278 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. Xo. 817 



tain imiversities. — From the report of Trustee 

 Eobert T. Morris, printed in the Cornell 

 Alumni News. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Water: Its Origin and Use. By William 

 CoLES-FmcH, Resident Engineer to the 

 Brompton, Chatham, Gillingham and 

 Eochester Water Company, Kent, England. 

 New York, D. Van Nostrand Co., Publish- 

 ers. 1909. Pp. xxi + 483. $5. 

 This book is not a scientific record, but 

 written from the standpoint of an engineer 

 professionally interested in the finding and 

 distribution of water. Accompanying the text 

 are numerous illustrations of mountain and 

 glacier scenery from the original pictures of 

 Mrs. Aubrey Le Blond (Mrs. Main), and also 

 photographs and diagrams illustrating the 

 engineering work of the author. Mr. Coles- 

 Finch makes no claim to originality, but he 

 has put together in an interesting and read- 

 able form a great deal of information on a 

 very wide subject. A copious index adds to 

 the value of the work. 



The book opens with a discussion of solar 

 heat, which is really the cause of water in all 

 its forms, and the atmosphere, " without which 

 nothing could live, nothing could burn, noth- 

 ing could grow ; without which no sound could 

 be heard, and there could be no rain." 



The average annual rainfall of the globe is 

 computed to be 33 inches. In Assam from 

 600 to 805 inches have been recorded, while in 

 the Sahara desert, part of Arabia, the desert 

 of Gobi, and portions of Mexico, Chili and 

 Peru it has seldom been known to rain. It 

 seems to be the fact that the atmosphere of 

 the earth is growing drier. The glaciers are 

 retreating, the Caspian Sea and many other 

 lakes are growing smaller, and the great 

 deserts seem to be extending. Some of the 

 richest countries on earth have seen their 

 fertility decreasing, mainly owing to the ruth- 

 less destruction of their forests. 



Ruined forests mean flooded rivers, periodic 

 droughts, eroded soil and dried-up springs. . . . 

 Many bodies having control of large tracts of 

 land, such as water boards, are planting their 

 catchment areas with trees with advantage and 



profit; for it is found that the presence of trees 

 adds to the retention of water falling as rain as 

 well as by radiation and cooling the adjacent 

 atmosphere, causing condensation and rain; it 

 prevents iloods, regulates and purifies the supply, 

 for water from wooded areas is generally purer 

 than that falling on bare land. 



Three chapters are given to the story of 

 snow, ice and glaciers. The different forms 

 of ice are described, from the silver thaw or 

 " glazed frost," which is " neither hail, hoar- 

 frost nor snow, but rain, each drop of which 

 solidifies as it touches any solid body," to the 

 vast fields of ice formed in polar regions, 

 rising to a height of 3,000 feet or more, and 

 the glaciers, formed by the congelation and 

 compression of the mountain snow, and which 

 in their movement over the northern portions 

 of Europe, Asia and America during the 

 glacial period, mixed together the elements of 

 different districts, disintegrated them, carried 

 them over and deposited them on the hard 

 chalk, rock and other foundations, covering 

 them with rich soil well adapted for the growth 

 of vegetation. 



Having followed atmospheric water through 

 the process of evaporation and the various 

 forms in which it reaches the earth, the next 

 five chapters trace its passage through the 

 soil and rocks on its way back to the sea. 

 On their way these streams carry material 

 from one location to another, slowly raising 

 new continents, and gradually but surely 

 changing the configuration of the earth's sur- 

 face by the formation of bars, estuaries, la- 

 goon and sandbanks. 



But the work of rain, rivers and waterfalls 

 is as nothing compared with that of the sea. 



The billows of the ocean agitate the loose 

 material on the shore, wearing away the coast 

 with endless repetitions of this act of power and 

 imparted force; the solid portion of our earth, 

 thus sapped to its foundations, is carried away 

 into the deep, and sunk again at the bottom of 

 the sea, whence it had originated, and from which, 

 sooner or later, it will again make its appearance. 

 (Dr. Hutton.) 



The last chapters of the book are devoted to 

 a discussion of the methods by which water is 

 obtained and stored for domestic and mechan- 



