Dbckmbkr 26, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



1019 



and appeals strongly to a scientific mind. 

 Thus in his 'History of the Mathematical 

 Theories of Attraction and the Figure of 

 the Earth,' 1873, he takes up every memoir 

 which had been published upon that sub- 

 ject, analyzes it carefully, and gives his 

 opinion as to its merit and the importance 

 of its bearing upon the subject in hand. 

 The same is true of his 'History of Elas- 

 ticity.' It seems to me that a student 

 could not possibly get a better grasp of 

 these two subjects than by a careful study 

 of these two works. Todhunter's style is 

 rigidly scientific, being clear, exact and ex- 

 tremely terse. 



Of the older histories of our subject those 

 of Priestley deserve mention. This many- 

 sided man composed, besides Jiis theological 

 works and his scientific works, two histories 

 of physics: one, 'History of Electricity,' 

 1769; the other, a 'History of Vision, 

 Light, and Colours,' 1792. In the preface 

 to the latter he says it is his intention to 

 write the histories of the other branches 

 of the subject if the reception of the one on 

 vision, light and colors shows that his 

 efforts are appreciated. As the other 

 works never appeared, it would seem that 

 the time was not yet ripe for a history of 

 optics. Tliis volume contains as an ap- 

 pendix a list of the works which M'ere con- 

 sulted in its preparation — a rather interest- 

 ing little bibliography of the subject. 



There are also the treatises of Fischer, 

 'Geschichte der Physik, ' eight volumes, 

 1801, and of Libes, ' Histoire philosophique 

 des progres de la physique,' four volumes, 

 1810. Both of these are rather biograph- 

 ical dictionaries than histories. Saverien's 

 'Histoire des progres de I'esprit humain 

 dans les sciences exaetes,' 1766, should 

 also come under this head. On the other 

 hand, Powell's 'History of Natural Phi- 

 losophy,' 1834, is a very creditable little 

 work. In fact it deserves a far greater 



recognition than it has received. It has 

 characteristics somewhat similar to the 

 works of Whewell. There are also chap- 

 ters in Montucla's 'Histoire des mathe- 

 matiques,' four volumes, 1801-3, which 

 deal with physical subjects such as me- 

 chanics and optics. However, inasmuch 

 as its contents are largely mathematical, 

 its discussion does not properly belong 

 here. It is, as the German bookseller of 

 whom I bought a copy remarked, ' ein sehr 

 quellenreiches Werk.' 



Of the more recent histories of physics 

 Marie's, 'Histoire des sciences mathe- 

 matiques et physiques,' 1883-8, is an 

 ambitious work in twelve volumes. It 

 consists of a series of short biographies 

 with a list of the writings of each 

 man and a criticism of both. It is 

 interesting reading, for it is often well 

 told and there are frequent anecdotes 

 thrown in without extra charge. Caverni, 

 ' Storia del methodo sperimentale in Italia, ' 

 five volumes, 1891, describes mainly dis- 

 coveries and instruments. There are fur- 

 ther the German works of Rosenberger, 

 1882; Heller, 1882; Dannemann, 1896; 

 Hoppe, 1883 ; Poggendorff, 1879 ; Gerland, 

 1892, and Duhring, 1887. All of these, 

 though marked with the careful, thorough, 

 and plodding scholarship of the nation 

 which produced them, are not, in my 

 opinion, true histories in the light of the 

 ideal which has been adopted above. The 

 same is true of the most recent work on 

 the subject, namely, Cajori's 'History of 

 Physics,' 1899. In this book the entire 

 treatment of the wonderful mental growth 

 and the marked changes in intellectual 

 life which marked the end of the middle 

 ages — changes to whose operation the sci- 

 ence of physics owes it origin — is contained 

 in one short paragraph. The book is weU 

 written and its contents are presented in 

 an interesting way, but it cannot be re- 



