54 § 
Notices of Books. 
[October, 
Natural Philosophy fov General Readers and Young Persons. 
Translated from the French of Ganot, by E. Atkinson. 
Third Edition. London : Longmans and Co. 
This work has not been much enlarged, but it has received the 
very useful additional feature of a series of questions system- 
atically arranged in reference to the corresponding parts of the 
book, which must greatly enhance its value, both to teachers of 
Science and to self-taught students. 
Electric Lighting. A Practical Treatise, by Hippolyte Fon- 
taine. Translated from the French, by Paget Higgs, 
LL.D., Assoc. Inst. C.E. London : E. and F. N. Spon. 
1878. 
This work is divided into twelve chapters, which treat of the 
Voltaic arc, eledlric lamps, magneto eledlric machines, the 
motive power they absorb ; the industrial applications of the 
light to manufactories, lighthouses, ships, and forts ; the cost 
of eledlric lighting; lighting by incandescent tubes ; and, finally, 
of the divisibility of the eledlric light, The light was first 
applied to lighthouses in 1863, at the lighthouse of Le Hene, 
near Havre, and the light (produced by an “ alliance ” electro- 
magnetic machine) was found to penetrate 8 kilometres further 
than an oil-light, while in foggy weather the range of the light 
was twice as great. There now exist eledlric lighthouses in 
France, England, Russia, Austria, Sweden, and Egypt, and the 
French Government are about to try the effedt of a Gramme 
machine, giving a light equal to that of 2000 Carcel burners. 
Formerly the light of 100 Carcel burners required the expenditure 
of 3horse-power, but M. Gramme has succeeded in producing a 
light of 450 burners with an engine of 2 horse-power. As to 
the cost, the lighting of the Rue Imperiale, in Lyons, with 
60 Bunsen elements, was found to cost 3-55 francs per hour. 
An interesting table will be found (p. 164) giving the cost of 
various sources of light, from which we learn that the cost for 
4000 burners per hour is estimated as follows : — 
Wax candles ... 

132-00 francs. 
Stearine 

98-40 
?? 
Tallow 

56-4° 
5 > 
Colza oil 
• • • • • • ... ... , . . 
28*00 
5 > 
Voltaic battery 

24*00 
? 5 
Petroleum oil ... 
• . . . . . ... ... ... 
21*60 
j 5 
Shale oil 
. . . ... . 
18-72 
} ? 
Oil gas 

10-00 
y y 
Gramme machine with steam motor ... 
1-78 
,, hydraulic power 
0-44 
yy 
