A Treatise on Modern Physics:

Abstract

THERE are two chief ways of writing a book on modern physics. Either an attempt may be made to include every piece of work of any interest, with the aim of enabling the reader to find out what has been going on in every corner of the subject, or one may endeavour to pick out, from the enormous mass of material, really significant and important threads, which guide the advances of the present and immediate future, and rely on references to monographs and books on special branches of the subject to supplement a small chosen body of reference to original papers. The former is the method of the German ‘handbooks”, and necessitates the allotting of the work to many hands, and, almost inevitably, a lack of balance, proportion and uniformity. The second, and probably harder, method is more the English and American tradition, as exemplified, in different ways, by the “X-rays and Crystal Structure” of the Braggs and Richtmyer's “Introduction to Modern Physics”. It demands rigid selection, a strong critical sense, a personal style and, above all, a uniformity of treatment. This does not mean that all parts must necessarily be of the same standard of difficulty, but that a certain standard of equipment and accomplishment must be kept in mind as that of the supposed reader.

A Treatise on Modern Physics:

Atoms, Molecules and Nuclei.By Prof. M. N. Saha and N. K. Sana. Vol. 1. Pp. xii + 856 + 12 plates. (Allahabad and Calcutta: The Indian Press, Ltd., 1934.) 30s.