404 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. VI., No. 144. 



bats, I am very positive that their condition was 

 not that of ordinary slumber, and the tropical 

 temj)erature, at the time, even through the night, 

 certainly suggests aestivation as the most plausible 

 explanation of the phenomena I have described. 



C. C. Abbott. 



THE LIFE OF GEN. EMORY UPTON. 



General Emory Upton, at the time of his 

 early death in 1881, was probably the most ac- 

 complished officer in the United States army. He 

 had a genius for the science of military tactics, 

 and, as a thinker and writer upon this subject, 

 has left a name of enduring renown. General 

 Michie, the well-known professor of physics at 

 West Point, aided by General James H. Wilson, 

 who was distinguished in the cavalry service dur- 

 ing the civil war, has recently published an ex- 

 tended memoir of Upton, tracmg the various 

 steps of his advancement through boyhood, with 

 his strong deshe to go to West Point ; through his 

 cadet life, in which he won high rank ; through 

 his varied and arduous experience in the three 

 branches of army service during the war, win- 

 ning success in each; through his career as the 

 commandant of cadets, as an instructor in artil- 

 lery at Fortress Monroe, as an official obsei-ver 

 and student of the armies of Europe and Asia, 

 and especially as an authority on military prin- 

 ciples and practice. General Wilson says of 

 Upton, that he was " as good an artillery officer as 

 could be found in any country, the equal of any 

 cavalry commander of his day, and, all tlimgs 

 considered, the best commander of a division of 

 infantry in either the union or rebel army." This 

 is high praise, but the volume by General Michie 

 shows how such success was won, and leads us 

 to believe that Upton's name, as years roll by, will 

 be honored more and more as one of the greatest 

 tacticians of modern times. His personal charac- 

 ter was as remarkable as his professional. Like 

 Havelock, Stonewall Jackson, Chinese Gordon, 

 and many other heroes, he developed a religious 

 life of the purest and most lofty type. Toward 

 the end of his life he was engaged upon a study 

 of the military policy of the United States during 

 the revolution, and from that time down to the 

 year 1862, when his manuscript ends. In this 

 work he was associated with his classmate at West 

 Point, Col. H. A. Du Pont, by whom the task will 

 doubtless be completed. From the outline given 

 by General Michie, it is clear that the treatise will be 

 of the gTeatest value, not to mihtary men only, but 



Life and letters of Emory Upton, Brvt. Maj.-Gen. U. S. 

 army. By Peter S. Michie. With an introduction by 

 Jas. Harrison Wilson. New York, Appleton, 1885. 284511 

 p. 8°. 



to all students of history, and especially to states- 

 men. It will throw a great deal of light on the 

 causes of success and of failure in the various 

 campaigns which have taxed the resources of our 

 countrymen. The publication of this manuscript 

 is greatly to be desired. 



As a soldier and as a writer, Upton may be 

 described as one who applied the principles of 

 scientific method to the organization and manage- 

 ment of armies. His aim was lofty ; his success 

 was great. 



DOOLITTLE'S PRACTICAL ASTRONOMY. 



Professor Doolittle has given us an excellent 

 manual, either for the student or for the worker 

 in the field. Intended only for field astronomy 

 and navigation, we find no treatment of observa- 

 tory methods with large instruments, but its own 

 field is thoroughly covered. '' The author has not 

 sought after originality, but has attempted to 

 present in a systematic form the most approved 

 methods in actual use at the present time." It is 

 a comfort to turn the pages and find standard 

 formulae in a familiar dress. Much of the ' origi- 

 nality ' of many modern text-books consists in 

 rigging out old accepted formulae in a new alpha- 

 betical suit, so that no one can be quite sure he is 

 using just the right one without constant reference 

 to the great ' original.' 



We can only give an outline of the contents. 

 The introduction develops in a simple but 

 thorough manner the method of least-squares and 

 the subject of interpolation. The different systems 

 of spherical co-ordinates, the formulae for then- 

 transformation and for parallax, refraction, etc., 

 are very completely developed. Under the subject 

 of angular measurements, verniers, micrometer- 

 microscopes, graduated circles and their sources 

 of error, chronometers, clocks, and chronographs 

 are fully described and investigated. With the 

 treatment of the adjustments and errors of the 

 sextant, is introduced an example of the determi- 

 nation of the eccentricity by star observations, 

 from the work of Professor Boss on the northern 

 boundary survey ; and chapter v. develops thor- 

 oughly the best methods of determining time and 

 latitude by the sextant or any altitude instrument. 

 The transit-instrument in its various forms, both 

 in the meridian and prime-vertical, is very fully 

 treated ; hkewise the determination of longitude 

 by clironometers, by telegraph, by lunar distances, 

 by moon-culminations, and by occultations of stars. 

 Of course, the zenith-telescope claims its due share 

 of attention, and an unusually complete chapter 



A treatise on practical astronomy, as applied to geodesy 

 and navigation. By C. L. Doolittle. New York, Wileyy 



1885. 8°. 



