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Mechanics for engineers, statics and kinetics
848
BOOK R E V I E W S .
[J. F. I.
tinually in contact with the fundamental principles in all fields. The laws of motion, for example, appear early and often ; so too do the fundamental electrical relations. Perhaps one might describe this as a cyclic arrangement." The work is discoursive with m a n y historical references and side lights on the circumstances which surrounded the discovery and evolution of i m p o r t a n t principles and the subject m a t t e r is thoroughly modern. Besides the familiar topics of treatises on physics, there are included an explanation of the usual atomic theory and further on an account of the components of atoms with relation to radio-activity and again an explanation of the structure of the dynamic atom. It is a comprehensive and rarely attractive text which will surely and amply fulfil its purpose, perhaps indeed too amply in arousing an excessive degree of interest among " a r t s " students in physical science at the expense of the purely academic subjects. I.. E. P. MECHANICS FOR ENGINEERS, STATICS AND KINETICS. By Julian C. Smallwood, M.E., A.M., Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers; and F r a n k W. Kouwenhoven, M.E., Instructor of Mechanical Engineering, J o h n s Hopkins University, Associate Member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers. x - I 8 5 pages, illustrations, 8vo. cloth. New York, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1928. Price, $2.5o. Undergraduate university teaching in engineering courses has assumed conditions somewhat akin to mass production in the industries. Much standardization in the selection of material and its arrangement is necessary to conform to a balanced curriculum and to cover essentials in the allotted titne without overburdening the student. Particularly is t h a t true of a key-subject like Mechanics which may be elaborated far beyond the particular course of study in which it is included. The present volume has been prepared to satisfy the requirements of the average student in the principles of Statics and Kinetics over a period of 60 to 8o class-room hours. Being a fundamental subject which is taught not later t h a n the second year, certain topics which can be considered with subjects coming late in the course are properly omitted. The explanatory value of the solution of numerical problems incorporated in the text will be welcomed by the serious student and provide the needed encouragement in attacking the numerous unsolved problems. Modern writers occasionally have been rather insistent on the use of the term "radial acceleration" rather than "centrifugal force" which the authors use. " R a d i a l acceleration" indeed does not get us very far with those who are in closest contact with it. The volume with its logically arranged well illustrated and skilfully presented subject-matter is a most desirable contribution to engineering teaching. THE ELEMENTS OF PRACTICAL MECHANICS. By Charles Ranald MacInnes, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics in Princeton University. v i - I 3 I pages, illustrations, 8vo, cloth. New York, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1929 . Price, $ 2 . 2 5 . With substantially the same subject-matter and prepared with a similar objective, Doctor MacInnes's text represents the accumulated material of many
BOOK R E V I E W S .
[J. F. I.
tinually in contact with the fundamental principles in all fields. The laws of motion, for example, appear early and often ; so too do the fundamental electrical relations. Perhaps one might describe this as a cyclic arrangement." The work is discoursive with m a n y historical references and side lights on the circumstances which surrounded the discovery and evolution of i m p o r t a n t principles and the subject m a t t e r is thoroughly modern. Besides the familiar topics of treatises on physics, there are included an explanation of the usual atomic theory and further on an account of the components of atoms with relation to radio-activity and again an explanation of the structure of the dynamic atom. It is a comprehensive and rarely attractive text which will surely and amply fulfil its purpose, perhaps indeed too amply in arousing an excessive degree of interest among " a r t s " students in physical science at the expense of the purely academic subjects. I.. E. P. MECHANICS FOR ENGINEERS, STATICS AND KINETICS. By Julian C. Smallwood, M.E., A.M., Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers; and F r a n k W. Kouwenhoven, M.E., Instructor of Mechanical Engineering, J o h n s Hopkins University, Associate Member of American Society of Mechanical Engineers. x - I 8 5 pages, illustrations, 8vo. cloth. New York, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1928. Price, $2.5o. Undergraduate university teaching in engineering courses has assumed conditions somewhat akin to mass production in the industries. Much standardization in the selection of material and its arrangement is necessary to conform to a balanced curriculum and to cover essentials in the allotted titne without overburdening the student. Particularly is t h a t true of a key-subject like Mechanics which may be elaborated far beyond the particular course of study in which it is included. The present volume has been prepared to satisfy the requirements of the average student in the principles of Statics and Kinetics over a period of 60 to 8o class-room hours. Being a fundamental subject which is taught not later t h a n the second year, certain topics which can be considered with subjects coming late in the course are properly omitted. The explanatory value of the solution of numerical problems incorporated in the text will be welcomed by the serious student and provide the needed encouragement in attacking the numerous unsolved problems. Modern writers occasionally have been rather insistent on the use of the term "radial acceleration" rather than "centrifugal force" which the authors use. " R a d i a l acceleration" indeed does not get us very far with those who are in closest contact with it. The volume with its logically arranged well illustrated and skilfully presented subject-matter is a most desirable contribution to engineering teaching. THE ELEMENTS OF PRACTICAL MECHANICS. By Charles Ranald MacInnes, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics in Princeton University. v i - I 3 I pages, illustrations, 8vo, cloth. New York, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1929 . Price, $ 2 . 2 5 . With substantially the same subject-matter and prepared with a similar objective, Doctor MacInnes's text represents the accumulated material of many