Railway Appliances. By John Wolfe Barry, C.E. (Longroans and Co.)—Although
intended as an introduction to the studies of the rail- way-engineer, this "text-book of science" contains much that will interest the general reader. The safety of railway travelling depends greatly on what appear trivial details, such as the structure of a bolt or turning of a tire, and many of the most fatal casualties have occurred from the failure of an unpretending part of the mechanism. On some occasions the most serious effects of accidents might be mitigated if travellers knew what to do, and did it just in the precious second or two which intervened between the perception of the danger and the actual catastrophe. It is, therefore, almost the duty of those who travel much to know something about the working of railways, the structure of the road and the coaches, the system of signalling and checking the signals, the working of points and their dangers, and the Meek system. All necessary information on these and similar par- tienlars he will find in this readable book, besides suggestions on the important question of communication between passengers, guard, and engine-driver.
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