The Tides and Kindred Phenomena in the Solar System

Abstract

THE first edition of this book appeared in 1898, and was reviewed in NATURE, vol. lix., p. 219. The work has since taken rank as a classic in its way, and has been translated into several languages. There is no need, therefore, to dwell at any length on its general character and purpose. It aims at giving, with as few technicalities as possible, a summary of the researches on tidal theory, and more especially on the theory of tidal evolution, which have been the principal occupation of the author's long scientific career. It would be misleading to describe it merely as a “popular” book, for it is a valuable guide even to experts who might otherwise be dismayed by the long and intricate calculations in which the original investigations necessarily abound. In this respect it may perhaps be compared with the celebrated “Exposition du Systeacute;me du Monde” which Laplace added as a supplement to the detailed work of the “Mécanique Céleste.” It is true that the subject-matter is in the present case more speculative, but the purpose is the same, and the execution not unworthy of the great exemplar.

The Tides and Kindred Phenomena in the Solar System.

The substance of lectures delivered in 1897 at the Lowell Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, by Sir G. H. Darwin. Third edition. Pp. xxiv + 437. (London: John Murray, 1911.) Price 7s. 6d. net.