A Century of Electricity. By T. C. Mendenhall. (Macmillan and
Co.) —Beginning about the middle of the eighteenth century, the writer reviews in order the various steps by which electricity has become familiar, and, indeed, almost a necessity of our every-day life. Under his guidance we follow Galvani, Volta, Daniell, Oersted, Ampere, Faraday, Whetstone, and Morse, until in the submarine cable we reach the culminating point. Certainly, it seems to us that nothing more striking, nothing that appeals more to the understanding, can be imagined than this messenger of the ocean that defies time and destroys space. The history of the advance of electricity has of late been a favourite subject for the scientific pen, yet it is a story that never loses its freshness. The writer is not too prolix, and skilfully avoids dwelling too long upon any particular savant, thus escaping the reproach of laying undue emphasis on his work or its value. This interesting and vigorous sketch fully deserves its place in the "Nature Series."
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