May 14, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



773 



ance to the bibliographer, but is hardly credit- 

 able to the spirit of scientific accuracy and fair- 

 ness which American science has done so much 

 to promote. 



C. H. M. 



The Mechanics of Pumping Machinery. By J. 



TVeisbach and G. Herrmann. Authorized 



Translation by K. P. Dahlstrom, M. E. 



Macmillan & Co. 1897. Pp. 300. 8vo. 



$3.75. 



This work is a translation of the latest divi- 

 sion of the Weisbach cyclopedic treatise on En- 

 gineering Mechanics. It is intended mainly as 

 a text-book, and for use in advanced courses of 

 instruction in engineering schools ; while it is 

 also thought that it may have value to the de- 

 signer and constructor in his daily work. The 

 translator has added some matter exhibiting the 

 progress made in this field since the original 

 publication of the book in Germany, and in this 

 he has had the aid of Professor Klein's notes. 

 The work includes discussions of early forms of 

 water elevators and hydraulic machinery, of the 

 theory and action of pumps, both reciprocating 

 and rotary, and an account of other less well- 

 known apparatus for raising water. The repu- 

 tation of the author, Professor Herrmann, the 

 distinguished technicist, is a guarantee of the re- 

 liability of these discussions, and this guarantee 

 is confirmed by examination of the pages of 

 this translation, in which these discussions have 

 been faithfully brought over into the English 

 and in satisfactory form. 



The illustrations are numerous and helpful ; 

 the text is by them rendered admirably lucid. 

 In general appearance and style the volume 

 ■corresponds to its predecesors in the same 

 series and, without beiug elegant, is creditably 

 made up. Its price is moderate and it will 

 probably find its place in the library of all who 

 possess its companion volumes. 



R. H. T. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS. 



THE journal of COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY. 



VOL. VII., NO. 1. 



The issue for April contains three memoirs, 

 besides editorials and reviews. B. F. Kings- 

 bury writes on ' The Structure ard Morphology 



of the Oblongata in Fishes,' from the standpoint 

 of the components of the nerve roots. Some 17 

 species of cartilaginous and bony fishes were 

 examined, their nerve roots analyzed and the 

 components traced to their respective centers, 

 along the lines laid down by Strong's recent 

 work on the cranial nerves of Amphibia. It 

 will be remembered that Strong reduces the 

 sensory nerves of the head to three types : (1) 

 the general cutaneous system, innervating the 

 skin and terminating in the ' ascending ' or 

 spinal fifth tract of the medulla ; (2) the acus- 

 tico-lateral system, innervating the lateral line 

 canals and the ear and terminating in the tuber- 

 culum acusticum of the medulla ; (3) the fasci- 

 culus communis system, innervating taste buds, 

 certain specialized end-orgaos of the skin not 

 belonging to the lateral line system, and the 

 mucous and visceral surfaces in general, and 

 terminating in the fasciculus communis of the 

 medulla, or the cellular aggregates associated 

 with it (lobus vagi of fishes). 



Now in the fishes examined. Dr. Kingsbury 

 finds these components present, and arranged 

 in essentially the same way as in the Amphibia. 

 The varied and apparently anomalous conditions 

 found in the medulla of the fishes, which have 

 so long puzzled the morphologists, have been 

 reduced for the most part to variations in the 

 relative development of these three . factors. 

 The lobus trigemini of the catfishes is regarded 

 as a specialized portion of the fasciculus com- 

 munis system. These conclusions have been 

 reached by a study of the central relations only 

 of the nerve roots. It may be added that re- 

 searches now in progress at ColumbiaUniversity, 

 upon the peripheral distribution of these roots 

 in the bony fishes, have fully substantiated 

 most of his discoveries. 



Dr. Kingsbury follows with a second paper 

 entitled ' The Encephalic Evaginations in Ga- 

 noids.' The new and important points are 

 two : (1) The presence in the adult Amia of the 

 first epiphysial vesicle of Hill and its innerva- 

 tion from the left Habena; and (2) the existence 

 in Amia' and Lepidosteus of lateral cephalic and 

 caudal extensions of cavity caudad of the velum 

 transversum of Kupfier, constituting consider- 

 able diverticula. 



' The Early Development of the Epiphysis and 



