28 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 362 



We have here the first part issued, a substantially bound and 

 closely printed volume of 800 pages, full of well chosen illustrations, 

 devoted entirely to the subject of fuel and its applications. A very 

 good table of contents and a remarkably good index, both of es- 

 sential importance in a work of this character, make it easy to find 

 what is wanted, and to appreciate the magnitude and value of the 

 work performed by the editors and writers. This volume is pre- 

 pared by Dr. E. J. Mills and Mr. F. J. Rowan, the latter the well 

 known engineer. It treats of the fuels, their chemical and physi- 

 cal characteristics, their sources, methods of exploiting, of prepa- 

 ration for their various applications, and their calorific value. The 

 apparatus and methods of use of the several classes of combusti- 

 bles, including the modern fuels, the mineral oils, and the gaseous 

 combustibles, are exhibited at length and in detail, and the forms 

 of apparatus employed in their utilization are illustrated. The 

 theory of heat and of the heating efficiency of combustibles is well 

 presented, and the methods of computation of heat developed and 

 of temperatures attained are illustrated by examples. The princi- 

 ples of chimney draught are considered at great length, and the 

 prevention of smoke, — a most important subject, especially in lo- 

 calities compelled to ^ubmit to the use of soft coals, — is well 

 treated. 



The portions in which the heating of houses by hot water and 

 steam, and those in which the laws of heat-transmission are 

 studied, are perhaps the most satisfactory and valuable in the 

 book. These are matters which have rarely been as fully, and very 

 seldom if at all, as well treated as we here find them. The book 

 is worth its price for this part alone. Thirty pages are devoted to 

 the study of furnaces using solid fuels, and as many more to the 

 use of gas as fuel, including the theory and operation of the Sie- 

 mens furnace and its many relatives. The work concludes with a 

 very valuable examination of the practical effect of fuel, and in- 

 cludes very extensive and most admirably arranged tables of the 

 American as well as foreign coals, their composition, their heating 

 power, and their practical value as shown by experiment and use 

 under ordinary conditions of metallurgical and engineering work. 



Taken as a whole, this is probably the best work on the fuels and 

 their use and applications that has ever yet been printed, and it 

 possesses the advantage, for American chemists and engineers, 

 that its contents are available for use in the United States as well 

 as in Europe ; and the special fuels of America are practically 

 as fully treated, and in as available a manner, as are those of the 

 transatlantic countries. This volume, if it may be taken as the in- 

 dex of usefulness for the whole cyclopedia, indicates that we may 

 fairly expect the work, as a whole, to become the standard work of 

 reference on its subjects, and to remain so for many years to come. 

 Cyclopedic works of this character have usually been found to 

 command a very large sale in this country, — witness the wonder- 

 ful sale of the Encyclopedia Britannica, — and this new cyclopedia, 

 if its sale is at all proportioned to its relative value, will find a 

 market sufficiently extensive to handsomely repay its proprietors 

 and contributors for their most admirable and conscientious labor. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



The Open Court Publishing Company of Chicago announces 

 an authorized translation of M. Th. Ribot's " Psychology of Atten- 

 tion." 



— Jefferson Davis's article on Andersonville, which the Confed- 

 erate leader is said to have withdrawn from the North American 

 Review because its editor insisted on certain changes, will appear 

 in Belford's Magazine. The Belford Company will also publish 

 Mr. Davis's " Short History of the Confederate States." 



— D. Appleton & Company have ready the third edition of Da- 

 vid A. Wells's " Recent Economic Changes ; " the second edition 

 of " The Ice Age of North America," by G. Frederick Wright ; 

 and new editions of " California of the South," by Lindley and 

 Widney ; " The Florida of To-Day," by J. W. Davidson ; and of 

 the " Handbook of American Winter Resorts." 



