TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 965 History ofTechnology. Tenth Annual Volume, 1985; Eleventh Annual Volume, 1986. Edited by Norman Smith. London: Mansell, 1986, 1987. Pp. x + 262/vii + 253; illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography. $69.00 each volume. Available from H. W. Wilson Company, 950 University Avenue, Bronx, New York 10452. These two hardback volumes are the latest in the series of essays published annually and edited by Norman Smith at Imperial College, London. Smith has compiled two interesting books, without a thematic strand, from a variety of authors. The 1985 volume, tenth in the series, begins with an editorial reflecting on the journal’s origins and the extent to which its aims and hopes have been realized in the decade. The editorial also explores differences in European and American practices in teaching, research, and publication in the his tory of technology and itself makes an interesting contribution to defining the subject. The 1985 volume contains eight essays on topics spanning the 16th to the 19th centuries. D. de Cogan’s paper, “Dr. E. O. W. Whitehouse and the 1858 Trans-Atlantic Cable,” investigates the premature failure of the cable, using surviving samples and computer modeling tech niques to conclude that Whitehouse only accelerated a decline caused by eccentricity of the core. “Isaac Newton’s Steamer,” by A. Rupert Hall, follows the story of Newton’s steam road-carriage, or aeolipile on wheels, through various authors and the model in the Milan Mu seum. Graham Hollister-Short’s thorough and fascinating “Gunpow der and Mining in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Europe” explores the diffusion of blasting in the extractive industries and the technical aspects of taming the power for civilian purposes. C. J. Jackson contributes “Evidence of American Influence on the Designs of Nineteenth-Century Drilling Bits.” This is justifiably “internalist” and adds greatly to our knowledge of this subject. Jacques Payen writes on “Beau de Rochas devant la Technique et l’lndustrie de Son Temps,” giving a wider view of the civil engineering career of Beau de Rochas in addition to details of the internal-combustion engine cycle that he patented in 1862. “Archaeological Evidence for Early Water-Mills: An Interim Report,” by Orjan Wikander, identifies two inadequacies in recent research: received wisdom on technical stagnation in antiquity and noncommunication between engineers and students of classical antiquity. This interesting paper contains a gazetteer of seventy-eight sites from northern Europe to East Asia. The volume concludes with two papers of a bibliographical nature: “John Farey and the Smeaton Manuscripts,” by A. P. Woolrich, and Mike Ghrimes’s massive com pilation of 508 items for his “Bridges: A Bibliography of Articles Published in Scientific Periodicals 1800-1829.” Both fullyjustify their place in the journal. The 1986 volume comprises seven essays, three originating in the United States. Hans-Joachim Braun submits “Technology Transfer 966 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE under Conditions of War: German Aero-Technology in Japan during the Second War.” His analysis of necessity places this aspect of tech nology in a socioeconomic context and is of particular interest because of its wartime setting. Vernard Foley’s “Using the Early Slide Rest” takes the subject back to the late 15th century. The author uses an experimental model approach to resolve difficulties arising from con temporary illustrations and argues that the slide rest emerges in re lation to the introduction of the conical screw thread. “The Origins and Worldwide Spread of Warren-Truss Bridges in the Mid-Nine teenth Century,” by J. G. James, deals with the development and diffusion of the minimal framework system of equilateral triangles patented by James Warren in 1848. It is the densely packed, wellillustrated piece that we have come to expect from James and it will remain a source paper for some years. Andrew Nahum, in “The Rotary Aero Engine,” deals with this peculiar, short-lived (1908-18), but important engine and the author argues that the commonly ad vanced reasons for its demise are inadequate. There are excellent illustrations and tables of engine performance. An unusual paper is Dale H. Porter’s “An Historian’s Judgements about the Thames Em bankment.” It is a preliminary piece describing the historian’s ways of defining an...