March 31, 1899.] 



SCIENCE. 



481 



copper wire at little cost in time, trouble or 

 money. 



3. The same motor may be employed for 

 various purposes, successively and at any 

 time, with any forms of agricultural ma- 

 chinery ; its small size and portability per- 

 mitting its transport from one point to 

 another with ease. 



4. The facility with which the current 

 may be divided and applied permits its use 

 in driving a number of machines, of various 

 forms, at the same time and in different 

 places. 



5. It allows the supply, at the same time, 

 of power for machinery and for light and 

 even for heat. 



6. It affords safety against fire, where 

 properly established, and heat, light and 

 power may be thus furnished at minimum 

 risk. 



7. The manipulation of the apparatus is 

 simple and easy. 



S. This system permits the instantaneous 

 operation of fire-pumps to confine and ar- 

 rest an incipient fire; it being provided 

 with a suitable system of distributing 

 water mains. 



9. By use in prompt suppression of epi- 

 demics, by destroying the first cases, exten- 

 sive contagion and resultant dangers and 

 sacrifices of life and property are avoided. 



It is thought that the great sub-division 

 of agricultural lands in France will prevent 

 the introduction of such systems as rapidly 

 as is desirable for the purpose of success- 

 fully competing with adjacent countries of 

 Europe. But it remains for the electricians 

 and engineers to secure capital, to distrib- 

 ute electrical energy at low costs, to rent 

 out apparatus and even to see it properly 

 manipulated by furnishing expert opera- 

 tives, in order that the peasant may not be 

 called upon to provide capital which it is 

 almost impossible for him to find. The 

 agriculturists must combine, form syndi- 

 cates, and thus make powerful that energy 



which is powerless in single and separated 

 elements. The great proprietor will find it 

 to his advantage to lead in the introduction 

 of the new systems ; setting an example to 

 his neighbors that may later prove fruitful 

 of great good. 



In the colonies, it is stated, a spirit of 

 threatening democracy is likely to make 

 them, for a long time, comparatively unpro- 

 ductive, and even the legislators are not 

 always without blame. " They go to their 

 constituents with a cry against machinery 

 which has always been most vehemently 

 raised among these classes, especially 

 against the introduction of machinery for 

 hand- work." The fact is, of course, preciselj^ 

 the opposite, and the introduction of ma- 

 chinery has always benefited the workmen 

 more than other classes. " Augmenting 

 the returns to the proprietor, they permit 

 him to raise the wages of those who con- 

 tinue to work on the soil."' 



R. H. Thurston. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 Geology of the Edivards Plateau and Bio Grande 

 Plain adjacent to Austin and San Antonio, 

 Texas, ivith Reference to the Occurrence of Un- 

 derground Waters. By Eobert T. Hill and 

 T. Wayland Vaughan. From the Eight- 

 eenth Annual Report of the United States 

 Geological Survey, 1896-97, Part II.— Papers 

 Chiefly of a Theoretic Nature, pp. 193-321 ; 

 pi. xsi.-lxiv. Washington, Government 

 Printing Office. 1898. 



This is, without doubt, one of the most im- 

 portant contributions to Texas geology in recent 

 years. While the purpose of the authors is 

 primarily to deal with the artesian water prob- 

 lem, they have in reality done much more, as is 

 at once apparent by reference to their complete 

 and detailed descriptions of the geology of this 

 region . 



"The artesian wells of the eastern half of 

 Texas belong to several distinct systems, the 

 term ' system ' including all wells having 

 their source in the same set of rock sheets or 

 strata. * * * In the Cretaceous formations 



