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A Practical Treatise on Heat, as Applied to the Useful Arts, for the Use of Engineers, Architects, etc. By Thos. Box, author of " Practical Hydraulics." Philadelphia : Henry Carey Baird, publisher, 406 Walnut street. Small 8vo. Price, by mail, postpaid, $4'25. A practical treatise upon this subject, comprising the results of the most recent observations and experiments, is very much needed at the present time; and both the author and publisher of the volume before us have conferred a great benefit upon the public by its timely publication. We would be glad to give it an extended review, adequate to its merits, but we must content ourselves at this time with an ennmeration of the general contents of the work. These comprise: General principles and facts in the theory of heat and combustion, the principles and details of steam boilers, efflux ol air, vapor evaporation, distillation, drying, heating liquids and air, transmission of neat and laws of cooling, laws of cooling at high temperatures, transmission of heat by conduction, ventilation, examples of heating and ventilation, wind and its effects upon heating and ventilation, etc., etc. The work is amply illustrated, well indexed, and printed in the excellent style which characterizes the industrial publications of Mr. Baird. It would be hard to perform the work which Mr. Box has nndertaken in a more creditable manner than he has done it. To be at once brief and exhaustive is a difficult task for any author, but one in which this writer seems to excel. A Treatise on Rope Making, as Practiced in Private and Public Rope Yards. With a Description of the Manufacture, Rules, Tables of Weights, etc. Adapted to the Trade, Shipping, Mining, Railways, Builders, etc. By Robert Chapman, Master Rope-Maker of Her Majesty's Dockyard, Deptford. England. Revised Edition. Philadelphia : Henry Carey Baird, 406 Walnut street. Price, by mail, free of postage, $l'5O. The above is the title ol a work upon an important subject, which has been hitherto too much negleeted by writers on industrial topies. Intimately connected as it is with commerce and the security of vessels at sea, it is time that thepublic should be supplied with accurate information upon it. It is emineutlypraetieal in beginning with the discussion of the fiber of hemp, and proceeding, step by step, through all the intermediate processes necessary to complete the largest and moat perfect cable. The worlc was evidently prepared to assist workmen in obtaining a knowledge of tho calculations necessary to the art of ropemaking, and is eminently calculated to accomplish that purpose.
