Notices respecting New Boohs. 365 



more completely than had hitherto been done, the process of the 

 conversion of heat into work in steam-engines." The treatise has 

 been long out of print, and so, with a diffidence it is hard to under- 

 stand, the author lias brought out the present edition. This 

 reluctance, however, is due to the thought that so great progress 

 has been made since 1877, that some might wish that a new work 

 had been written rather than a new edition of an old one published. 

 The present volume contains eleven chapters, accompanied by sets 

 of useful Tables, and followed by an appendix containing Notes 

 and Addenda. The first nine chapters in the main are a reprint, 

 but numerous additions and improvements have been made in them 

 to bring the work up to date. These additions are more especially 

 indicated in the Appendix. For the benefit of such as have not 

 a copy of the work, we briefly note the subjects discussed in these 

 chapters. The first treats of the physical properties of steam, 

 the author then coming to thermodynamics, discusses the con- 

 vertibility of heat and work, and treats of the formation of steam 

 in a closed vessel, and of internal work in general. Chapters 3, 

 4, and 5 are taken up with a preliminary theory of the Steam- 

 Engine, an account of Air- and Gi-as-Engines, statement of the 

 Second Law of Thermodynamics, an enunciation and explanation of 

 Carnot's principle, and accounts of some perfect Thermodynamic 

 Machines. Chapter 6 is devoted to the generation and expansion 

 of Steam. In Chapter 7 we have extensions of Carnot's principle, 

 of the adiabatic equation (with numerical examples), and the con- 

 nexion between adiabatic curves, with a discussion of several other 

 matters bearing upon the subject of perfect engines with any given 

 cycle. The losses of efficiency in Heat-Engines occupy chapter 8, 

 and clearance and wire-drawing form the subject-matter of chapter 

 9. The last two chapters have been completely rewritten ; this is 

 in consequence of the attention which has of late years been paid 

 to this branch of the subject, viz., the action of the sides of the 

 cylinder and of water remaining after exhaust, and the conditions 

 of economical working of Steam-Engines. They occupy one 

 quarter of the book, and contain much matter of interest. If the 

 statements made in this concluding part meet with acceptance, and 

 some little time must elapse before a sufficient trial can be made 

 of them, then the author's success will be as great as it was upon 

 the appearance of the first edition. Every one must wish 

 that "the not inconsiderable amount of time and labour which 

 has been spent in its preparation" by one whose time is well 

 occupied with regular professorial work, may meet with an 

 ample reward. The book is elegantly got up, and, notwithstanding 

 the early clerical error (p. iv) of "then" for "than," is, we 

 think, printed with extreme accuracy. 



Phil. Mag. S. 5. Vol. 31. No. 191. April 1891. 2 D 



