II 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHYSICS 



IT was in the realm of Physics that 

 the originality and brilliance of John 

 Michell's mind found their widest scope. 

 A living writer has recently said : "In 

 the entire century which elapsed between 

 the death of Newton and the scientific 

 activity of Green, the only natural philo- 

 sopher of distinction who lived and taught 

 at Cambridge was Michell ; and for some 

 reason which, at this distance of time, it 

 is difficult to understand fully, Michell's 

 researches seem to have attracted little or 

 no attention among his collegiate con- 

 temporaries and successors, who silently 

 acquiesced when his discoveries were 

 attributed to others, and allowed his 

 name to perish entirely from Cambridge 

 tradition 1 ." There can at least be no 



1 A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity ', 

 by Professor E. T. Whittaker, F.R.S., 1910, p. 167. 



7 2 



