15 JULY 1938, Page 32

An ill-chosen title hardly suggests that Mr. Miller's very readable

book (Appleton, los. 6d.) is in fact " an informal account of certain particularly interesting engineering achieve- ments," whether ancient or modern. Mr. Miller reminds his readers that engineering skill was required for the Egyptian Pyramids and obelisks, the Roman aqueducts and roads, the regulation of rivers and the making of canals, and the building of great lighthouses like the Pharos of Alexandria or fortifications like the Great Wall of China. He gives a popular description of these remarkable achievements of antiquity, illustrated with sketches, and compares them, not unfavourably, with modern engineering triumphs, such as the London tubes, the Brooklyn Bridge, or the Assuan -dam.