May 6, 1898.] 



SCIENGR 



643 



At 8 p. m., of February 15th, the usual and reg- 

 ular reports were made, indicating that all was 

 well throughout the ship, and the crew and offi- 

 cers retired as usual. At 9:40 p. m. two ex- 

 plosions occurred ; the first lifted the ship for- 

 ward ; the second produced most of the internal 

 destruction ; the protective and main decks 

 were blown up, forward the smokestacks, and 

 thrown aft and over to starboard, as is inferred, 

 by the explosion of magazines. The keel and 

 outer bottom plating of the ship is blown up- 

 ward and inward, and now reaches, at one 

 point, a height of over thirty feet above its 

 original location, in the main line of the keel ; 

 this is considered to be due to the external ex- 

 plosion, and its evidence is taken as conclusive. 

 This effect could only have been produced by 

 the explosion of a mine, ' situated under the 

 ship and on the port side. ' The explosion of 

 the magazines is considered to be the conse- 

 quence of the primary explosion of the mine. 

 No evidence was secured ' fixing the responsi- 

 bility upon any person or persons.' 



Many details of evidence are given which sus- 

 tain the verdict of the Court ; but the drawings 

 themselves are perhaps the best proof that the 

 ship herself, in her present position and condi- 

 tion, affords the best evidence, and most posi- 

 tive, regarding the source of the disaster. The 

 bending upward of keel and bottom plating ; 

 the fact that all the lower positions of the ship, 

 the lower and main decks, protective deck and 

 frames, are forced upward and toward the star- 

 board side -, the complete breaking away of all 

 the plating and the whole ship's side over a con- 

 siderable area at the point at which the force of 

 the explosion was felt ; the distribution of the 

 debris wholly toward the starboard side, and 

 the non-existence of coal, or other material from 

 the hold, on the port side of the ship ; the loca- 

 tion of the detached forward part of the vessel 

 at right-angles with the original line of the keel ; 

 its separation and its relation to the uplifted 

 keel — these and many other details appear in 

 the evidence, and are shown by drawings made 

 from measurement so fully as to afford, in the 

 opinion of the experts constituting the Court 

 and expert witnesses before it, sufficient proof 

 to justify unqualified and positive statements 

 regarding the nature of the explosion. 



The report, happily, completely exonerates 

 the officers and crew of the battleship ; though,, 

 most unhappily, fails to fix the responsibility 

 where it belongs, or to afford a clue to the 

 authors of the catastrophe. This report, as a 

 scientific discussion and a logical construction 

 of proofs and conclusions, will always have 

 more than historical interest, and it is very 

 probable that the question : Who were the per- 

 petrators of one of the most diabolical crimes of 

 which history gives us an account ? may forever 

 remain unanswered. 



R. H. Thueston. 



Birds of Village and Field : A Bird Book for Be- 

 ginners. By Florence A. Mereiam. Bos- 

 ton and New York, Houghton, Mifilin & 

 Company. The Riverside Press, Cambridge. 

 1898. Illustrated. 12mo. Pp. xlix+1^06. 

 28 half-tone plates and 220 cuts in text. 

 Price, $2.00. 



The ever-swelling stream of popular bird 

 books is still further augmented by this attrac- 

 tive little volume which is possessed of a 

 sparkle all its own as compared with several of 

 its numerous competitors. The accuracy of 

 the writer's statements and the breezy original- 

 ity of her bits of bird biography commend her 

 work to every bird lover be he scientifically or 

 otherwise minded. The book is written for the 

 otherwise minded, for the beginner, but as the 

 Latin name, a few words of description and a 

 mouthful of ' geographic distribution ' precede 

 each species mentioned, no one may justly 

 complain that the scientific cravings of hi& 

 nature are not stilled. 



The introduction contains much about the 

 economic value of birds to the farmer, and con- 

 siderable stress is laid upon this matter else- 

 where throughout the volume. It also contains 

 a ' Field Color Key to adult spring males men- 

 tioned in this book,' and is followed by brief 

 sketches of about one hundred and fifty com- 

 mon everyday species, such as one meets in 

 eastern North America, including the Missis- 

 sippi Valley. And, by the way, it seems to 

 have been an oversight that no direct mention 

 is made as to what section of the country is 

 covered by the title. Following the sketches 

 which make up the bulk of the volume is an 



