.3 76 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XX. No. 517 



surveyors. Thp tr.^ntise is a most satisfactory one for its purpose ; 

 its author is known as not only an authority and in all respects 

 competent, but as one of the most accurate anri painstaking of 

 writers. His work will undoubtedly find its place promptly, and 

 will be adapted for purposes of instruction in many schools of the 

 higher cl-iss, and will supply multitudes of young engineei-s with 

 the facts and methods that they require in their practice. 



Coals and Cokes in West Virginia: a handbook on the coals and 

 cokes of the Great Kanawha, New River, Flat Top and adja- 

 cent districts ii} West Virginia, By Wm. Seymour Edwards. 

 Cincinnati, R, Clarke & Co. 163 p. 



Mr. Seymoue has collected in this book a great mass of statis- 

 tical and geological information which cannot fail to be useful 

 and valuable to all who are interested in the West Virginia coal- 

 fields. In the first chapter a brief review is given of the coal- 

 measures as they occur in the southern part of the State, and this 

 is followed by chapters giving details of numerous sections. We 

 have first tables of vertical sections giving the name used by the 

 Pennsylvania Survey, the local name, height or thickness, mate- 

 rial, etc. ; then tables of chemical analyses, tables shovving com- 

 parative gas-yielding power, steam-producing power, and chemical 

 analyses and physical tests of coke. This closes part one. 



In part two we have sketches of various districts and tables 

 showing the output, cost of production, transportation, and aver- 

 age i^rices obtained in a series of years. In these days of pools 

 and combines by railroads, and of trusts by manufacturers, it is 

 of interest to note the immense difference in cost of transportation 

 when water and lijind carriage is considered. The Great Kanawha 

 River has been irnproyed under the auspices of the general gov- 

 ernment by means of locks and dams so as to afford continuous 

 transportation facilities for about ten months out of the year. The 

 most of the dams in the river are " movable," that is, can be 

 lowered to the botton^ of the stream in high water and raised 

 when the river falls, so a^ to afford a constant dejith of six feet. 



The coal is carried in barges averaging about 500 tons, or between 

 12,000 and 13,000 bushel.^. Four barges (^n be easily handled by 

 a tow-boat in the locks, and from 4 to 14 in the open river; while 

 on the Ohio from 14 to 34 barges are taken by a single tug. 

 Thirty barges contain about 15,000 tons, equal to a continuous 

 train of 20-ton railroad cars 5* miles long. The rate of towing 

 this coal from Charleston, W. Va. , to Cincinnati, a distance of 

 263 miles, is only 35 cents per ton, or, to those who hire barges 

 and so pay rent for them, 37^ cents per ton. To Louisville, 394 

 miles from Charleston, the rate, including rent, and the return of 

 barges, is 48 cents per ton. or ly^^ mills per ton per mile. For 

 the longer distance to New Orleans, 1,776 miles, the cost is |1.25 

 per ton, or ^1^ of a cent per ton per mile. Contrast this now with 

 the cost of railroad freight from New York to L'hicago, 913 miles, 

 and we have $4.50 per ton, or 5 mills per ton per mile, against y^ 

 of a mill per ton per mile for 1,776 miles to New Orleans. Surely 

 nothing can show more clearly the value of water carriage to the 

 community as a whole, and no better argument could be advanced 

 in favor of the continued development of our river, canal, and 

 lake navigation. JOSEPH F. James. 



Washington, D.C., Dec. 10. 



A Manual of Physics. By William Peddie, D.Sc, F.R.S.E.. 

 New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons. 501 p. 8". 



The language of mathematics is noted for precision and con- 

 ciseness; but, with its incomparable advantages, both for expres- 

 sion and for reasoning, it offers a barrier to many minds as for- 

 bidding as any Chinese wall. One reader of physics enjoys 

 brilliant lecture experiments, another desires a guide to accurate 

 laboratory measurements, but neither phase is apparent in this 

 volume. It is offered as " an inti-oduction to the study of physical 

 science, designed for the use of university students.'' With little 

 descripli n of apparatus or manipulation, it presents an orderly 

 view of the several topics, setting forth the unity of natural phi- 

 losophy, and tracing the results of observation to the kinetic 



CALENDAR OF SOCIETIES. 



Anthropological Society, Washington. 



Dec. 20. — Symposium, Is Simplified Spell- 

 ing Feasible? Discussion by Professor F. 

 A. March of Lafayette College, Hon. A. R. 

 Spoflord, Hon. Wm. T Harris, Hon. Edwin 

 Williis. The discussion will be continued 

 Dec. 37 by the remaining speakers. 



Reading Matter Notices. 



Eipans Tabules : for torpid liver. 

 Eipans Tabules banish pain. 



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