58 KANSAS CI TV REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



fore ourselves in mental review the different works now in progress thoughout the 

 world, and we have still less difficulty in electing as our example the magnificent 

 arched bridge now almost completed by Capt. Eads, at St. Louis. In that work 

 the alliance between the theorist and the practical man is complete. The highest 

 powers of modern analysis have been called into requisition for the determination 

 of the strains, the resources of the manufacturer have been taxed to the utmost 

 in production of material and perfection of 'workmanship, and the ingenuity of 

 the builder has been alike taxed to put the unprecedented mass into place. In 

 short, brain power has been called into action in every department. * * 



Thus wrote the accomplished critic, unmindful for the time of the perplexi- 

 ties of the manufacturer, the misgivings of the contractor, the anxieties of the 

 capitalist, and the trials of the engineer. Each in his place was abundantly ex- 

 ercised. When cross examined before the tribunal of actual work, the steel and 

 iron makers who had given such repeated assurance of their ability to construct 

 all that was required, confessed themselves less confident and sometimes com- 

 pletely at loss, and more than all, after careful study of the drawings and speci- 

 fications, even when numerous changes had been made with a view to lessening 

 the cost of construction, the contractors claimed that the quality of workman- 

 ship required was far beyond their expectation and that on many points Mr. 

 Eads demanded impossibilities. Every detail was sharply discussed, and agree- 

 ments were reached at the expense of time and generally of money. 



A complete account of all these difficulties, and of the ways in which some 

 were overcome and others avoided, makes of these chapters a standard author- 

 ity on the manufacture of iron and steel in large pieces ; in the same way the 

 records of the tests of materials, and methods and machines used m testing, have 

 a value far beyond that of showing the care and precision with which every part 

 of the work was constucted. 



The chapter on " The Theory of the Ribbed Arch " is also deserving of 

 special mention; the subject has never been more beautifully and satisfactorily 

 discussed. All the mathematical calculations used are given in detail. 



The book is a quarto of nearly 400 pages, and is as well printed as any book we 

 have ever seen. It is illustrated by thirty-nine large plates of drawings, showing 

 accurately every detail of the bridge. The drawings were made by Wm. Ger- 

 hardt, of St. Louis, and photo-lithographed by Julius Bien, of New York. They 

 are unsurpassed. There are also eleven artotype plates, made by R. Benecke, 

 of St. Louis, giving excellent views of the bridge in process of erection, and 

 seventy-two diagrams illustrating special points. 



The book has received the highest endorsement from professional engineers. 



