52 



NATURE 



[May 19, 1892 



of these texts it was necessary to unite the skill of the 

 Assyriologist with the accuracy of the photographer, for 

 the former could only transcribe the characters more or less 

 accurately, being powerless to give their exact shape and 

 form, and the latter, while reproducing their exact shape 

 and form, could only show the characters on the flat-sided 

 tablets, those on the rounded edges remaining invisible. 

 The Trustees of the British Museum, then, decided 

 to print in cuneiform type a full transcript of the 

 texts in characters as closely resembling the originals 

 as possible, and in addition to give a number of cha- 

 racteristic specimens reproduced by the autotype pro- 

 cess, so that the student who is unable to visit the 

 Museum may be able to make himself thoroughly ac- 

 quainted with the various complex and unusual forms 

 of characters in which these tablets are written. In ad- 

 dition tojthe printed texts and autotype plates, a summary 

 of the contents of each tablet is given, accompanied by 

 notes, chiefly philological and geographical, which we 

 believe will be of use to the reader. The summary is 

 preceded by an introduction, in which the finding of the 

 tablets and many points of interest concerning them are 

 discussed in brief paragraphs. It will be remembered 

 that some thirty years ago, when Sir Henry Rawlinson 

 began to publish his monumental work, the " Cuneiform 

 Inscriptions of Western Asia," he contemplated adding 

 translations of all the texts given therein. It was, how- 

 ever, found impossible to do this satisfactorily ; and not- 

 withstanding Sir Henry's thirty years' additional labour 

 on the Assyrian inscriptions, it would still be somewhat 

 rash to publish word-for-word translations of such difficult 

 texts as those from Tell el-Amarna. Plain, historical 

 narrative, like the great Tiglath-Pileser inscription, could 

 be and was well enough rendered into English by Sir 

 Henry Rawlinson so far back as 1857 ; but letters and 

 despatches of a new kind, containing words and forms 

 hitherto unknown, cannot be thus treated. The summary 

 of each tablet will tell the general reader what the tablet 

 is about, and will help the student more than a literal 

 translation of the verbose Oriental phrases would have 

 done. In publishing these texts with autotype repro- 

 ductions and summaries of contents, the Trustees of the 

 British Museum have made a new departure, and we 

 believe that the edition will be as useful to the general 

 student of antiquity as to the cuneiform expert. 



A TEXT-BOOK OF PHYSICS. 

 A Manual of Physics. By William Peddie, D.Sc, 

 F.R.S.E. (London: Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox, 1892.) 



THE attempt made by Dr. Peddie to supply a 

 manual of physics suitable for English students 

 and English teachers is altogether worthy of praise, 

 and his effort has undoubtedly been, on the whole, 

 successful. The best works at present in use in higher 

 schools and in colleges as text-books of physics are the 

 well-known English translations of two French books, 

 Ganot and Deschanel. These are, no doubt, excellent 

 books in their way, and in the hands of able English 

 translators the original French compilations have re- 

 ceived great improvement. A recommendation also of 

 these French books is to be found in the beautiful 

 NO. 1 1 77, VOL. 46 J 



diagrams and pictures of experimental apparatus. These 

 we miss in every English book, including the book before 

 us. Nevertheless, even the modified and improved 

 English translations are not altogether satisfactory for 

 English teaching purposes, and Dr. Peddie's work, 

 supplying a need which is very generally felt, will be most 

 warmly welcomed. 



The subject has been, on the whole, judiciously treated. 

 It is compressed in an admirable way into very moderate 

 compass. If, now and then, one feels regret that some 

 particular portion has not been more fully dealt with, re- 

 flection on the moderate size of the book, and on the way 

 in which each part is treated in the space prescribed to it 

 by the author, often affords a timely and sufficient 

 consolation. 



While speaking about size and form, it may be remarked 

 that the paper, the printing, and the binding, make this a 

 pleasanter text-book to hold and to use than any which 

 has appeared for many a day. In this respect the book 

 can scarcely be too highly praised. 



Commencing with four preliminary chapters, in which 

 general laws are stated and explanations given as to 

 certain necessary mathematical ideas and formulas, the 

 author proceeds in chapter v. to the treatment of ele- 

 mentary kinematics ; and in chapter vi. to the general 

 principles of dynamics, including the general equations of 

 fluid motion and of the equilibrium of a fluid. It is 

 needless to say that these subjects are very briefly touched 

 upon ; but teachers will at any rate find a very succinct 

 indication, to say the least, of the parts of mathematics 

 and of dynamics which are most essential to a proper 

 understanding of the physics which is to follow. 



Chapters vii. to xiii. inclusive are devoted to properties 

 of matter: general properties of solids, liquids, and 

 gases are dealt with ; a good account of gravitation is 

 given ; elasticity, diffusion, and the allied subjects, as 

 well as cohesion and capillarity, are discussed ; while in 

 chapters xii. and xiii. we find a very fair account— short, 

 of course — of atomic theories, including the modern 

 kinetic* theory of matter. Perhaps the chapters just 

 referred to, on properties of matter, constitute the 

 most thoroughly successful portion of the book. We 

 cannot call to mind any book in which an account 

 of these subjects so good, and in itself so complete, can 

 be found. The remaining chapters — with the exception 

 of the last two, which are devoted to the electro- 

 magnetic theory of light and " the ether " — treat in detail 

 of sound, light, heat, electricity, and magnetism. It is 

 in the last-named portion of the book that students will 

 feel a want of fuller and more complete treatment. The 

 subject of heat in particular will be felt by many to be 

 unduly compressed, and the same must be said of parts 

 at least of electrodynamics and electromagnetism. 



A book such as we have described, covering so wide a 

 field, and brought into the narrow limits of 500 small 

 octavo pages, must obviously, if it be well arranged and 

 well written, be an important contribution to our scientific 

 literature. We have no hesitation in giving it high 

 commendation. There is, perhaps, not much that is 

 absolutely novel in the treatment of the subjects, or in the 

 matter, but that is hardly to be expected in a manual of 

 this kind : the novelty is rather to be seen in the idea 

 of the production of such a book. 



