July 4, 1884.1 



SCIENCE. 



19 



is a careless publication. Besides numerous 

 typographical errors, those who were unfortu- 

 nate enough to purchase an early copy found 

 two important diagrams omitted, one of which 

 is absolutely essential to the understanding of 

 the context. 



FISKE' S ELECTRICITY. 



Electricity in theory and practice; or, the elements of 

 electrical engineering. By B. A. Fiske. New 



Vrvrlr T/>7« ATnetvnnrl 1 883 970 r> 8° 



That the work of Lieut. Fiske meets in 

 some degree a want felt b}^ a considerable num- 

 ber of persons, is sufficiently shown by the fact 

 that it has already reached a third edition ; 

 but we must nevertheless confess to a feeling 

 of serious disappointment on reading it. The 

 expectations raised by the title are hardly jus- 

 tified by the contents ; since the discussions of 

 theoretical points are very brief and unsatis- 

 factory, while the portion treating of electrical 

 engineering proper is somewhat ill-digested. 

 In fact, there is a certain c scrappiness ' about 

 the work as a whole, which is apparently due 

 to over-haste in preparation. 



The first five chapters, occupying about one- 

 fourth of the book, are extremely elementary, 

 and contain little that will not be found more 

 full}' stated in almost any work on electricity, 

 while occasional loose statements also occur. 

 Thus, in the chapter devoted to work and 

 potential, the writer seems to overlook the 

 exactness introduced into scientific measure- 

 ments when Gauss first proposed an absolute 

 system of mass and force measurement. Im- 

 mediately after the definition of the foot-pound, 

 we find the following statement: "This unit 

 is, however, too large for measuring with con- 

 venience in many cases ; and for this reason 

 a much smaller one has been invented, called 

 the 'erg.' " The only definition given of the 

 dyne is "an extremely minute weight, being 

 about gJ T of a gramme." Other examples are 

 to be seen in the table on p. 214. 



Such laxity of expression, although it may 

 seem to simplify the subject, cannot fail to prove 

 confusing as soon as the reader really begins 

 to study the matter. Similar want of care in 

 expression will trouble the student while read- 

 ing certain parts of the chapter on the laws of 

 currents. From the statements on p. 60, re- 

 garding the arrangement of battery- cells, the 

 reader might erroneously infer that high internal 

 resistance in a cell is in itself advantageous in 

 increasing the strength of the current given by 

 a battery. 



Considering the portion of the work devoted 

 to the applications of electricity, we find a 

 great inequality in the space devoted to im- 

 portant matters. The subject of electro-metal- 

 lurgy is allowed but a single page, and the 

 extensive use of d3'namo-machines in the elec- 

 trical deposition of metals is not discussed at 

 all. Of the ten pages given to storage-bat- 

 teries, five are filled with a mere statement of 

 the claims of certain recent patents, without 

 any information regarding their value. On 

 the other hand, neither the chemistry of the 

 lead-battery nor the special advantages and 

 disadvantages of the storage-batten' are con- 

 sidered. The chapter on thermo-electric bat- 

 teries contains no allusion to any form of 

 thermo-battery whose use in the arts has been 

 attempted ; and there is not even a mention of 

 the names of Farmer, Noe, or Clamond. In- 

 stead of this, five pages of patent claims are 

 given, several of which are not, in fact, for 

 thermo-electric batteries proper. 



The remainder of the work deserves some- 

 what more praise. The chapter on electrical 

 measurement contains a description of the 

 earlier forms of ampere-meter and volt-meter 

 of Deprez and Ayrton and Perry. There is no 

 reference to Sir William Thomson's current 

 and potential galvanometers. Under teleg- 

 raphy we find the bridge duplex method 

 described, but the differential method is not 

 alluded to. The principles of the quadruplex, 

 as well as those of the harmonic telegraph, 

 are, however, explained. The chapter on the 

 telephone is interesting. It is unfortunate 

 that not even a passing mention is made of the 

 Blake transmitter ; while the rarely used trans- 

 mitter of Edison, and his ingenious but unprac- 

 tical electro-motograph receiver, are described 

 at some length. The following chapters on 

 electric lighting, dynamo-machines, etc.. are, 

 on the whole, the best in the book. The prin- 

 ciple of the differential arc-lamp is -explained, 

 and brief descriptions are given of most of 

 the leading types of d^-namo-machines. The 

 closing chapter on electric railways contains, 

 among other matters, an account of the system 

 of Field and Edison. 



Injustice to the work under review, we ought 

 to say that man}' of the faults which we have 

 criticised have their origin in the fact that our 

 author has attempted the impossible feat of 

 discussing the theory and practice of electrical 

 engineering in a work of only two hundred and 

 sixt}'-five pages. As a consequence, neither 

 theory nor practice is described at sufficient 

 length to meet the wants of the reader. More- 

 over, we are firmly of the opinion that any one 



