Professionally dedicated to civil engineering and architecture, Frank Latham became Penzance Borough Engineer and Surveyor in 1899, served as a captain in the Royal Engineers during the First World War, and designed the famous Penzance lido for the silver jubilee of George V. For a paper on the town's sea defences, the Civil Engineers of Ireland awarded him a medal in 1905. He had considerable practical experience in his field when he published this work in 1903. Originally written as a series of articles for a municipal engineering journal, the text was revised and presented to readers as an...