution of such problems by mechanical means is 

 not easy, and there are still many competent critics, 

 both in" this country and abroad, who consider that 

 the claim for success made by advocates of mechan- 

 ical malting is not at present thoroughly well justified. 

 However this may be — and the question is essentially 

 a technical one — everyone interested in the progress of 

 mechanical malting should read M. Eckenstein's book, 

 the value of which is much enhanced by the numerous 

 very excellent drawings and diagrams which it 

 contains. 



The Romance of the Sky; the Story of Star-gazing 

 and Star-tracing, being an Introduction to the Study 

 of Astronomy. By C. J. Griffith. Pp. viii-|-i66. 

 (London: George Routledge and Sons, Ltd.; 

 New York : E. G. Dutton and Co.) 

 Mr. Griffith has undertaken to tell his story through 

 the mouth of a mythical amateur astronomer, con- 

 demned to live through all the phases of astronomical 

 science from pre-Ptolemaic days to the present. The 

 method naturally introduces a great deal of reading 

 matter that is not astronomy, but for non-astrono- 

 mical readers the result, thus diluted, should prove of 

 interest. A talk with Ptolemy, the enunciation of his 

 great theory by Copernicus himself, the unfortunate 

 reaction which delaved astronomical progress for cen- 

 turies, and the final clearing of the mists by Kepler's 

 results, occupv the first twenty pages. Then in rapid 

 sequence Galileo, Newton, Hallcy, Herschel, and other 

 notable workers in astronomy are interviewed, the 

 volume concluding with discourses on the making of 

 present-day observations and the deductions arising 

 therefrom.' The book is good, in parts, and the glos- 

 sary of astronomical terms (chapter xxiv.), together 

 with the excellent index, should not prove the least 

 interesting or instructive to the beginner. 



W. E. R. 



