the question to be answered we shall be glad if he will state what he means in the expression "in order that her gain should be 47 per cent."-47 per cent. on what? Also will he explain what his views are about beating to windward? Opinions vary very much on this point.-ED. N. M.]

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Quarterly Weather Report of the Meteorological Office; Part IV., October-December, 1875. London: J. D. Potter, 31, Poultry; E. Stanford, Charing Cross. 1879.

THE usual tables of barometrical pressure, temperature, rainfall, &c., for the period indicated are given in this report, with full analysis of the general meteorological character of the three. months. There is a large increase in the number and variety of the Appendices, and some of these are exceedingly valuable. The monthly summaries are given in accordance with the forms recommended for international adoption by the Permanent Committee of the Vienna Congress on Meteorology.

Annuaire des Courants de Marée de la Manche pour l'An 1879, par M. Gaussin, Ingénieur-Hydrographe de 1re classe, publié sous le Ministère de son Exc. M. le Vice-Admiral Pothuan, Ministre Secrétaire d'Etat de la Marine et des Colonies. Paris.

Or the many Annuaires issued in France, and several of them are very good, not one can be considered so valuable as that we now announce, relating to the tidal currents of the English Channel. As might be expected, it is a compilation; but no source of information has been neglected; home and foreign authorities have been equally laid under contribution, and the material reduced and correlated for the whole year for every ten square miles of latitude and longitude in the Channel. Thus, from this work, the seaman, knowing the part of the Channel where his ship is, can, at any moment of flood or ebb, determine the direction and velocity of the stream, and ascertain other important data by which to check his soundings and set his course.

Tables for Rapid Calculations of Latitude and Longitude in various ways; also Methods of Finding Time of High Water and Variations of Compass, &c. Prepared by John M. Beverly, United States Coast Pilot. Boston: Rand, Avery & Co.

TABLES similar to these have frequently come under our notice, but they cannot be recommended. Breusing, when he first published his "Steuermannskunst," issued a set of tables to four places of decimals in the logs. ; but this was found to be a great detriment to an otherwise excellent work on navigation, and he speedily published tables to five places-the least that can be adopted for precision. It cannot be considered otherwise than indiscreet to use logs. which often differ only by 1 or 2 for 5 seconds of the hour angle. Our readers already know our objections to "finding longitude by equal altitudes of the sun." On an inquiry before the Wreck Commissioner into the loss of a vessel, the master's certificate would be in jeopardy, if the position had been determined by no better method than this. Finally, the method of "finding the time of high water by the moon's age" is a very old method, and, at best, only a very rough estimate; the time may be in error from one to two hours.

Dizionario Nautico e Tecnico di Marina: Nautischtechnisches Wörterbuch der Marine. Compilato da P. E. Dabovich, F. R. Tecnico Navale. Pola.

THIS is not a Dictionary explanatory of the technical terms used in connection with shipping, but a Dictionary (or rather Wordbook) of equivalent nautical terms in four languages, viz., Italian, German, French, and English. Its scope is wide, extending beyond navigation, nautical astronomy, and seamanship, so as to include hydrography, shipbuilding, naval tactics, trade and commerce, &c. We have carefully looked through the part to hand, and while the Italian, German, and French equivalents appear to be unexceptionable, the English will require some revision in a new edition. There is at present no really good work of the kind, and if this be compiled with judgment, it will be of considerable service to a large circle of students and general readers.

Entscheidungen des Oberseeamts und der Seeämter des Deutschen Reichs: herausgegeben im Reichskanzler-Amt. Hamburg: L.

Friederichsen & Co. 1879.

Ir appears that the decisions arrived at, and judgments delivered, in the Marine Courts of the German Empire, respecting maritime disasters, are published from time to time; and the book before us is the second part of the first volume. A collection of such judgments may not be pleasant reading, but we have no doubt that if masters of British vessels, when at sea, spent some of their time in the perusal of the various cases of disaster and collision that occur, and studied the decisions of the Wreck Commissioner's Court respecting them, they would do so to their benefit, and the suspension of fewer certificates might be the result. We think the Germans are right in collecting and arranging the decisions that are given in the Maritime and Consular Courts of the Empire. In our own columns month by month we publish a summary of the official inquiries held with respect to casualties to British vessels, but we think that the official publication of the full text of the decisions in a book form might be of great service to many, and full of warning to those who are liable to be called upon to answer for maritime disasters.

Technological Dictionary.

English-German-French.

Third

edition, completely revised and corrected. Wiesbaden: J. F. Bergmann. London: Trübner and Co. 1878.

THE first edition of this really valuable work was brought out in 1853, the idea of publishing a technological dictionary in the three principal languages of Europe having originated with Mr. J. A. Beil, of Hanover. In 1870, a second edition was published, and now we have before us a copy of the third edition, dated 1878.

The merits of this great work cannot be sufficiently dealt with in the limited space at our command, but we may inform our readers that the work has been conscientiously and ably prepared, that it comprehends the technicology of all branches of science, art, and industry, and that it is without doubt a most useful dictionary for reference.

In the present edition it appears that some special attention has

been given to maritime terms, and that with the assistance of Admiral Smyth's Sailor's Word Book, all nautical words and phrases have been thoroughly overhauled, and a great number of new terms and expressions added. This should give the work special value in the eyes of our readers, for there are, no doubt, many who in reading works on nautical subjects, in French or German, have often felt the utter uselessness of an ordinary dictionary to convey the meaning of some technical expression. Again, when in foreign ports captains probably often experience the want of being able to give expression in French or German to some requirement for which there is no provision in the ordinary dictionary.

One further word of praise we have for this work, viz., that it is admirably arranged. In many cases the bare word is supplemented by all its relating compounds, and the different modes in which it may be applied in phrases. This of course considerably enhances its value as a reference dictionary.

Die Ertragsfähigkeit eines Schleswig-Holsteinischen Seeschiff-fahrtKanals. Erläutert auf Grund einer statistischen Bearbeitung des Sund-Verkehrs von H. Dahlström, &c., &c. Hamburgh: L. Friederichsen & Co. 1879.

BRIEFLY put, this is a pamphlet on "A Schleswig-Holstein shipcanal as a commercial speculation." The project of a canal to unite the North Sea with the Baltic is not a new one, in fact has been frequently mooted, but never with so much elaboration and with so many statistics as in the work before us. In the present instance it is proposed to carry the canal from St. Margarethen on the Elbe, to Kckernförde in the Baltic, and by the way of Rendsburg, as originally projected in 1865; thus the entire navigation of the Jutland peninsula would be saved, and the dangers of the Sound, Grounds, and Belts avoided. Constructed on the dimensions stated in the pamphlet such a canal would admit the passage of the largest vessels, and if the toll were reasonable it ought, taking into consideration the immense traffic through the Baltic, to pay a moderate dividend on the outlay.

LONDON BRIDGE

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