(1) Astronomical Thought in Renaissance England: (2) Johannes Kepler Gesammelte Werke (3) Œruvres complètes de Christiaan Huygens

Abstract

THE Middle Ages in England were buried in Bosworth Field. Science in the next two centuries culminates in the age of Newton. Here are parts of the work of two outstanding figures in the second half of that period. The other book which comes under review covers the greater part of the longer interval of time. Perhaps a happier choice might have been found in the limits of the Tudor period itself. The scientific spirit of the seventeenth century is visibly different from that which had prevailed upto the closing years of the sixteenth. It is often startlingly modern. But Mr. Johnson's choice helps, sometimes unconsciously, to lay stress on this contrast.

(1) Astronomical Thought in Renaissance England:

a Study of the English Scientific Writings from 1500 to 1645. By Francis R. Johnson. Pp. xv + 357. (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins Press ; London: Oxford University Press, 1937.) 15s. net.

(2) Johannes Kepler Gesammelte Werke

Herausgegeben im Auftrag der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft und der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, unter der Leitung von Walther von Dyck und Max Caspar. Band 3: Astronomia Nova. Herausgegeben von Max Caspar. Pp. 487. (München: C. H. Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1937.) 12 gold marks.

(3) Œuvres complètes de Christiaan Huygens

Publiées par la Société Hollandaise des Sciences. Tome 19: Mécanique théorique et physique de 1666 à 1695 ; Huygens à I'Académie Royale des Sciences. Pp. iii + 688 + 6 plates, (La Haye: Martinus Nijhofif, 1937.)