October 11, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



571 



the American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory. He was a fellow of the Ameri- 

 can Association for the Advancement of 

 Science since 1885, and attended the 

 Section of Anthropology. He was also 

 enrolled as a member of the Linnsean So- 

 ciety, the Numismatic and Archeological 

 Society, the Anthropological Society of 

 Washington and the American Geograph- 

 ical Society, as well as being a life member 

 of the Anthropological Society of Paris. 

 At the time of his death he was the oldest 

 living member of the American Ethna- 

 logical Society. 



Mr. Douglass's most recent contribution 

 to the literature of anthropology appeared 

 as Article X. in Vol. VIII. of the Bulletin 

 of the American Museum of Natural History. 

 This paper was entitled ' A Table of the 

 Geographical Distribution of American 

 Indian Relics fin a Collection exhibited in 

 the American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York,' with explanatory text. 



Although suffering from an infirmity of 

 old age, Mr. Douglass was enthusiastic and 

 cheerful to the last. He was a man of 

 great patience, charitable to those who 

 differed from him in opinion and of a 

 gentle and courteous nature. 



Harlan I. Smith. 



/ 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 

 SOME RECENT WORKS ON MECHANICS. 



Theoretical Mechanics. An elementary text- 

 book. By L. M. HosKiNS, Professor of Ap- 

 plied Mathematics in the Leland Stanford 

 Junior University. Published by the author, 

 Stanford University Bookstore, agent. 1900. 

 8vo. Pp. ix + 436. 

 V The Principles of Mechanics. An elementary ex- 

 position, for students of physics. By Fred- 

 erick Slate, Professor of Physics in the 

 University of California. Part I. New 

 York, The Macmillan Company ; London, 

 Macmillan and Company, Limited. 1900. 

 12mo. Pp. X + 299. 



Theoretical Mechanics. An elementary treatise. 

 By W. WooLSEY Johnson, Professor of 

 Mathematics, U. S. Naval Academy. New 

 York, John Wiley and Sons; London, 

 Chapman and Hall, Limited. 1901. 12mo. 

 Pp. XV + 424. 



Ad. Wernickes Lehrbuch der Mechanik in ele- 

 mentarer Darstellung mit Auwendungen und 

 Ubungen aus den Gebieten der Physik und 

 Techuik. In zwei Teilen. Erster Teil, 

 Mechanik fester Korper, von Dr. Alex. 

 Wernicke. Vierte vollig umgearbeitete Au- 

 flage. Erste Abteilung, Einleitung — Phoro- 

 nomie — Lehre vom materiellen Punkte. 8vo. 

 Pp. XV + 314, Zweiter Teil, Fliissigkeiten 

 und Gase, von Richard Vater. Dritte 

 vollig umgearbeitete Auflage. 8vo. Pp. 

 xii + 374. Braunschweig, Friedrich Vieweg 

 und Sohn. 1900. 



Of the production of books, and g od books, 

 on the science of mechanics the end is not yet 

 in sight. The first three works on our list fall 

 into the same class. Each of them purports to 

 give an elementary exposition only of the 

 science, each is a good specimen of book-mak- 

 ing, and each is supplemented by an index. 

 They differ from one another, however, in 

 several important respects ; and their character- 

 istic differences reflect clearly, it would appear, 

 the points of view of the authors. Thus, Pro- 

 fessor Hoskins has in mind mainly the needs of 

 the progressive and aggressive engineer, and 

 seeks at the same time to avoid the narrower 

 demands of specialists. Professor Slate looks 

 at the subject as a physicist, with a keen ap- 

 preciation of the broader aspects of the science 

 and the critical examination its principles have 

 received from recent writers like Maxwell, 

 Mach and Love. Professor Johnson, on the 

 other hand, with perhaps a deeper sense of the 

 difficulties to be encountered by the student, is 

 somewhat conservative, and follows more 

 closely the methods which have proved so ef- 

 fective in the woi'ks of the great analysts. 



Singularly enough, the definitions of me- 

 chanics given by these authors are very much 

 alike, and all of them are somewhat old- 

 fashioned. Hoskins says, ^^ Mechanics is the 

 science which treats of the motions of material 

 bodies "; Slate says, " The science of Mechanics 



