NATURE 



49 



DAN I ELL S " PH J S/CS " 

 Text-Book of the Principles of Physics. By Alfred 

 Daniell, M.A., Lecturer on Physics in the School of 

 Medicine, Edinburgh. (London : Macmillan and Co., 

 1884.) 



A N important and welcome addition to the existing 

 ■**■ text-books of elementary physics has appeared. 

 Since the days when Arnott's and Golding-Bird's 

 manuals were in vogue, the number of text-books of 

 physics which have appeared in this country is very small 

 as compared with the vast number of excellent manuals 

 I for students which have been produced in Germany and 

 ,j France. Many of these are unique. Verdet's " Cours 

 de Physique" stands alone ; nothing like it has ever been 

 ,i produced in England. The text-book of Jamin and 

 j! Bouty, now much enlarged, is also unique, and of semi- 

 mathematical text-books is by far the best, though 

 <j limited by the curious restriction that seems to cramp all 

 I French science,— ignorance of all scientific work that is 

 done outside France. Jamin's smaller petit traite", though 

 admirable, is too concise. Daguin's text-book is over- 

 | loaded : those of Fernet, and of Boutan and D'Almeida 

 ' unequal in balance, and too obviously cut to suit the narrow 

 I requirements of the baccahmrcat. The same remark 

 applies less strongly to Ganot's excellent "Physique." 

 Those of Moutier and Violle are yet incomplete. In 

 Germany, Midler- Pouillet's " Lehrbuch," recently over- 

 | hauled and enlarged by Prof. Pfaundler of Innspriick, is a 

 grand and substantial work for students. If it lacks the 

 elegance of Jamin and Bouty, it makes up in solidity and 

 catholicity of information. Its wealth of pictorial illustra- 

 tion is unapproached. Wullner's "Lehrbuch" is heavy, 

 land his "Compendium" is not what students want.' 

 Mousson's " Lehrbuch," now greatly enlarged, is valuable 

 as a work of reference, but might with benefit be pruned. 

 In addition to these we might name hosts of others by 

 Viktor von Lang, Jochmann, von Waltenhofen, Eisenlohr, 

 Koppe, Em-nsman, R. Waeber, Hessler-Pisko, Paul Reis, 

 j.Krebs, Cruger, Sumpf, and others. Against this array 

 J. what can be shown in Great Britain? The English 

 translation of Ganot by Dr. Atkinson has long held sway ; 

 its indefatigable editor has long ago filled up the gaps of 

 the original French work ; but it has grown almost en- 

 ! cyclopaedic, and has never quite freed itself from Ganot's 

 : academically conservative way of treating physical pro- 

 blems. The lesser elementary Ganot is also excellent 

 in its way,— as a purely introductory book. Besides the 

 ^translated Ganot we have also the translated Deschanel • 

 I work which, thanks to Prof. Everett, is vastly superior 

 to the original French work, and has proved of great value 

 a^ a textbook, by reason of the excellent cuts and the 

 valuable mathematical editorial notes. Dr. Everett's 

 lesser " Physics " is also good as a purely introductory 

 work. In addition to these we may mention, though 

 adapted for popular instruction rather than for stu- 

 dents' reading, the two volumes of Guillemin on the 

 « Forces of Nature," edited by Mr. J. Norman Lockyer, 

 which have done good work in their way. So far, not a 

 Vol. xxx.— No. 759 



single really English text-book ! But, stop ; there is one 

 genuinely British and of very original merit, Prof. Balfour 

 Stewart's " Elementary Lessons in Physics." This com- 

 paratively small volume may be cited as the first con- 

 scientious attempt to rewrite ' r Physics" from the modern 

 standpoint, namely, on the basis of the doctrine of 

 energy. In this respect it is infinitely ahead of the 

 more ambitious adaptations from French authors, and 

 will probably long keep its place as a text-book for ele- 

 mentary work. We do not forget Galbraith and Haughton's 

 manuals, excellent— and sketchy -as they are ; nor the re- 

 edited Lardner volumes, which, in spite of the abilities of 

 Messrs. Carey Foster and Lcewy, are very decidedly of 

 the rechauffde order, and should be allowed an honourable 

 burial. There are also C. Bird's handy " Notes," and a 

 volume by Dr. Aveling, of which, the less said the better. 

 This strange poverty in modern text-books would be 

 indeed remarkable were it not that it is more than com- 

 pensated by the great abundance of splendid text-books 

 on isolated branches of physics which have issued from 

 the press of Great Britain during the past decade. Indi- 

 vidual treatises on mechanics, optics, electricity, sound, 

 and heat have to a considerable extent supplanted more 

 general treatises on physics, with great advantage, in the 

 long run, to the solidity of the reader's information. 

 Nevertheless the text-book of physics has its place and 

 its readers. Men who are reading for mathematics, for 

 medicine, or for the army still require in many cases a 

 something more than superficial acquaintance with 

 physics. It is they who buy the Ganots, the Deschanels, 

 and the Balfour Stewarts, and find them more or less 

 adapted to their needs 



Mr. Daniell's new " Text-book of Physics " is addressed 

 to such students as these, and more particularly to those 

 who read physics as a part of their preparation for a 

 medical degree. But there is abundant matter in it for 

 the engineer and the chemist to consider. The wcrk 

 opens with two chapters on the fundamental notions of 

 mass, time, and space, and on the derived kinematical 

 and kinetical quantities. The third chapter deals with 

 measurements, and the fourth with work and energy. All 

 this is only introductory, and occupies but seepages. 

 The remaining 570 pages are therefore based upon 

 the doctrine of energy. The chapcer on Kinematics 

 which follows is lengthy but admirable. Harmonic 

 motion, and problems connected with the propagation 

 of waves, are expounded with great care. The teach- 

 ing here, as throughout, bears the impress of the two 

 great living Scotch physicists whom Mr. Daniell 

 names as his masters. The chapter on Kinetics is none 

 the less welcome because the author frankly gives 

 up the misleading term, "centrifugal force." It strikes 

 us that more might have been said with advantage con- 

 cerning angular motion and the problems relating to 

 couples. A very useful chapter on Attraction and Poten- 

 tial is then introduced : a most sensible step, since too 

 often the notion of a potential function is postponed until 

 the student comes upon it quite unprepared in electrosta- 

 tics. It may be noticed that a similar course is adopted 

 in the text-book of Jamin and Bouty. Gravitation and 

 the pendulum conclude the kinetic section of the work, 

 which next deals with the properties of matter. In this 

 chapter, which must be extremely interesting to those 



