the time as a quartermaster, the last two years being chief quartermaster on the Pacific coast. In this service he won distinction for his care, foresight, and good management. General Walker represents him as having the almost incompatible qualities of loving "papers," rejoicing in forms and regulations and requisitions, while at the same time he had the temperament that enjoys the clash of battle with its excitement and danger. His experience had prepared him most admirably to cope with material obstacles, and very often it is material obstacles quite as much as the efforts of the enemy that defeat armies. In his first battle, Williamsburg, he was sent with five regiments to execute a movement, which he accomplished with consummate skill. His conduct led McClellan to say in his telegraphic report, "Hancock was superb," and the adjective clung to him. By what the author calls "one of those curious fortunes which mark the course of war," the brigade and its commander that had acted so brilliantly and steadily at Williamsburg were given scarcely anything to do in the seven days' battles and other fighting that followed on the peninsula, nor were they more actively employed at Antietam. But when Richardson fell on the last-named field, Hancock was advanced to the command of his division.
The account follows Hancock through Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and the three days of Gettysburg, setting forth the tactics employed by the Union army on each day and freely criticising them. The severe wound received by Hancock on the third day at Gettysburg took him away from the Second Corps, which he then commanded, for six months. After his return came the severe campaign of 1864, in which Hancock bore a prominent part, Grant being now his chief. In the spring of 1865, after a winter of recruiting service, Hancock was placed in command of the Middle Military Division whose operations were to begin from Winchester. The final crash at Petersburg came earlier than Grant expected, so that Hancock had no share in the operations which brought it about. A single chapter is given to the events of Hancock's life after the war. The position that General Walker occupied on Hancock's staff, of assistant adjutant general, makes him exceptionally well qualified for the work he has here performed. It is no eulogy that he has produced, for he does not conceal the deficiencies nor the specific mistakes of his subject. His incidental criticism of other generals is equally outspoken, and adds much to the interest of the volume.
Meteorology. Weather, and Methods of Forecasting, Descriptions of Meteorological Instruments, and River Flood Predictions in the United States. By Thomas Russell. New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 277, with Plates. Price, $4.
The main object of this book is to explain the use of the weather map, where it can be of service for the purpose of making predictions; but the author's expressions as to the feasibility of making successful predictions, even with the use of the weather map, are not hopeful. There are not more than from six to twelve occasions in the year when they can be made, and for some places they are never possible. The kinds of weather that can be foretold are the great changes. A fall of temperature as great as forty degrees can be foreseen to a certainty for most parts of the country east of the Mississippi River. The northeast rainstorms along the Atlantic coast can be successfully predicted in most cases. Floods along the lower Ohio and Mississippi Rivers can be foreseen from one to three weeks in advance of their occurrence, and the height the water will reach can be assigned within a foot or two. The course of rains, which agrees as a rule with that of the areas of low pressure that cross the country from west to east and from southwest to northeast, can be inferred in a general way, but is subject to many irregularities. The reader being thus warned of the uncertainties connected with the matter, a summary of what is known about the weather, its apparent laws, and its somewhat erratic movements, is given in a series of chapters which are broken up into crisp, pertinent, and intelligible paragraphs distinguished by their conspicuous headings. First, the influence of the moon, sun spots, and periodicity are discussed; we have no satisfactory knowledge on either point. Next, the properties and functions of the air are described, with more definite conclusions. Then meteorological instruments are enumerated, and the principles involved in their construction and their uses are explained. The succeeding chapters are
