580 Scientific Intelligence. 



as one of those workers in the fields of science who are unappre- 

 ciated by their contemporaries, and who labor under the delusion 

 that a conspiracy against thern exists among the representatives of 

 " official science." An account is given of his theories and dis- 

 coveries and the way in which they have been first neglected by 

 others and later appropriated without his receiving credit. The 

 book belongs to a class which is not unknown in the history of 

 science. h. a. b. 



15. Experimental Electricity ; by G-. F. C. Searle. Pp. 

 xvi+183. Cambridge, 1908 (University Press). — Mr. Searle's 

 unusual ability as a teacher of laboratory physics has long been 

 recognized by those who have known of his work at Cambridge, 

 or who have used the simple and accurate apparatus which 

 he has designed. A series of laboratory manuals from his pen 

 will undoubtedly be of service to teachers, and one is glad to 

 learn from the preface that the present volume is to be followed 

 shortly by another on Experimental Optics, and that volumes 

 are planned, to deal with Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, 

 and Heat and Sound. h. a. b. 



16. The New Physics and its Evolution ; by Lttcien Poix- 

 care. Pp. xv + 344. New York, 1908 (D. Appleton & Co. 

 International Scientific Series). — This is an unusually good 

 presentation of the recent progress in physics, and of the con- 

 nection between modern theories and those of an earlier date. 

 Although it is necessarily much condensed, it betrays few of the 

 ordinary faults of condensation ; one paragraph follows another 

 smoothly and logically without appearance of haste, and with the 

 clearness that is characteristic of French writers. The knowledge 

 of the author is obviously very extensive and nearly always 

 accurate, and his appreciation of historical perspective is admir- 

 able. The translation, however, is not above criticism. French 

 phrases are often translated literally with amusing results, as on 

 p. 192, where the Peststrahlen of Rubens and Nichols are spoken 

 of as " the waves which remain." The notes by the editor of the 

 English version are by no means up to the standard of the text. 

 They are sometimes entirely wrong, as on pages 24 and 178; 

 others give a quite erroneous impression as to the significance of 

 the facts stated, as on pp. 172 and 311. These are, however, 

 small defects in a very good book, and the author is evidently not 

 responsible for them. h. a. b. 



1 7. The Principles of Mechanics ; by Henry Crew. Pp. x + 295, 

 with 110 figures. New York, 1908 (Longmans, Green & Co.). — 

 This text-book is especially intended for students of physics and 

 engineering, who have had a first-year course in physics and in the 

 elements of the calculus. Like Professor Crew's other text-books, 

 it is admirably adapted to the use for which it is designed. It is 

 simple, straightforward and logical, but without making a fetich 

 of logic ; and the student is kept in close touch with the realities 

 of the laboratory and of ordinary life. The constant use of 

 the useful analogy between problems of translation and of 



