Theory of Electrodynamics

Abstract

ELECTRICITY and magnetism, like mechanics, being a subject of great importance and interest, both practical and theoretical, is widely taught. Even more than mechanics it offers scope for a variety of treatment in teaching, and because many teachers have felt that their particular methods are of general interest, the number of text-books and treatises on electricity and magnetism is considerable and ever increasing. Apart from the distinctive views of different teachers, there is need for a variety of treatments, because of the varied needs, outlook and equipment of different types of student. In time a consensus of opinion on the best methods appropriate to each type of student may be arrived at; the good features of groups of good books of similar typ and scope may then be combined, by some future Euclids of the subject, in single volumes replacing the present books in each group. But the time for this has certainly not yet come; there remain great differences of opinion as to some parts of the theory, even on apparently elementary points; still further distant is the time when a best mode of transition from the classical to the quantum theory will be generally agreed upon. Many new essays of exposition must be made before the presentation of the higher parts of the subject attains relative stability and uniformity.

Electrodynamics

By Prof. Leigh Page Prof. Norman Ilsley Adams Jr. Pp. xii + 506. (New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 1940). 6.50 dollars.