142 BOOK REVIEWS. 1 J. F. I.

in the chapters on the theorem of three moments and in the discussion on two- hinge arches. In these the graphic method leads to complex constructions.

Illustrative examples are introduced throughout the text and an adequate number of problems is provided at the end of each chapter. The book is a thoroughly practical text, especially adapted to the requirements of engineers to whom graphic methods make a strong appeal. L. E. P.

PHYSICO-CHEMICAL EVOLUTION. By Ch. Eug. Guye, University of Geneva. Translated by J. R. Clarke, M.Sc., University of Sheffield. xii-172 pages, four diagrams, small 8vo. Printed in Great Britain, published by E. P. Dutton and Company, New York, no date. Price, $2,40. This is largely a discussion of Carnot’s principle as applied to living

organisms. The subject-matter is of the advanced type and adapted to those workers in physical chemistry who have full knowledge of the latest theories and the applied mathematics thereof. The text consists of adaptations of three papers that have appeared in recent years. The first, published in 1918, was entitled “ Reflections on the Classification and Unities of the Sciences.” It appeared in the Geneva Arch. d. Physiologic. The second paper, entitled “The Evolution of Physico-chemical Phenomena and the Calculus of Probabilities,” was published in Jour. d. Chim. phys. The third paper, “ Carnot’s Principle and the Physico-chemical Evolution of Living Organisms,” appeared in Arch. d. Sc. phys. et nut.

The author pushes his investigations well into the realm of philosophy proper, for the closing pages are devoted to an essay entitled “Chance or Finalism.” There is, as might be expected, an attempt to define chance, but with no greater success than has resulted from the efforts of other philosophers. As a matter of fact, Alexander Pope was right when he said, “All chance but nature which thou canst not see.”

The work has no index, probably due to the bad example of the French original, and the pages are uncut, a neglect for which the publisher is to be blamed. The author is a thorough evolutionist, and the book will therefore not be admissible to some of the public schools in this country, but it will be acceptable, as noted above, to the advanced workers in the field to which it is devoted. The translation is well done. HENRY LEFFMANN.

METEORS. By Charles -P. Olivier, Ph.D. xix-276 pages, illustrations, 8vo. Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins Company, 1925.

This is a timely book. It is the first general treatment of meteoric astron- omy published since 1871. The book is written for the intelligent layman and for the professional astronomer.

The story is succinctly yet completely told in an inviting and charming manner. The arrangement permits one who desires to do so to read the non- technical part of the book and omit, without feeling a sense of incompleteness, the well-told chapters that contain the mathematical treatment.

The author has very conscientiously gathered material from papers, from the publications of observatories, from journals, and from observations, many of which he made himself. He has sifted the material and organized it in a most effective manner, and has answered just those questions about which one is naturally curious.

July, 1925.1 BOOK REVIEWS. I43

The book is rich but not overloaded with tables of statistical data. It has made accessible to students the scientific methods used to find the real height of meteors, to compute their orbits, and to establish the relations between the comets and meteor-streams. It has also discussed somewhat the theory of the manner in which meteor-streams are formed.

The question of the non-stationary meteor radians has been discussed with much completeness and fairness. This subject is one to which the amateur may make valuable observational contribution, he may learn how this may be done in the volume before us.

The author has, perhaps, contributed more to meteoric astronomy by way of observation than any other living American. He has organized the American Meteorological Society, which has made more than 30,ooo observations, many of which Doctor Olivier personally made. He has directed these observations and reduced the results. The volume is such a one as could be expected from the pen of a man so rich in experience. JOHN A. MILLER.

ASSURAXCES SUR LA VIE, CALCUL DES PRIMES. Par H. Galbrun, Docteur 6s Sciences, Actuaire de la Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. F Fascicule du tome III du Trait6 du Calcul des Probabilit& et de ses application, publii: par M. Emile Bore1 (Membre de 1’Institut). Paper, vi-310 pages, 6” x g”. Paris, Gauthier-Villars et Cie., 1924. Price, 35 francs.

Science and technology make extensive but secondary use of the theory of probability. In its application to the financial field, and particularly to the subject of life-insurance, its application is fundamental to the process. There, the theory is the indispensable instrument for the solution of the problems which arise in the development of procedure from which a suitable profit may be derived.

In this work, Doctor Galbrun has laid particular stress upon the funda- mentals of the subject and on the development of general methods. Premiums on contracts with one or more individuals are always considered as probable values of a more or less complex stake on the duration of human life. That procedure has made it possible to derive rigorously the various formulas employed, to determine the degree of accuracy which they yield and, finally, in arriving at processes of numerical calculation which, though little used hitherto, are of notable simplicity. A second volume on “ Theorie des Reserves Mathematique ” is in preparation.

The work should prove of deep interest alike to the mathematician and to the mathematically trained actuary. L. E. P.

NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS. Report No. 200, Some Problems on the Lift and Rolling Moment of Airplane Wings. By James B. Scarborough. 16 pages, illustrations, quarto. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1925. Price, ten cents. This paper is part of the thesis submitted by the writer to Johns Hopkins

University for the degree of doctor of philosophy. It deals for the most part with the application of the airfoil and twisted

wing theory to the calculation of the lift and rolling moment of airplane wings.