The History of Civil Engineering since 1600

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 145 and engineering, and his assiduous attention to the work of other his­ torians. Appendixes give translations of a manuscript paper of Car­ not and of notes in which he recorded his doubts about the conservation of caloric. Here Fox again provides commentary, as well as a general discussion of surviving Carnot manuscripts. He con­ cludes with a useful bibliography and index. Fox’s translation not only makes the Reflexions accessible to the mod­ ern reader but places Carnot’s theory of heat solidly in the context of contemporary steam engineering. It will intrigue those who seek to understand historically the interconnections of science and tech­ nology. Peggy Kidwell Dr. Kidwell has written about 19th-century theories of heat as they were applied in astrophysics. She currently watches over objects in the Division of Physical Sci­ ences and Mathematics, National Museum of American History. The History of Civil Engineering since 1600: An Annotated Bibliography. By Darwin H. Stapleton with Roger L. Shumaker. New York: Gar­ land, 1986. Pp. xxxiii+232; index. $40.00. Since the appearance of Eugene Ferguson’s Bibliography of the His­ tory of Technology twenty years ago, both the volume of literature and the number of researchers in the field have grown enormously. There is consequently a real need for updated and more special­ ized bibliographies such as the present work by Darwin Stapleton on the history of civil engineering since 1600. Stapleton’s bibliogra­ phy is divided chronologically into five periods: from the Renais­ sance to the Industrial Revolution (1600—1750), Industrial Revolution (1750-1830), Victorian Era (1830-1900), modern era (1900-1950), and recent (since 1950). The topical categories within each period include the entire range of activities, systems, and structures associ­ ated with civil engineering: dams, harbors, canals, highways and rail­ ways, bridges, buildings, water supply, power, city planning, and theory (statics, strengths of materials, and testing). There are also sections on biography, on education and professionalization, on gov­ ernment agencies, and on “economic business, political, and social relationships.” It is evident that even the literature in this subfield of the history of technology is so vast that any bibliography must, of necessity, be se­ lective. Stapleton has chosen to focus on articles that have appeared in nine leadingjournals of the field in the United States, Britain, Ger­ many, and France. He has also included “monographic studies that were accessible directly or through reliable citations,” as well as a se­ lection of works cited in a number of existing bibliographies, particu­ larly those published annually in Isis and Technology and Culture. Judged on the basis of these guidelines, the coverage is good, al­ though several basic works have been omitted. For example, under 146 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE the rubric “power,” Stapleton has systematically included works on hydraulic power and prime movers, but he has omitted Louis C. Hunter’s Waterpower in the Century of the Steam Engine (Charlottes­ ville, Va., 1979). One may question whether the kind of guidelines Stapleton has fol­ lowed are always adequate, however. For example, I would argue that conceptual rather than technical guidelines are necessary to trace the most important literature on the history of engineering the­ ory because so much of it lies outside the immediate purview of his­ tory of technology. Be that as it may, Stapleton’s bibliography is a useful guide to a complex and often disparate body of scholarship. Eda Kranakis Dr. Kranakis is a member of the Science Dynamics Department at the University of Amsterdam. She is currently completing a monograph on suspension bridges in France and the United States during the first half of the 19th century. Mechanical Arts & Merchandise: Industrial Espionage and Travellers’ Ac­ counts as a Source for Technical Historians. By A. P. Woolrich. Eind­ hoven: De Archaeologische Pers (Zeelsterstraat 147, NL-5652 EE Eindhoven, The Netherlands), 1986. Pp. vi+154; illustrations, notes, appendixes, bibliography. FI 27.50 (cloth)+handling; FI 20.00 (paper)-(-handling. Ferrner’s Journal 1759/1760: An Industrial Spy in Bath and Bristol. Ed­ ited by A. P. Woolrich. Translated by A. den Ouden. Eindhoven: De Archaeologische Pers, 1986. Pp. iv+55; illustrations, notes, index. FI 7.50 (paper

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