January 29, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



185 



Only to such subjects was special attention 

 given as was demanded by specific gifts, 

 mining, metallurgy and architecture being 

 instances. The reason for this restraint was 

 regard for the institute and the admirable 

 work which it was doing and the belief that 

 there should be but one technical school in 

 Boston. President Eliot continually sought a 

 merger with the institute and refrained from 

 developing a competing school. 



The McKay bequest to Harvard brought 

 about a crisis and two years ago more active 

 steps were taken to consolidate the institute 

 with Harvard. It is related that once when 

 the merger came up before the Harvard Fac- 

 ulty of Arts and Sciences a member of the 

 faculty inquired what Harvard was to get out 

 of it, to which President Eliot replied : " The 

 merger is a subject under discussion by two 

 groups of gentlemen, the Corporation of the 

 Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the 

 Corporation of Harvard University, and the 

 sole consideration is the good of technical 

 education in the community and in the coun- 

 try at large." 



When the merger was abandoned Harvard 

 still sought an organization which would com- 

 pete in the least possible manner with the 

 institute. The terms of the McKay bequest, 

 however, made it necessary that Harvard give 

 instruction in the same subjects as is given 

 at the institute, and the university found its 

 best solution of the situation in the organiza- 

 tion of the Graduate School of Applied Sci- 

 ence. Following its general motive of giving 

 the best education to the exceptional student. 

 Harvard has developed those subjects which 

 are not touched upon by the institute, such as 

 forestry and applied biology, the latter in the 

 reorganized Bussey Institution, which has 

 been made a part of the Graduate School of 

 Applied Science. The McKay bequest now 

 makes it necessary to develop the other 

 branches, and in so doing to seek the best 

 possible men. Two such men are considered 

 Professor Swain and Professor Clifford. 



The election of Professor A. Lawrence 

 Lowell as president of Harvard, it is also 

 thought, may have an influence in bringing 

 Harvard and the institute into closer relation- 



ship. President-elect Lowell is a member of 

 the corporation of the institute and when the 

 merger discussion was on he used his utmost 

 efforts to bring about a union. As president 

 of Harvard he will be in a better position to 

 accomplish this object. Harvard will have 

 ample funds for its School of Applied Science 

 and can employ the best teachers there are. 

 It also has sufficient land for the location of 

 proper buildings. The institute, on the other 

 hand, is handicapped by an improper location 

 and insufficient funds to compete successfully 

 against Harvard, fortified by the McKay be- 

 quest. — Boston Transcript. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Mechanics of Engineering, comprising Statics 

 and Kinetics of Solids; the Mechanics of 

 the Materials of Construction, or Strength 

 and Elasticity of Beams, Columns, Shafts, 

 Arches, etc., and the Principles of Hydraul- 

 ics and Pneumatics, with Applications. 

 For use in Technical Schools. By Irving 

 P. Church, Professor of Applied Mechanics 

 and Hydraulics, College of Engineering, 

 Cornell University. Eevised edition. Pp. 

 854. New York, John Wiley & Sons. 

 1908. 



Since the publication of Eankine and Weis- 

 baeh, perhaps no single treatise which has at- 

 tempted to cover the wide field of applied me- 

 chanics as taught in our American colleges of 

 engineering, has been more useful than this 

 one. 



It has appeared in edition after edition 

 until it would seem as if practically all the 

 younger generation of engineers in this 

 country must be familiar with it either as a 

 text-book or as a work of reference. The book 

 originally appeared in parts during the years 

 1886-7-8, so that it has now quite attained 

 its majority. Its wide use by the profession 

 has been due to its merits, which are many. 

 I may here mention some of them: 1. The 

 subject matter of this book, which is central 

 and essential to the training of every engi- 

 neer, is presented as a series of semi-detached 

 problems or developments which may be 

 readily mastered separately, no one of which 



