The Foundations of Physical Science. 185 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE. 



We heartily welcome the first volume of the " sixth and completed 

 edition" of Dr. Arnott' s Elements of Physics* because we believe 

 there is no work in any language that can supply its place. Other 

 works of great merit are for the most party only adapted to 

 those who have already acquired the habits of students, and 

 there is no pleasure in reading them, apart from that attaching 

 to the acquisition of facts in a dry and bald form. Dr. Arnott/s 

 famous book is, on the contrary, so admirable for simplicity 

 of statement and elegance of illustration, that no reader, young 

 or old, whose mind is in a condition of reasonable activity, can 

 resist its fascination, or be willing to put it down until it has 

 been carefully read. To those who have everything to learn 

 concerning the physical forces of the universe it will prove a 

 delightful guide, while those who are familiar with the prin- 

 ciples it unfolds, will be charmed by the excellence of its 

 method, and by the admirable use it has made of that best of 

 all aids to memory, a natural and comprehensive association 

 of ideas. The writer well remembers the pleasure afforded by 

 an early edition in his schoolboy days, and doubtless many 

 who now occupy important positions in the scientific world will 

 speak of it as one of the few books which contributed to direct 

 their tastes, as well as to lay the foundation of accurate thinking 

 upon the varied problems presented by the external world. 



In some respects the most difficult part of Dr. Arnott' s 

 labours remains for the second volume, which is promised in 

 October, to conclude the present edition and complete the 

 work. The volume now issued comprehends mechanics, 

 hydrostatics, hydraulics, pneumatics, acoustics, and animal 

 mechanics. '* Thoroughly revised," as the author tells us, and 

 " brought up to the present time." The second volume will 

 relate to heat, fight, electricity, and magnetism, with astronomy, 

 and popular mathematics. There is a little awkwardness in 

 treating, as this volume does, of boiling water and the steam- 

 engine before explaining the laws of heat ; but the matter 

 relating thereto is certainly intelligible to any ono who has 

 carefully studied the chapters that precede it. 



While generally concurring with the views adopted by 

 Dr. Arnott, we regret that he has placed a particular, and in some 

 respects highly improbable theory in the position of his " first 

 fundamental truth." The assertion that " every material mass 

 in nature is divisible into very minute indestructible and un- 



* Elements of Physics, or Natural Philosophy, written for General Use, in 

 Plain or Non-Technical Language, by Neil Arnott, M.D., F.L.S. Sixth and 

 completed edition. Part I. Longmans. 



f Philosophy in Sport made Science in Earnest, is a valuable exception to this rule. 



