Theoretical Hydrodynamics

Abstract

THERE has been a flood of books on the A theory of the motion of fluids within the past few years. Some are good and others are not so good. Seventy-nine years ago, Besant published his “Treatise on Hydromechanics” in one volume, and in Great Britain the book remained as the authority on the subject for twenty years. Then in 1879 Lamb published his “Treatise on the Mathematical Theory of the Motion of Fluids”, and in 1888 Basset produced his two volumes on “Hydrodynamics”. The subject kept on growing, and in 1912 Ramsey, after having spent eight years on the project, published his “Hydrodynamics”. By this time Lamb had brought out three successively enlarged editions of his book, renaming it “Hydrodynamics”, and was more than half-way through a revision of the subject prior to bringing out a fourth edition. So the race went on, and the problem was how to keep abreast of research, research which was altering vitally general ideas on the subject. By 1932 Lamb had passed through six editions and was universally recognized as the authority. Ramsey's book was generally accepted as the most useful introduction to Lamb, and in 1935 it appeared in its fourth enlarged edition.

Theoretical Hydrodynamics

By Prof. L. M. Milne-Thomson. Pp. xxii+552+4 plates. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1938.) 31s. 6d. net.