.806 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 125. 



It is easy for a teacher to convince himself 

 that there is no existing book quite suitable for 

 his work, and the feeling that he can make one 

 which will meet his own wants and those of 

 many other teachers is entirely natural. The 

 result is a continually increasing number of 

 texts, which are multiplying so rapidly that be- 

 fore long every class will be using that of its 

 teacher for the time being, and no more dread- 

 ful catastrophe could overtake the long-suffer- 

 ing body of students whose interests are often 

 lost sight of by teachers ambitious to become 

 authors. 



Although a very general practice, it is by no 

 means always a sound one, to insist upon a class 

 using the texts prepared by its instructor, and 

 this is true even when that text is one of the 

 very best of its class. American students are 

 often greatly benefited by the use of English 

 text-books, and there are many American books 

 used with profit in English schools. By using a 

 text prepared by one able scholar and sitting 

 under the instruction of another the student is 

 doubly benefited, and the harm which comes 

 from a multiplicity of texts would be greatly les- 

 sened if every author were forbidden to use his 

 own book. It is quite true that under such con- 

 ditions there would be many books never used 

 at all, but this would be one of the principal ad- 

 vantages of the scheme. 



The above remarks, while suggested by, are 

 not considered as specially applicable to, the 

 list of new books on Physics which they follow, 

 all of which, and many more, have issued from 

 the press within a very few months. It may 

 safely be asserted that no other science has 

 grown and developed during the past ten or 

 fifteen years as has this, and this growth is re- 

 flected in the very large number of text-books 

 and treatises of all grades which have made 

 their appearance during the last few years. 

 They are easily divided into three classes : 

 those that possess real merit and originality of 

 treatment and which could not be spared with- 

 out serious loss ; those that are good, at least 

 not bad, and whose existence is harmless ; and 

 those that, for various reasons, are undesirable 

 and unwelcome, because unsound in either mat- 

 ter or method or both. In physics teaching 

 and text-books, as in every other department 



of education, there appears the fad and the 

 'faddist.' In these days everybody is running 

 after something new, not something good or 

 useful. To achieve reputation in educational 

 circles it seems only necessary to exploit a 

 novelty, but fortunately in science teaching a 

 considerable restriction is put upon this ten- 

 dency by the inflexibility of natural laws. 

 Curiously enough, in the making of books on 

 physics that which is really most difBcult is 

 generally thought to be the easiest and is, there- 

 fore, the more frequently attempted. In the 

 preparation of an extensive treatise on the sub- 

 ject the all important feature is matter, method 

 being of only secondary importance ; while in a 

 text-book method of presentation rises to an im- 

 portance fully equal to that of a truthful 

 presentation of the principles and facts of the sci- 

 ence, especially as it includes the selection of 

 just what principles and what facts shall be set 

 forth. Yet, although few undertake the pre- 

 paration of a treatise, many esteem themselves 

 fit to make a text-book. A well written 

 treatise will usually include essentially all 

 that the author knows about the subject ; a 

 well prepared text-book will generally repre- 

 sent only a small part of his knowledge. 



Unfortunately too many text-books in physics 

 contain all their authors know and much more, 

 but the latter-day willingness of really able 

 scholars to prepare elementary texts will before 

 long put an end to their popularity. 



The list of books given above contains several 

 that will do to 'tie to.' The well-known text 

 of Anthony and Brackett, published first about 

 ten years ago, has enjoyed extensive and de- 

 served approval as a college text-book of 

 physics, and in this, the eighth edition, it has 

 undergone extensive revision and improvement 

 at the hands of Professor Magie, of Princeton, 

 who had much to do with its making in the be- 

 ginning. The changes are most evident in the 

 treatment of electricity and magnetism and in 

 the discussion of mechanics and the Kinetic 

 theory of matter, in which respects as well as 

 along some other lines the book has been prac- 

 tically re-written. The methods of treatment 

 and the conception of fundamentals have been 

 modernized, and the new edition constitutes a 

 distinct advance, although the general features 



