Miscellaneous Intelligence. 691 



8. Airplane Characteristics; by Frederick Bedell. Pp. iv, 

 123. Ithaca, 1918 (Taylor & Co.).— In this book the principles 

 of airplane sustentation and stability, and the characteristics of 

 an airplane in flight, are presented in a manner that is simple, 

 direct, and reasonably precise, special stress being laid on that 

 which is vital. "The author has confined his attention to the 

 principles of airplane flight and has given no discussion of 

 materials of construction — very important, of course, in airplane 

 building — nor of the gas engine, on which there are many special- 

 ized treatises." The sequence of subjects follows the logical 

 order rather than the historical, and the use of higher mathe- 

 matics so-called has been avoided. The present volume contains 

 five chapters the titles of which are: Sustentation, Relations in 

 Flight, Resistance, Lateral Stability, and Directional Stability. 

 A supplementary volume, now in preparation, will contain such 

 material as would logically follow immediately after the chapter 

 on resistance. Accordingly it will deal with : Thrust, Power, 

 Climbing, Gliding, Altitude, Single and Multiple Planes, Stabil- 

 ity in General, and Longitudinal Stability. In addition to the 

 five chapters mentioned above, the printed volume contains four 

 appendixes, the first of which is a timely glossary, and the 

 remaining three comprise a fairly large number of diagrams 

 pertaining to thrust characteristics, power characteristics, con- 

 trol, etc. 



The author 's style is, in general, lucid and concise, the material 

 selected is very interesting as well as important, and the text- 

 figures are numerous, clear-cut, and instructive. On the other 

 hand, the book seems to show some signs of hasty preparation. 

 Although susceptible of obvious correction, the typographical 

 errors occur with sufficient frequency to annoy a reader who is 

 sensitive to such causes of distraction. The term "angle of 

 incidence," although thoroughly established in physical and 

 other scientific literature, is here defined as the complement of 

 the accepted angle, hence it is the true ' ' glancing angle, ' ' now 

 so familiar in the subject of X-rays. Again, the employment of 

 such popular terms as "negative pressure" and "suction" 

 detracts from scientific accuracy more than it enhances the clear- 

 ness of exposition. Nevertheless, in spite of these little short- 

 comings, the book is a valuable and much needed contribution 

 to a very live subject. h. s. u. 



II. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. Medical Contributions to the Study of Evolution; by J. 

 G. Adami. Pp. xviii, 372. New York, 1918 (The Macmiilan 

 Co.). — In this volume the author has brought together in orderly 

 sequence and with some revision many of his earlier essays 

 dealing with problems of evolution, and has grouped them under 



