310 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 269. 



sion of Eatomology of the U. S. Dept. of Agri- 

 culture have been drawn ou heavily for the 

 book's illustration. One hundred and one out 

 of the one hundred and eighty-three figures are 

 from this source. 



A brief but good bibliography is appended 

 and there is an index. The work of printers 

 and binders has been tastefully done. Alto- 

 gether the book is a useful one, and one that 

 can be recommended to beginning students of 

 insects. Vernon L. Kellogg. 



Btanfoed Univeesity, Calif. 



The Strength of Materials. By J. A. EwiNG, 

 Professor of Mechanism and Applied Me- 

 chanics in the University of Cambridge. 

 Cambridge, The University Press. 1899. 

 Octavo. Pp. 246. 



It will be news to many Americans to learn 

 that instruction in the subject of the strength 

 of materials is now given at the University of 

 Cambridge and that laboratory work in testiug 

 is done there. The mathematical theory of 

 elasticity has long received attention at the 

 universities of England and Scotland, as shown 

 by the works of Todhunter and Pearson, of 

 Love, and of Thompson and Tait ; this theory 

 and these volumes have, however, added little 

 to the practical knowledge of the properties of 

 materials and have not influenced engineering 

 constructions. At last, after many years of 

 waiting, there comes from Cambridge a book 

 which recognizes the fact that observation and 

 experiment are essentially necessary, and which 

 sets forth the fundamental principles and facts 

 in a manner likely to be of much value to the 

 engineering students and civil engineers of 

 Great Britain. 



In its theoretical discussions the book covers 

 about the same ground as that given in Amer- 

 ican engineering colleges, but there are few 

 numerical exercises and no problems for solu- 

 tion by the student. That such problems are 

 necessary is, however, recognized by the author 

 in his preface which states that the volume 

 is a lecture room treatment of the subject and 

 should be supplemented by laboratory work and 

 computations. The theory is not given isolated 

 from experience, but methods of testing are ex- 

 plained in an interesting manner, and the 



principal conclusions of the authorities in all 

 countries are noted. Processes of manufacture 

 which influence strength and ductility also re- 

 ceive some attention. The theory of beams, 

 columns and shafts is presented clearly and 

 concisely, and the subject of stresses in trusses 

 and arches is briefly treated. The author has 

 succeeded admirably in putting much sound 

 doctrine and practical information into a limited 

 space. The notation and terminology leans 

 toward that of the mathematical theory of 

 elasticity, but here and there the author breaks 

 away from that bondage and uses the notation 

 of engineering literature. In short this happy 

 wedlock of theory and practice is one upon 

 which the University of Cambridge should be 

 congratulated. No book has appeared in Eng- 

 land in recent years which so fully corresponds 

 to the American ideal of a text-book for sound 

 and successful education. M. M. 



GENERAL. 



Part V. of the 19th Annual Report, and ac- 

 companying Atlas, consists of a collection of 

 papers and reports of the U. S. Geological Sur- 

 vey descriptive of the forests of the West, 

 especially of certain of the forest reserves 

 created by Executive Order of February 22, 

 1896, prominent among which are the Black 

 Hills, Bighorn, Teton, Yellowstone Park, Priest 

 River, Bitterroot and Washington Forest Re- 

 serves. Copies may be secured through United 

 States Senators and Representatives, or by ap- 

 plication to the Survey. 



The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 

 has just issued a memoir, or small book, con- 

 taining ' Instructions for the Prevention of Ma- 

 larial Fever, ' for the use of residents in malarious 

 places. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



The Ore Deposits of the United States and Canada. 

 James Fueman Kemp. New York and London, 

 The Scientific Publishing Co. 1900. Pp. xiv + 481. 



Annals of the Astronomical Obse>-valory of Harvard 

 College. Edwabd C. Pickering, Director. Visual 

 Observations of the 3Ioon and Planets. William H. 

 Pickering. Vol. XXXII. Part II. Pp. iv + 

 117-317. Plates viii-xiv. 3Uscellaneous Researches. 

 Vol. XXXIIL Pp.287. Observations made at the 

 Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory. A. Law- 

 eence Eotch. Pp. 131-280. Cambridge, 1900. 



