(1) A Manual of Physics (2) Elements of Physics

Abstract

STUDENTS of medicine are apt to regard physics as a subject outside the range of their medical studies, a subject imposed upon them by certain grandmotherly examining authorities, to be forgotten as soon as the examination is over. Teachers of physics have to contend not only with this attitude of mind, but also with the fact that writers of physical text-books for the most part show but little evidence of sympathy with the medical applications of their subject. The ideal text-book for medical students would be written by a trained physicist who has specialised in medical work and is imbued with the spirit of research in physics as applied to medicine. Instead of studying the common steelyard, the medical student might then find the principle of the lever illustrated in the human frame, and instead of having to wade through a chapter on terrestrial magnetism, he might be given further information on the subject of meteorological physics and the conditions determining climate. He might even learn something as to electric oscillations applied in high-frequency treatment, or as to the use of a saccharimeter. Both the volumes under review claim to meet the needs of first-year medical students; but the ideal book on physics for such students has yet to be written.

(1) A Manual of Physics.

By Dr. J. A. Crowther. Pp. xx + 537. (London: Henry Frowde and Hodder and Stoughton, 1919.) Price 16s. net.

(2) Elements of Physics.

By Dr. R. A. Houstoun. Pp. viii + 221. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1919.) Price 6s. net.