Book Notices. [Volume: 8, Issue: 6, 1890, pp. 354-358]

358

UNITED STATES ASSOCIATION OF

[VOiT. 8,

book for the use of operatives and laborers in coal-mines. From
the outset the book has had a marked success. It filled a want of
the times. Its language is so clear and plain that no man of ordinary native intelligence can fail to understand it.
Its simple and exact methods of statement, its quaint and at
times picturesque language, its high moral and humanitarian purpose, and the transparent honesty and unquestionable manliness
and straightforwardness of its author have all helped to give the
book a character of its own.
The following subjects are explained: "How Mines Generate
Gases;" " Why the Discharge is Greater in One Mine Than in
Another, and How Others Discharge a Mixture of Gases;" " How
the Weather on the Surface of the Earth Affects the Workings
of a Mine;" " The Power of Explosions, and How to Diminish
it;" '"Several Ways of Ventilating Mines, and How Currents
of Air are propelled around the Workings;" "The Friction
of the Ventilating Currents, and How to Diminish it, with
Several Ways of Working Out Coal;" together with numerous
questions and answers on mining matters, etc.
THE JOURNAL OF THE IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE of Great
Britain has, under the editorial care of the Institute's Secretary,
Mr. J. S. Jeans, become an important component of a good metallurgical library, and improvement is noticeable in each issue.
This advance is noted in Part II. of the issue of 1889, lately
received; for, in addition to the papers read before the Institute
which are printed, the appendices contain many facts of interest,
concerning " Iron-ores, their Occurrence, Composition, Mining and
Metallurgical Preparation," " Refractory Materials, Fulels, Including Coal, Coke, Oil, Gas and Their Preparation," " Blast-Furnace
Practice," "Analyses of Pig-Iron Slags," etc., "The Production
and Further Treatment of Iron and Steel, with their Physical
and Chemical Properties."
The volume is also supplied with the usual interesting statistical
data concerning the iron and steel industries, and iron-ore and coalmining of various countries.