BOOK REVIEWS

THE NATURE Of Matter and ELECTRICITY. An Outline of Modern Views. By Daniel F. Comstock, M. I. T. '04, S. B., Ph. D., and Leonard T. Troland, M. I. T. '12, S. B., A. M., Ph. D. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1917. 8vo.; 225 pp.; illustrated. Price, $2 net.

There are in existence numerous works that deal with phases of this subject, but until the present volume appeared there was none that dealt with the whole theory of matter and energy in an elementary and popular way with the aim of revealing to the reader the essential unity that underlies apparently diverse physical sciences. An imaginary microscope of enormous power is postulated, and by its aid the reader is given at least a symbolical idea of the arrangement and relative size of the atoms and molecules of various substances. Of the two parts into which the volume is divided, the first presents a broad, schematic view of the structure of the material universe as modern science has come to visualize it; the second part covers the same field, but with more attention to detail. If only the fundamentals of the modern theory are required, Part I will provide a clear general understanding, the more conscientious student will find in Part II a richer knowledge and much valuable reference material. As a timely outline and summary of present-day conceptions, the work will be found to be dependable and illuminating. Scientific American. PLANE AND SOLID GEOMETRY. By Webster Wells, M. I T. '73, S. B., and Walter W. Hart, A. B. New York: D. C. Heath & Company, 1916. 8vo.; 467 pp.; illustrated.

Wells's "Essentials of Geometry" is the basis of this text, in which great care has been taken to align the methods of the older work with modern scientific and pedagogical modes of thought. Each section first presents the fundamentally impor tant theorems which naturally constitute a minimum course; these are followed by supplementary applications, from which a selection may readily be made. Most of the propositions are succeeded by well-chosen exercises, quite sufficient for a shorter course. In the chapters devoted to solid geometry the mensuration theorems for the common solids are given first place. This emphasis, and the inclusion of certain natural applications of solid geometry in the exercises, give the work a practical trend. Science.

STUDIES ON THE DIGESTION OF A SEWAGE-FILTER EFFLUENT BY A SMALL AND OTHERWISE UNPOLLUTED STREAM. By Robert Spurr Weston, M. I. T. '94, and C. E. Turner; with Introduction by W. T. Sedgwick. Contributions from the Sanitary Research Laboratory and Sewage Experiment Station. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. Paper; 6 x 9 in.; pp. 96; maps, diagrams, halftone and other colored plates. $1.

A biological and chemical study of the effect of discharging treated filtered Brockton sewage into the Coweeset "stream." Brockton has a population of 65,000.

The stream has a flow of 500,000 to 25,000,000 gal. a day. The studies covered the two years ended Feb. 1, 1916.

The pamphlet announces the death of the anonymous donor who made possible the valuable research work reported in this and earlier volumes. It also discloses the fact that this donor "was a lady, fond of books, of music and of painting." Engineering News Record.

HANDBOOK OF SHIP CALCULATIONS, CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION. By Charles H. Hughes, M. I. T. '00. D. Appleton & Company.

Charles H. Hughes, '00, has recently contributed to the long list of technical texts, a book entitled "Handbook of Ship Calculations, Construction and Operation." The volume is the culmination of considerable research work and collecting of material by its author, and now stands as the most complete of its kind ever published.

The first four chapters of the book deal for the most part with calculations which include all necessary tables and formulae, definitions, strength of materials, etc. The next five cover thoroughly the construction and equipment of all types of merchant and naval vessels, while the last chapter is given up to a discussion of ship operating.

The work is especially valuable to ship owners and operators, although it contains material which make it an important addition to the library of officers, engineers, underwriters, designers of warships, and students of naval architecture and marine engineering. The contents treat with both the marine and the naval aspects so that it serves the same purpose for both the civilian and the naval man. The book which has over one thousand pages and is illustrated with over 120 photographs and diagrams, is published by D. Appleton and Company and sells for $5.00 a copy.— The Tech.

THE HIDING PLACES. By Allen French, M. I. T. '92. 1917.

Allen French, author of The Hiding Places, is a Boston man, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1892 and from Harvard in 1894 and was for five years instructor in English at Harvard until 1913. Mr. French has had two main occupations-farming and writing books for boys and girls. Perhaps there is a sort of picturesque alliance between the two. He has written a number of juvenile historical books, such as The Colonials, The Heroes of Iceland and The Siege of Boston. In addition to these he has not failed to give evidence of his farming experience. How to Grow Vegetables appeared in 1911 and in 1914 The Beginner's Garden Book.

In The Hiding Places we again find the distinct suggestion of his farming career. The scene is laid on an old New England farm of very much the sort we imagine Mr. French himself owns. The story is one of feud and love with a good deal of mystery about it and a lot of New England.-The Bookman.

NEWS FROM THE CLASSES

1868.

