Januaby 19, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



67 



the ability to meet emergencies are more im- 

 portant requisites for success than deep or 

 accurate scientific knowledge. 



The author of the work under review is not 

 only possessed of deep and accurate scientific 

 knowledge, but has had an exceptionally wide 

 and valuable experience as an engineer. The 

 present work is not an ordinary text-book; 

 indeed most of the subjects discussed in ordi- 

 nary text-books are entirely omitted here. This 

 work begins, broadly speaking, where the usual 

 text-book leaves off, and concerns itself with 

 an exhaustive discussion ranging from large 

 questions down to details of design, and 

 throughout it all the author draws upon his 

 experience, and, in an easy conversational way 

 which makes the book very readable, places 

 here on record his opinions, his deductions, 

 and his experiences regarding most of the im- 

 portant matters involved in the design of 

 bridge structures. 



The work is a large one, comprising two 

 bulky volumes, with a total of over two thou- 

 sand pages. Indeed, if any criticism is to be 

 made of the work, it is that it is too bulky and 

 includes some information which might well 

 have been omitted, such for instance, as a 

 glossary of terms covering 220 pages which 

 might have been relegated to a technical dic- 

 tionary rather than included in a treatise on 

 bridge engineering. However, the book, as 

 stated, is not a text-book, and will not be car- 

 ried about by college students in their grips; 

 it is a reference book for the ofiice and for 

 the consulting engineer, and for such it will be 

 found of great value. The bridge engineer 

 who desires to inform himself with reference 

 to any type of structure, or to investigate any 

 particular problem, will be apt to find in this 

 work some clue which will guide him, if in- 

 deed he does not find the direct answer to his 

 inquiry. 



The book is rather uneven, it is true, in its 

 treatment, devoting for instance, forty-eight 

 pages to the subject of cantilever bridges, 

 thirty pages to arches of all the various kinds, 

 sixteen pages to suspension bridges, and seven 

 pages to wooden bridges and trestles. How- 

 ever, the work does not pretend to be a com- 



plete treatise ; it is supplementary to the, usual 

 text-books and the author has not thought it 

 necessary or desirable, merely for the sake of 

 completeness, to cover ground which is quite 

 adequately treated in other works. This work 

 is supplementary to such treatises and aims 

 to give the profession the results of the experi- 

 ence and study of its author, and the opinions 

 which he has been led to hold on the various 

 matters of bridge design and construction. It 

 will be found a very valuable work for the con- 

 sulting engineer and the bridge specialist, 

 while the engineering student will find an 

 opportunity therein to pursue lines of inquiry 

 upon which he may be engaged, and to learn 

 the opinions of an eminent bridge engineer. 



A characteristic of the work is the inclusion 

 therein of a number of chapters relating to 

 matters not generally touched upon in such 

 works, such, for instance, as " Esthetics in 

 Design," " Office Practise," " Bridge Failures 

 and Their Lessons," " Responsibility of the 

 Bridge Engineer," " Ethics of Bridge Engi- 

 neering." A very interesting chapter is that 

 on " Expedients in Design and Construction " 

 in which instances are give of the exercise of 

 the important quality of " gumption " which 

 every successful engineer must possess in 

 greater or less degree. The book will be found 

 of value, not only for the technical information 

 which it contains, but because it emphasizes 

 the necessity for qualities, other than mere 

 mathematical ability or an understanding of 

 small technical details, for the successful struc- 

 tural engineer. It is a book which will tend 

 to broaden the view and so increase the useful- 

 ness of the young engineer. 



George F. Swain 



Harvard TJniversitt and the 

 Massachusetts Institute op Technology 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



ON THE ELECTRIC ORGANS OF GYMNOTUS 

 CARAPUS 



It was suggested to the writer by Professor 

 U. Dahlgren, of Princeton University, that 

 Gymnotus carapus might furnish material for 

 the study of electric organs. Miss A. Lowrey^ 



1 Jour. Morph., Vol. 24, p. 693. 



