682 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 305. 



and complete and is evidently conducted in a 

 modern and fruitful manner. 



The third ' question ' includes a paper by Dr. 

 Kennelly, describing mechanical applications 

 of electricity, especially as observed in the 

 "United States. Messrs. Delmas and Henry 

 discuss the use of the current in hoisting ma- 

 chinery and in the establishments of public 

 works deiDartments. M. Basseres discusses the 

 fourth question and especially the work of the 

 ' Compagnie des Fives-Lillie.' Hydraulic mo- 

 tors, as constructed in Switzerland, the home 

 of that form of prime mover, 1889-1900, are 

 reported upon by M. Prazill. M. Rateau writes 

 of their theory and construction as illustrated 

 by contemporary practice in general. 



Dr.W. F. Durand takes up the sixth topic and 

 gives an account, complete and exact, of the wa- 

 ter-tube boilers employed in the United States, 

 and M. Brillie also discusses the ' chaudieres a 

 petits Elements,' their classification, efficiency, 

 operation, with characteristic thoroughness. 

 MM. Lefer and Lecornu write of high-speed 

 engines and of regulators, the former including 

 the ancient Greek type, just revived, the steam- 

 turbine. 'Thermic Blotors,' apparently only 

 intending to include the gas-engines in the 

 class, are the subject of valuable papers by MBI. 

 Diesel, who reports on his own invention and 

 construction ; by Mr. Donkin, who discusses 

 those employing the waste gases of the blast 

 furnace; and by M. Witz, the well known au- 

 thority on that class of motor, who tells of 

 gas-engines of large power employed in metal- 

 lurgy. The final discussion in this volume is 

 that of 'automobilisme,' by MM. Rochet, Cue- 

 not and Mesnager. 



All the papers here published have special 

 value in their several departments of applied 

 science and some of them are extremely im- 

 portant. The contributors to the volume are 

 usually French writer^ and practitioners of au- 

 thority ; a few are American, and we recognize 

 the name of but one German in the list. The 

 German government took a leading part in the 

 Exposition and German exhibitors abounded, as 

 did German visitors ; but the scientific men of 

 Germany, in this department, at least, seem to 

 have held aloof. 



The book is a fine sample of the style and 



finish of the French official document. In 

 paper, type and finish, and illustration, while 

 not what a French critic would consider illus- 

 trative of a high class of bookmaking, it is, for 

 its place and purpose, most excellent. In many 

 cases of condensation and of abstracting, on 

 the part of the editors, as especially in the 

 case of the descriptions of American mechan- 

 ical laboratories, where the original contained 

 very extensive and very extensively illustrated 

 details, the necessary work of merciless con- 

 densation has been, in the main, very well 

 done. The translations from the English into 

 the French are, so far as a first rapid survey 

 would indicate, excellently performed. The 

 collection will have great and permanent value 

 to the engineer and to the professor of engi- 

 neering, as well as to all having interest in these 

 divisions of applied mechanics. 



R. H. Thueston. 



The Antarctic Regions. By Dr. Karl Feickeb. 

 Translated by A. Sonnenschein. New York, 

 The Macmillan Company. 1900. Pp. xii + 

 292. With many maps and illustrations. 

 Price, $3.00. 



In view of the widely extended interest in the 

 Antarctic region at the present time, it would 

 seem as though it would almost be unneces- 

 sary to say that this was a timely production. 

 It is, however, not the only requisite of a book 

 that it is timely. Its substance should be of a 

 high character and its form of statement should 

 be clear. In this particular case, the historical 

 portion of the work is good, but its character 

 is marred by too great condensation. This fact 

 alone would make it a poor book to put in the 

 hands of the general reader, who is looking for 

 pleasure as well as for information. Even if 

 the original work was intended for the scientific 

 man, the translator should have had tact enough 

 to recognize the fact that it was not at all neces- 

 sary to follow the German construction of the 

 sentences too closely. A good translation should 

 take some account of the spirit of the language 

 into which the work is to be rendered, and not 

 make its perusal a burden by the introduction 

 of too many parenthetical sentences. Of course 

 in such a work as this much new information is 

 not to be expected, and the major portion of 



