134 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 342 



form certificates of qualification ; in General Division 7, lanes for 

 steamers on frequented routes, — (a) with regard to the avoidance 

 of steamer collision ; (b) with regard to the safety of fishermen ; in 

 General Division 8, night signals for communicating information at 

 sea, — {a) a code to be used in connection with the International 

 Code Signal Book ; {b) or a supplementary code of limited scope to 

 convey information of special importance to passing vessels ; (c) 

 distress signals ; and in General Division 9, warnings of approach- 

 ing storms, — (a) the transmission of warnings ; (b) the uniformity 

 of signals employed. 



General Division 10 will cover reporting, marking, and removing 

 dangerous wrecks or obstructions to navigation, — {a) a uniform 

 method of reporting and marking dangerous wrecks and derelicts ; 

 {b) the division of the labor, cost, and responsibility among the 

 several maritime nations, either by geographical apportionment or 

 otherwise; of the removal of dangerous derelicts, and of searching 

 for doubtful dangers with a view of removing them from the charts. 

 General Division 11 will take in notices of dangers to navigation, 

 and notices of changes in lights, buoys and other day and night 

 marks, — (a) a uniform method of taking bearings, of designating 

 them (whether true or magnetic), and of reporting them ; {b) a 

 uniform method of reporting, indicating, and exchanging informa- 

 tion by the several maritime nations, to include the form of notices 

 to mariners ; (c) a uniform method of distributing this information. 

 General Division 12 will be devoted to a uniform system of buoys 

 and beacons, — {a) uniformity in color of buoys ; {b) uniformity in 

 numbering of buoys; and General Division 13 to the establishment 

 of a permanent international maritime commission, — (a) the com- 

 position of the commission ; (/') its powers and authority. 



The programme, as above drawn up, is submitted over the sig- 

 natures of Rear Admiral S. R. Franklin, U.S.N. ; Commander W. 

 P. Sampson, U.S.N. ; S. T. Kimball, General Superintendent of the 

 Life Saving Servfe ; J. W. Franklin, master marine ; J. W. Shack- 

 ford, master, merchant marine; and W. W. Goodrich, counsellor- 

 at-law. 



The Hydrographic Office desires to obtain the opinions and sug- 

 gestions of interested parties on the various subjects to be con- 

 sidered, with a view to assisting members of the conference in 

 formulating satisfactory rules. It is hoped, therefore, that those 

 whose opinions are likely to have weight on any of the subjects 

 mentioned, may give the benefit of their knowledge or experience. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 

 Thermody7iamics of the Steam Engine and other Heat Engines. 

 By Cecil H. Peabody. New York, Wiley. 8°. $5. 



The author of this book is associate professor of steam engi- 

 neering in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the 

 book is intended mainly for the use of students in that and similar 

 technical institutions. He presents in a clear manner, and with a 

 minimum of mathematical expression, the general theory of ther- 

 modynamics ; and his treatment of the properties of gases and va- 

 pors, and of the injector, presents several novel and interesting 

 features, especially in the comparisons with experiments. More 

 novel still, and more valuable to the student who intends to adopt 

 steam-engineeting as a profession, is the author's treatment of the 

 steam engine. He has considered it advisable to leave untouched 

 all approximate theories based upon the assumption of adiabatic 

 changes of steam in the cylinder of the engine, making instead a 

 systematic study of actual tests of engines in use, for which pur- 

 pose a large number of test records have been collected, arranged, 

 and compared. This will enable the student to learn what is ac- 

 tually known on the subject, and will point out to him the direction 

 in which future investigations will give the best results, as well as 

 show him how and where improvements may be made. 



It will be gathered from the foregoing that this book differs, in 

 some parts, either in substance or in manner of presentation, from 

 other text-books on the subject ; but in general, commonly accepted 

 methods have been followed. The formal presentation ofthermo- 

 dynamics is the same as that employed by most authorities, and 

 pre^nts clearly the many difficulties of the subject, besides making 

 plain the processes employed. 



