Abstract
A FEW months ago it was announced that the Cambridge University Press intended to publish a series of science manuals, and since that time we have looked forward with pleasurable anticipation to the appearance of the works in the series. But expectations are rarely realised. The book before us is the first of the volumes devoted to physical science, and we are not strikingly impressed with it. Some books favourably force themselves upon one's notice by their originality of treatment or lucidity of expression, but Mr. Glazebrook's volume possesses neither of these characteristics to a noticeable degree. This is said at the risk of being considered hypercritical; but there are so very many ordinary books in existence, that we almost expect a new work to be different from its predecessors in order to justify its publication at all. However, though the book before us is not the best elementary class-book on heat, it is very good. The author has not confined himself to the experimental or to the theoretical side of his subject, but has happily combined the two, so that the book suits both the lecture-room and the physical laboratory. Another commendable feature is the statements of “sources of error” after the descriptions of some of the experiments. The illustrations are line-drawings, and though somewhat coarse, they possess the merit of being clear, and that is, perhaps, the chief desideratum of a book designed for use in our schools and colleges. These institutions will certainly benefit by adopting the book for their students.
Heat: an Elementary Text-Book, Theoretical and Practical, for Colleges and Schools.
By R. T. Glazebrook (Cambridge: University Press, 1894.)
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[Book Reviews]. Nature 49, 386 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/049386b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/049386b0