January 29, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



95 



Another interesting statement is the following, 

 from Lockwood's diary, as to the relative merits 

 of Kane and Hayes : "Have been reading Kane 

 and his travels. He is my beau ideal of an arctic 

 traveller. . . . Hayes does not compare with 

 him. Though beautifully written, there is an air 

 of exaggeration about Hayes's book which de- 

 stroys its interest. Dr. Pavy, who has hitherto 

 been the advocate of Hayes, since his return from 

 Carl Ritter Bay, seems to have changed his mind 

 about him, and now agrees with Greely and me 

 that Hayes never reached Cape Lieber. To have 

 done so, he must have performed in part of his 

 journey ninety-six miles in fourteen horns, — an 

 impossibility.*' Tin's, be it understood, is from 

 Lockwood's diary as given by Lanman. The 

 volume further contains a good portrait of the 

 explorer, a poor map of his explorations, and no 

 hidex. 



THURSTON'S MATERIALS OF CONSTRUC- 

 TION. 



This work, the author states in his preface, is 

 an abridgment of the larger work by the same 

 author, entitled ' Materials of engineering.' 



It contains in a compact form for ready refer- 

 ence a large amount of valuable information con- 

 cerning the properties of materials used in engi- 

 neering constructions, and is undoubtedly one* of 

 the most complete works of the kind yet pub- 

 lished in this country. 



Students and practical engineers can hardly 

 find any compilation better suited to supplement 

 their theoretical text-books on the mechanics of 

 engineering constructions than this. The work is 

 not free, however, from some of the imperfections 

 and faults which have characterized nearly all 

 books of tb§B kind, heretofore produced, by Eng- 

 lish and American authors. The title which is 

 given to a text-book is perhaps of little conse- 

 quence in itself : but under the titles ' Theory of 

 strains,' < Strength of materials,' 'Mechanics of 

 materials,' etc., we have a variety of works, some 

 of which are devoted to the exposition and demon- 

 stration of the theorems of applied mechanics 

 relating to the action of external forces upon the 

 parts of structures, and the resistances which 

 oppose such forces, with a minimum amount of 

 space devoted to the properties of the materials 

 used ; and in others the properties of materials, 

 more or less fully treated, with a minimum 

 amount of demonstration of mechanics so applied, 

 but with working formulas, either introduced 

 without demonstration or from experiments, — em- 

 pirical formulas, — largely interspersed. This min- 



Text-book of the materials of construction. By R. H 

 Thurston. New York, Wiley, 1885. 8°. 



gling of engineering constants and descriptions of 

 the properties of materials with both demon- 

 strated and empirical formulas, is perhaps neces- 

 sary in such a work as that of Professor Thurston ; 

 but it requires great discrimination and art to 

 accomplish this satisfactorily. The handbooks of 

 Trautwine and Haswell are exceedingly useful 

 works of this character. Professor Thurston aims 

 to go a step farther in his formulas and explana- 

 tions ; but the mixing-up of theoretical demon- 

 strations and formulas without demonstration is a 

 fault in a text-book for students. 



Some subjects are treated at great length, while 

 others receive less notice ; as, for example, those 

 connected with metallurgy on the one hand, and 

 the non-metallic materials on the other. 



The introduction of pictures of a few of our 

 most common trees, etc., in illustrations of tim- 

 ber, are out of place, and affect the character and 

 dignity of the work, as such imperfect illustra- 

 tions of familiar objects, seen almost daily and 

 hourly in nature, are apt to prejudice the reader 

 against the author. 



Notwithstanding these defects, however, the 

 work is a very valuable contribution to engineer- 

 ing as a book of reference for nearly all impor- 

 tant questions connected with the properties of 

 materials. 



EXPLORATIONS IN ALASKA BY THE 

 BROTHERS KRA USE. 



Among explorations in Alaska of late years, not 

 purely for geographical purposes, the journey of 

 the brothers Krause, under the auspices of the 

 Bremen geographical society, holds a prominent 

 and worthy place. Its progress was noted and its 

 results chronicled from time to time in our pages. 

 Numerous papers by the travellers themselves have 

 appeared in European journals, the last being an 

 account of the brachiopods and lamellibranchiate 

 mollusks collected in Bering Sea and Strait, by 

 Dr. Arthur Krause. Kurtz, Peters, von Martens, 

 Reinhard, Hartlaub, Miiller, Meyer, Richters, Arz- 

 runi, Poppe, and Kirchenpauer have reported from 

 time to time on the natural history, mineralogy, 

 and ethnology of the expedition. The volume 

 under review is a consensus of all available infor- 

 mation, both historical and recent, relating to the 

 very interesting group of aborigines which occupy 

 the greater part of the Alexander archipelago, with 

 outlying villages as far north-west as the Copper 

 River. It does not pretend to monographic coni- 



Die Tlinkit-Indianer. Ergebnisse einer reise nach der 

 nordwestkiiste von Amerika und der Berings-strasse, aus- 

 gefuhrt im auftrage der Bremer geographisehen gesellschaft 

 in den jahren 1880-81, durch die Doctoren Arthur und Aurel 

 Krause, geschildert von Dr. Aurel Krause. JeDa, Coste- 

 noble, 1885. 164420 p., illustr. 8°. 