ROBERT H. RICHARDS, Sec., 32 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain, Mass.

The secretary will write a personal note to his classmates for class news for this month.

I am spending the summer with Mrs. Richards at Randolph, N. H., at our little camp.

We are as anxious as anyone to be of service to the Allies in the terrible struggle they are in to rid the world of the domination of tyranny. My age and limits of strength rule out all the athletic things I used to be skilled in. My specialty of ore dressing is not a thing that is wanted in the struggle in Europe. In all the other lines of engineering there are many younger men who are better able than I for rendering aid. I have therefore adopted a simple mechanical thing that I can do and make some progress towards helping the Allies.

Mrs. Richards and I have a machine and are knitting stockings for the soldiers for which we are informed that there is an endless demand. Since we began in May we have knitted 100 pairs and we are knitting a pair every day, that is including those that our pupils knit.

We are finding great pleasure in the acrostic that Mrs. Ellen H. Richards and I worked out, namely, FEAST, which, being elaborated, is Food, Exercise, Amusement, Sleep, Task or Work. When one feels as if he had lost his last friend and is blue he should call the roll of the acrostic and he will find at once along which line he is sinning. The lack of exercise or amusement are the two commonest lines of failure; if they are cared for, the food, the sleep, and the task generally fall into line all right.

I see my friend asking how knitting stockings can be amusement and work combined. It is this way: if I play dominoes I have fun, but what have I to show for the time spent? If I play sock, I have a sock to give the Allies. And I am always playing against Bogey in the time spent. Bogey with Mrs. Richards and I knitting together is 34 minutes for a sock; Bogey for myself alone is 44 minutes. We are always trying to lower these records, and we find plenty of hazards to overcome and give zest to the fun.

Mrs. Richards and her friend, Miss Braman, are helping in the making of surgical dressings at Randolph and the summer visiting ladies are taking great interest in the work.

We are doing a little in the gardening line, on peas, beans, potatoes, and corn, to help swell the crop yield in the United States for this summer. We may have enough to carry us through the winter leaving what we should purchase for export.

We have a noble flag pole on a high point near our camp; the flag we try to hoist with the sun and lower with it as the flag of our country should be treated.

We have one amusement which we enjoy every pleasant afternoon for about an hour. It is archery; we find we can get a lot of fun with it, for ourselves and our friends.

1870.

CHARLES R. CROSS, Sec., Mass. Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, Mass.

Our classmate, Walter Clark, died at his residence in Bronxville, N. Y., on Monday, March 12, 1917. He was born at Brooklyn, March 9, 1848, and was a student in the Institute from 1866 to 1869, leaving at the end of the latter year. He married on June 15, 1876, Miss Jennie Woodruff Clark who survives him, together with a daughter and four sons.

The principal events of his subsequent life cannot better be told to his friends than by printing in full the following letter written in reply to the secretary's notice of the class meeting and other gatherings on the occasion of the dedication of the new Institute buildings a year since. It was headed: The Century Association, 7 West Forty-third Street:

I have received with pleasure your communication expressing an interest to know of my wanderings and undertakings since the early days of our Tech association. Briefly, my first departure from home surroundings and teachings was in a trip around the world in 1870, occupying sixteen months and resulting in a broad education of never ending interest and significance. On my return a partnership was formed with our fellow classmate, Daniel W. Willard, and three years of life on the western plains followed. Then came the lure of the East, rather than that of the West, of "the girl I left behind me," of home building and family: and consequent upon this an opening of the path through which by nature my thought seemed to find its readiest expression. An inborn love for the beauty and wonders of nature, a fondness for drawing, form and color, led from the pastoral and scientific into the realm of art. Through several years of drawing and modelling in clay, the fascination of color and a life out of doors determined the course of after years and wedded me to the painting of landscape. It has been a life separate and apart from the surrounding activities but I cannot look back with regret upon having made this my chosen calling. I have had the honor of having been elected to membership in the Society of American Artists, the Water Color Club, the Society of Landscape Painters, an associate of the National Academy of Design and in 1909 of having been made a National Academician. In 1901 I received the Inness Gold Medal for picture, "Gloucester Harbor," and silver medals at Buffalo and St. Louis.

In conclusion let me say that the early days and associations of the Tech have always been held in loving and grateful retrospect, that my interest in science, with its wonderful progress and future, is even keener than when working in the laboratories of chemistry and physics or wrestling with problems in higher mathematics, but as the years have passed the difficulty of serving two masters has become more and more apparent, my world has become more and more concentrated and specialized and the draft upon limited vitality more and more exacting.

It would be most gratifying to me to be present on this occasion to meet old friends and associates of the early days and it is with deep regret that I must content myself with sending the most cordial greetings and best wishes.

It was no surprise to those of the class who were at all acquainted with Mr. Clark that he should leave scientific pursuits aside and