— The various aspects of sore throat are considered in an arti- 

 cle by Dr. J. M. Mills in the January number of Babyhood, which 

 describes a new apparatus for the treatment of tonsilitis. The di- 



rections for gargling may also be new to many mothers of young; 

 children. Startling facts are given in Dr. Dorning's paper on 

 " The Administration of Opiates to Infants," which shows how 

 prevalent this pernicious practice is. The comparative advantages 

 and disadvantages of early music study for young children are dis- 

 cussed in another article, and there are useful hints for busy and 

 anxious young mothers in the departments of " Nursery Helps and 

 Novelties," " Nursery Problems " and " Mothers' Parliament." 



— " Mr. Bryce's ' American Commonwealth ' is out of print in^ 

 England," writes Mr. Smalley to the New York Tribune. " The 

 first edition in its three octavo volumes was of 1,500 copies, and is- 

 destined to become moderately scarce, for it is not likely to be re- 

 printed in its complete form. Messrs. Macmillan are just bringing 

 out a new and cheaper edition in two volumes, with the dangerous 

 chapter by Mr. Goodnow omitted, or, at least, not fully reprinted. 

 Mr. Oakey Hall has chosen to bring his action for libel against Mr. 

 Bryce and not against the publishers, but no firm would wish ta 

 reprint an alleged libel while an action was pending ; nor would 

 Mr. Bryce himself care to." 



— Charles H. Kerr & Co. of Chicago have published a discus- 

 sion of the religious question by E. P. Powell, entitled " Liberty and 

 Life." The author, having been brought up a Calvinist, has beer» 

 led by the spirit of the age and his own investigations to renounce 

 his early faith, and now stands, with many others who have passed 

 through the same experience, on the ground of agnosticism. A 

 large part of his book is occupied with criticisms of the old theology,^ 

 which are not always in the best spirit, and are ill calculated to- 

 win converts. The part of the work to which we turned with 

 most interest, however, is that in which he undertakes to tell us- 

 what the religion of the future will be ; but we failed to find any- 

 thing new or satisfactory. All supernatural beliefs, he thinks, will 

 be abandoned, and religion will consist mainly in cultivating our 

 own characters and promoting the material interests of society. 

 The book closes with one of those Utopian visions of what human 

 life will be a hundred years hence, which have lately become so- 

 fashionable, but which, we take leave to say, are neither interest- 

 ing nor edifying. 



— We took up the Rev. William M. Campbell's " Footprints of 

 Christ," published by Funk & Wagnalls, in the hope of finding 

 something fresh in the author's conception of Christ's character 

 and work ; but in this we were disappointed. Mr. Campbell's 

 views are those now held by the mass of Protestant theologians, 

 according to which Christ is to be looked upon chiefly as a model 

 of moral perfection, absolutely free from sin, and exhibiting all the 

 virtues in their fulness ; while the old theory of the supernatural 

 being, or divine Logos, is hardly alluded to. From its own point 

 of view the book is fairly good. Mr. Campbell endeavors to trace 

 the various shades and lineaments of Christ's character, the spe- 

 cial excellences which at different times he exhibited ; and though 

 his views are largely traditional and his method uncritical, his 

 work is not without merit for moral instruction. We like in par- 

 ticular the stress he lays on the stronger and more rugged elements 

 in the character of Jesus, which preachers are apt to underestimate, 

 but which are really among his most prominent traits. But a per- 

 fect treatment of the subject requires a different method from that 

 of this book. 



— The announcement is made of the change of title from Build- 

 ing to Architecture and Building by that well known weekly. In 

 making a change the desire has been to indicate more fully the 

 character of the paper than is signified by the name of Building. 

 Building has, especially of late years, devoted itself to the interest 

 of architecture as a profession, and while it has made itself valif- 

 able and interesting to builders, this interest has been rather from 

 the architectural side than otherwise. Yet the name has led many 

 to suppose that it was being published rather as a representative 

 of the builders than of the architects, and to overcome every pos- 

 sible misapprehension of this character in the future they have 

 adopted the present title as better representing the character of 

 the journal. Quite a change is made in the make-up. The two- 

 supplements that have heretofore been regular weekly features will 

 be omitted, and departments substituted for them. In place of 



