(1) The Principles of Physical Optics: an Historical and Philosophical Treatment (2) Handbuch der biologischen Arbeitsmethoden

Abstract

(1) ACERTAIN philosopher once said, “Learn the past, so that you may know the future”; but history appeals very differently to different minds; one sees in it a subject satisfying in itself, while to another the past is dead save in so far as it yields lessons for present and coming days. Prof. Ernst Mach's “Principles of Physical Opticsae is bound to make a wide appeal to the many who cannot find much time to go back to the original authors of optical theory and practice, though it must be noted that the matters treated do not extend to the more contentious topics of the present day, such as the nature of light, the problem of the ether, the quantum theory, and so on; they are confined to those older parts of the subject which are adequately treated on the basis of the undulatory theory of light. (1) The Principles of Physical Optics: an Historical and Philosophical Treatment. By Ernst Mach. Translated by Dr. John S. Anderson and Dr. A. F. A. Young. Pp. xi + 324 + 10 plates. (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1926.) 21s. net. (2) Handbuch der biologischen Arbeitsmethoden. Herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Emil Abderhalden. Lieferung 187. Abt. 2: Physikalische Methoden, Teil 2, Heft 1. Das Interferometer, seine Anwendung zur Untersuchung von Gasen und Flussigkeiten, von Paul Hirsch; Ultramikroskopie, von Marie Anna Schirmann; Refraktometrie, von Heinrich Kessler. Pp. 737–906. (Berlin und Wien: Urban und Schwarzenberg, 1926.) 7.50 gold marks.