Notices respecting New Books. 277 



ssime liquid can be much more supercooled in narrow tubes 

 than in wider vessels ; the same liquid can be more super- 

 cooled if the cooling proceeds slowly, and if the temperature 

 is equalized through the whole mass of the liquid, than when 

 this is done rapidly. On the whole, the limit to which a 

 liquid can be supercooled, a solution supersaturated, &c, 

 depends upon the nature of the solvent, of the dissolved 

 substance, and upon the nature of the reaction itself. 



XXXI. Notices respecting New Books. 



Mathematical and Physical Papers. By Sir George Gabkiel 

 Stokes, Bart., M.A., D.C.L., LL.D., FJl.S., Fellow of Pembroke 

 College and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in the University 

 of Cambridge. Vol. III. Cambridge : At the University Press, 

 1901. Pp. viii+415. 



A FTER the long interval which has elapsed since Sir Gk Gabriel 

 -^ Stokes published Vol. II. of his collected papers, the pr sent 

 volume will be eagerly welcomed by all students of mathematical 

 physics. The immense convenience of having the papers of our 

 great leaders in science collected in book form can hardly be 

 overestimated, especially in view of the ever-swelling stream of 

 modern scientific literature, which makes such demands on the 

 time of those eager to ktep in touch with recent progress — time 

 that can be ill-spared for the purpose of wading through a mass 

 of bulky volumes in search of some classical paper of much earlier 

 date. We sincerely hope that the author will find time and 

 strength to complete the collection of his papers at an early 

 date. 



About one-fourth of the present volume is occupied by the 

 important memoir " On the Effect of the Internal Friction of 

 Fluids on the Motion of Pendulums." Then follows a paper 

 on "the possible effect of the Eadiation of Heat on the Pro- 

 pagation of Sound," and the ren ainder of the book is taken 

 up with various papers, chiefly on Light — " On the Colours 

 of Thick Plates " ; "Ona New Elliptic Analyser " ; " On the 

 Conduction of Heat in Crystals"; "On the Total Intensity 

 of Interfering Light"; On the Composition and Resolution of 

 Streams of Polarised Light from different Sources," and " On the 

 Change of Pefrangibility of Light." 



In the prefatory note to this volume, the author explains the 

 reason of the long delay in its publication. It had been his 

 intention to enter on " some rather elaborate and in part laborious 

 calculations bearing on two of the papers which appear in the 

 present volume." This intention had, unfortunately, to be 

 aban doued, and the papers referred to appear in their original 

 form. 



