18 MAY 1878, Page 24

Sanitary Engineering. A Series of Lectures, given before the School

of Military Engineering at Chatham, 1876. By J. Bailey Denton (Spon and Co.)—The name of Mr. Bailey Denton is sufficiently well known as an authority upon all points of sanitary science to render the apology with which he prefaces this volume superfluous. In such a work, we do not require "a finished literary production ;" we have not, however, discovered any conspicuous absence of literary skill or method. The book before us is in several respects of a strictly professional and technical kind, and as such does not demand any lengthened notice at our hands ; it is brimful of facts and figures, estimates and measure- ments. As to its subject-matter, it appears to us to include several sections of a social-science congress rolled into one; it discusses not only the "policy," but the practice of sewage, the pollution of rivers, and equally important, the arrangement and management of certain domestic conveniences, earth-closets, eze. The water-supply of our great towns is amply discussed. On such and many kindred topics Mr. Bailey Denton has much to say that is new (to us, at any rate), and he sets it forth clearly and succinctly ; in this he is aided by the illustra- tions, which are plentiful and intelligible. We cannot too highly praise the manner in which our author has marshalled and divided his in- formation ; from the synopsis to the index, every topic is arranged in such good order, that as a work of reference to the professional or non-professional reader this volume will be found very valuable.