The author gives special attention to the investigations of the 



action of steam in the cylinder of an engine, considerable space 

 being given to the researches made by Hirn, as well as to the ex- 

 periments which provided the basis for them. Directions and in- 

 structions are given for the designing and construction of simple 

 and compound engines, and also for making accurate tests of their 

 efficiency. Chapters are given on air-compressors and refrigerating 

 machines, which important subjects may profitably be studied in 

 connection with the theory of thermodynamics. 



Though this volume,' like all similar text-books, is largely ar> 

 adaptation for a special educational purpose of the work of other 

 authors and experimenters, more than a general acknowledgment 

 of indebtedness to them would not under the circumstances be 

 deemed necessary ; still Professor Peabody has given references iri 

 foot-notes wherever direct quotations have been made, which will 

 aid students materially in making more extended investigations 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



D. Appleton & Co. call attention to the fact that " Christianity 

 and Agnosticism " has gone into a second edition. 



— Messrs. Houghton, Mjfflin, & Co. announce for early publica- 

 tion, " Literary Landmarks : A Guide to Good Reading for Young: 

 People, and Teachers' Assistant." By Mary E. Burt, Teacher of 

 Literature, Cook County Normal School, Englewood, 111. 152 

 pages. Cloth, 75 cents. 



— The Modern Science Essayist for July contains an essay on 

 the "Evolution of Society," by James A. Skelton. In the August 

 number, J. Sidney Sampson discusses the •' Evolution of The- 

 ology." 



" Useful Hints on Steam " is the title of a very attractive little 

 volume of nearly a hundred pages, written and published by E. E. 

 Roberts of 107 Liberty Street, New York. It is written in a popu- 

 lar vein, and is intended for beginners. 



— Charles H. Kilborn, Boston, have just ready " Round the 

 World with the Poets," selected and arranged by Mary Cate Smith 

 and Sarah C. Winn, intended to afford a series of review exercises 

 in the study of geography. The quotations are arranged beginning 

 with physical features and then giving longer poems relating to 

 particular countries, mountains, rivers, cities, etc. These are fol- 

 lowed by an illustrative tour, giving in selections from well-known 

 authors an interesting journey around the world. 



— The September number ai Harper s Magazine will contain 

 two articles by Theodore Child, one describing the American fine 

 art exhibition at the Paris Exposition, which Mr. Child does not 

 hesitate to say is one of the strongest and most interesting of all 

 the foreign departments, and the other giving features of Moscow 

 life that escape the eye of ordinary travellers, fn the same number 

 Edmond de Pressense gives an outline of the religious rfiovement 

 of the present day in France ; " London Mock Parliaments," by 

 John Lillie, illustrated by Harry Furness ; the distinguished cari- 

 caturist, Caran d'Ache, will have a series of sketches of dogs in the 

 " Editor's Drawer ; " and Lynde Palmer contributes a story about 

 electricity called "The Pendragon Trial." 



— The next volume in the Badminton Library to be published ir> 

 the autumn, is " Fencing, Boxing, and Wrestling," written by 

 Messrs. Walter H. Pollock, F. C. Grove, Walter Armstrong, E. B. 

 Mitchell, and M. Pr6vost. This will be followed later by " Golf," 

 to which Mr. Horace Hutchinson, Mr. A. J. Balfour, and Sir Wil- 

 liam Simpson (among others) will contribute. 



— In the September Scribner's Lieut. W. W. Kimball, U.S.N., 

 United States Inspector of Ordnance, will describe the various 

 types of magazine rifles which have been adopted by the leading" 

 European armies, including the Mannlicher, Hotchkiss, Lee. Mau- 

 ser, and Vetterli. A number of illustrations will show the con- 

 trivances by which the cartridges are fed to the rifle. Andrew- 

 Lang will write of Alexandre Dumas. Harold Frederic will begin 

 a new serial romance of the Mohawk Valley in the days of the 

 French and Indian wars and the Revolution. H. G. Prout's article- 

 on " Safety in Railway Travel," is the twelfth and last in the very 

 successful railroad series; It is announced that these articles, with 



