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Abstract

THIS work was intended (see Preface) to present “in a simple and concise form descriptions of the principal and most recent works on rivers and canals, and the principles on which they are based.” It appears to have had its origin in a course of lectures delivered at the School of Military Engineering, Chatham, in 1880, but has been so carefully revised as to be free from the defects of a mere reprint of a lecture course, and may be fairly said to fulfil well the object proposed in the preface. Great pains has evidently been taken to obtain data of actual examples of important works within the above scope; the series of twenty-one well-executed large plates of these is a most valuable feature of the work. The get-up of the work, being issued from the Clarendon Press, is of course excellent; the number of folds in the plates is an inconvenience (few have less than six, and one has ten folds), which might have been obviated by placing fewer diagrams on each plate. A very useful feature is the addition at the end of each chapter of a short summary of its matter, with many good practical remarks.

A Treatise on Rivers and Canals.

By L. F. Vernon-Harcourt Vol. I. Text, 352 pp.; Vol. II. Plates, 21 Pl. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882.)