Abstract
THE Americans are more fortunate than ourselves in possessing a Year-Book of Science edited by a scientific man whose name is a guarantee for the accuracy and value of its contents. The various items of information are arranged under thirteen heads, viz. (1) Mathematics and Astronomy; (2) Terrestrial Physics and Meteorology; (3) Electricity, Light, Heat, and Sound; (4) Chemistry and Metallurgy; (5) Geology and Mineralogy; (6) Geography; (7) General Natural History and Zoology; (8) Botany and Horticulture; (9) Agriculture and Rural Economy; (10) Mechanics and Engineering; (11) Technology; (12) Materia Medica, Therapeutics, and Hygiene; and (13)—a very small one—Miscellaneous, with a very brief Necrology appended. To each paragraph is added the indispensable reference to the authority. Prof. Baird's position as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington has given him unusual facility for consulting all the leading magazines, and other scientific publications of Great Britain, France, Germany, Holland, and America, of which he has availed himself to the full. An account of the discoveries made in Italy, Sweden, Russia, and other countries of Europe, some of which are daily rising into more and more importance, has been obtained only second-hand. The whole is prefixed by a general Summary of Scientific and Industrial Progress for the year 1871, occupying sixteen pages, wherein the more noteworthy incidents in each department of science are briefly chronicled. The work is the result of great labour; and, as far as we have been able to test it, presents a very fair and accurate record of the progress of science during the year. To those who desire to possess such a record for handy reference, we can confidently recommend Prof. Baird's Year-Book as the best and most complete work in the language, and decidedly preferable to anything published in this country.
Annual Record of Science and Industry for 1871.
Edited by Spencer F. Baird, with the assistance of eminent men of science. (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1872.)
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Annual Record of Science and Industry for 1871. Nature 6, 260 (1872). https://doi.org/10.1038/006260a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/006260a0