December 9, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



803 



results of test in foreign navies also. Nearly 

 all naval vessels, at home and abroad, now 

 include in their specifications the water- 

 tube boiler. "The tactical importance of 

 water-tube boilers has been emphasized by 

 the conditions which obtained in the block- 

 ade at Santiago and the great victory of 

 July 3d. It was necessary, for a long 

 period, that our ships should be ready to 

 develop maximum power at a few minutes' 

 notice ; and with cylindrical boilers this in- 

 volved keeping all the boilers under steam, 

 with heavily banked fires and a large at- 

 tendant consumption of coal. Water-tube 

 boilers of the proper kind, which admit of 

 the rapid raising of steam with safety, re- 

 move this difficulty and give the command- 

 ing officer a more complete command of his 

 fighting machine." Giving great power 

 with small weight, this modern apparatus 

 of power-production is coming into use on 

 all torpedo boats and, as a rule, on even the 

 heavy battle-ships. 



The steam turbine is referred to, but 

 with the statement that it is not yet certain 

 that it will find permanent place in the 

 naval service. 



The use of oil-fuels is pronounced prom- 

 ising in some naval work where costs of 

 fuel are not of prime importance. Success 

 is met with in the use of an oil of S. G. 

 0.85 to 0.87, a flash-point of 315° Fahr., 

 and a burning point of 350° Fahr. This 

 oil is entirely safe on shipboard. 



Eeferring to the marvellous performance 

 of the Oregon, her long voyage, perfect con- 

 dition at its end, and later effective action 

 with the squadron off Santiago, a record 

 ' which has never been equaled in the his- 

 tory of navies,' and attributing this fact to 

 the admirable work of designers and con- 

 structors, and still more, if possible, to the 

 splendid character of the personnel of the 

 engineer department of the ship, the Engi- 

 neer-in-Chief says : " For the past ten years 

 it has been my duty and a sad one to call 



attention to the urgent need of a reorgani" 

 zation of the personnel of the Engineer 

 Corps." Its enlargement, provision for 

 proper selection of its officers and profes- 

 sional training, and of suitable induce- 

 ments to men of talent and genius in this 

 branch to enter the corps, are vitally im- 

 portant and necessary amendments to ex- 

 isting provisions for its support. An effi- 

 cient Engineer Corps is as essential to the 

 efficiency of the navy as good war-engines. 

 The engineer and his war-engine together 

 make victories like those of Manila and of 

 Santiago possible, with the no less essential 

 aid of good ' men behind the guns.' The 

 whole department is one of applied science 

 of the most extensive and imposing char- 

 acter and an Engineer Corps, scientifically 

 educated and systematically trained to its 

 peculiarly exacting and responsible work, is 

 the most pressing need of the ' new navy.' 

 The report, and its conclusion regarding 

 the lessons of the war, is most instructive 

 from both scientific and the political stand- 

 points. 



E. H. Thoeston. 



REPORT ON TEE STATE OF THE MATHEMAT- 

 ICAL THEORY OF ELECTRICITY AND 



3IAGNETIS3I. 



In considering the state of the mathe- 

 matical theory of electricity and magnetism 

 at the end of the first half-century of the 

 existence of this Association, it seems 

 hardly possible to avoid a comparison with 

 the state of affairs at the beginning of that 

 period. In 1848, strange as the statement 

 may seem, most of the great discoveries in 

 electricity had been made. Coulomb had 

 by his remarkable quantitative experiments 

 with the torsion-balance and the proof-plane 

 set the law of inverse squares once for all 

 upon its feet, and thus opened the way for 

 the wonderful applications of the analysis 

 of Laplace, Poisson, Gauss and Green. 

 The experimental discovery by Oersted of 



