Abstract
THE following notes were completed about fifteen years ago for a purpose not now likely to be fulfilled. They seem worthy of publication because the early history of the subject, which is to be found in Clerk Maxwell's essay on “Capillary Action”1 and is based upon a report made by Challis to the British Association in 1834, seems to be wrong in material points. Challis does less than justice to the eighteenth-century philosophers.
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References
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Leslie, Tilloch's Phil. Mag., vol. 14, p. 194, 1802. This academy was perhaps the first such body devoted to natural science, though it is stated by Vasari and others that da Vinci founded one at Milan. It was active in Florence during the years 1657–67, and deserves remembrance for the quality of its work.
Journal des Sçavans (Amsterdam), November 1768, p. 74.
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E.g. Hooke.
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Ibid., vols. 8 and 9, 1736–37.
E.g. Paulian, "Traité de paix entre Newton et Descartes" vol. 3, p. 119; Gerdil, "qni a fait un Livre tout entier contre l'attraction des Tubes Capillaires"; Abat and others. Mairan, who explained cohesion as being due to electrical action, etc.
Journal des Sçavans (Amsterdam), vol. 35, November 1768, p. 75. De la Lande, in his system of astronomy, incorrectly refers his own paper to the October number.
He used la méthode du Docteur Taylor [Brooke Taylor] qui, par le choix des matières employées, peut servir à faire connoître que l'attraction que les Chymistes nomment affinité a nécessairement quelque part à cette adhésion, Jour. de Physique, vol. 1, p. 172, 1773.
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Tilloch's Phil. Mag., vol. 14, p. 193, 1802.
Phil. Trans., 1805.
Cf. the sentence, pregnant with personal character, which closes the essay of 1804.
Lecture 49 of the "Natural Philosophy," the preface date being 1807; p. 471 of the edition of 1845.
Rayleigh, Phil. Mag., vol. 30, 1890, p. 285.
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HARDY, W. Historical Notes upon Surface Energy and Forces of Short Range. Nature 109, 375–378 (1922). https://doi.org/10.1038/109375a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/109375a0