Das Weltgebäude—Eine gemeinverständliche Himmelskunde

Abstract

IN a very handsome volume, well written, well printed, and well illustrated, Dr. Meyer has given us the main results of astronomical observation. We may congratulate both the author and his readers on the oselection of the facts that has been made, and submitted to consideration. The arrangement of the material has evidently been the subject of much care and thought; but we cannot say that the final result commends itself entirely to our judgment. In a short preface, Dr. Meyer has intimated the general principles by which he has been guided in preparing his work. He has wished the reader to appreciate the grounds on which certain truths have been received, and not simply accept the assertions as an outcome of authoritative teaching. He admits that without mathematical symbols and analysis it may be difficult to offer direct proof in support of many statements; but by translating the results of mathematical deductions into the language of ordinary life, he thinks it possible to find an efficient substitu|e. It is not without a feeling of apprehension that one reads of threats of this kind. Efforts to reproduce mathematical results without the use of the necessary machinery generally prove wearisome to the mathematician, and unintelligible to the ordinary reader. But Dr. Meyer has not taken the matter too seriously, and even in his chapter on the Newtonian system avoids the perils of adhering too closely to his own principles.

Das Weltgebäude.—Eine gemeinverständliche Himmelskunde.

Von Dr. M. Wilhelm Meyer. Mit 287 Abbildungen im Text, 10 Karten, und 31 Tafeln, im Farbendruck, Heliogravure und Holzschnitt. (Leipzig und Wien: Bibliographisches Institut, 1898.)