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A source book in Greek science
178
LIBRARY NOTES.
[J. F. I.
The material in Professor Smith's chapters on modern physics is good, but there is too much of it. To make room for it too little of the old material has been eliminated. The expedient of relegating many of ihe derivations to a n appendix where few students will ever study them cannot be recommended. Such weight as this procedure saves is insignificant. A policy of removing all unessentials, strictly carried out, would result in the elimination of all tables and appendices as well as the chapter on Astrophysics, fascinating as that is, thereby saving forty pages. Another sixty pages would have to be eliminated piecemeal rather than en bloc. I t is almost impossible to revise a text-book without making a slip here and there, such as mentioning a beta-particle 140 pages before telling what such a particle is; or mentioning magnetic susceptibility without ever defining the term. Figure 443 shows the lines of force between like charges and not between unlike charges as stated. Figure 421 shows a Taylor Instrument Company wet- and dry-bulb hygrometer upside down! FREDERIC PALMER. A SOURCE BOOK IN GREEK SCIENCE, by Morris R. Cohen and I. E. Drabkin. 579 pages, 16 )< 23 cm., drawings. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1948. Price, $9.00. The series of "Source Books in the History of the Sciences," under the general editorship of Dr. Gregory D. Walcott, comprises volumes which are notable contributions to the history of astronomy, mathematics, physics, and geology. Each has dealt with an individual field of science and has been restricted to selections from those writers who are generally credited with having laid the foundations of modern science. The l a t e s t addition to the series, in which I. E. Drabkin and the late Morris Cohen t r e a t with Greek science, attains the high standard set by its predecessors. The purpose of the volume was to correct the common assumption t h a t natural science had its origin in the seventeenth century~ Anyone who wishes to know (and all science students should have that wish) what a Greek philosopher said, and not what some scholar says he said, should cherish this volume of selections in translation from the riches of the legacy left by the Greeks. All the separate streams of knowledge in the ancient world converged on Greece where they were filtered, purified, and turned into more profitable channels by the genius of the race which was first in Europe to arise from obscurity. The Greeks introduced the practice of using argument deliberately as an instrument for discovering the truth. Basing their argument on truths already established, they carried it forward on sound methods of reasoning to a logical conclusion, however unwelcome or unexpected it nfight be. For this they have long been honored. But it is not so generally understood that they were keen observers and intelligent experimenters. Indeed, they have been accused of neglecting experiment, an accusation which is not sustained by the generous number of selections offered in this volume. There are some outstanding histories of Greek science but none can convey an adequate picture of the field unless the reader sees something of the original sources upon which the historian relies. Although special fields, like astronomy, botany, and mathematics have been well treated, the reader with more general interests has been compelled to search for source material in various books, not all of which are easily accessible. For the first time we have in English a generous selection of the fundamental passages from Greek and L a t i n sources conveniently brought together. Some of these appear in English for the first time. The selections cover ideas in mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, physiography, geography, biology, medicine, and physiological psychology. Tfae editorial work will meet with nothing but approval. In order to assist the reader to evaluate the historical significance of the selections, the editors have furnished brief introductory comments to each science, and copious explanatory notes and bibliographies. The book should be open on the knee whenever the student is seeking enlightenment on the g r o w t h of one of the sciences with which it treats. T.C.
LIBRARY NOTES.
[J. F. I.
The material in Professor Smith's chapters on modern physics is good, but there is too much of it. To make room for it too little of the old material has been eliminated. The expedient of relegating many of ihe derivations to a n appendix where few students will ever study them cannot be recommended. Such weight as this procedure saves is insignificant. A policy of removing all unessentials, strictly carried out, would result in the elimination of all tables and appendices as well as the chapter on Astrophysics, fascinating as that is, thereby saving forty pages. Another sixty pages would have to be eliminated piecemeal rather than en bloc. I t is almost impossible to revise a text-book without making a slip here and there, such as mentioning a beta-particle 140 pages before telling what such a particle is; or mentioning magnetic susceptibility without ever defining the term. Figure 443 shows the lines of force between like charges and not between unlike charges as stated. Figure 421 shows a Taylor Instrument Company wet- and dry-bulb hygrometer upside down! FREDERIC PALMER. A SOURCE BOOK IN GREEK SCIENCE, by Morris R. Cohen and I. E. Drabkin. 579 pages, 16 )< 23 cm., drawings. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1948. Price, $9.00. The series of "Source Books in the History of the Sciences," under the general editorship of Dr. Gregory D. Walcott, comprises volumes which are notable contributions to the history of astronomy, mathematics, physics, and geology. Each has dealt with an individual field of science and has been restricted to selections from those writers who are generally credited with having laid the foundations of modern science. The l a t e s t addition to the series, in which I. E. Drabkin and the late Morris Cohen t r e a t with Greek science, attains the high standard set by its predecessors. The purpose of the volume was to correct the common assumption t h a t natural science had its origin in the seventeenth century~ Anyone who wishes to know (and all science students should have that wish) what a Greek philosopher said, and not what some scholar says he said, should cherish this volume of selections in translation from the riches of the legacy left by the Greeks. All the separate streams of knowledge in the ancient world converged on Greece where they were filtered, purified, and turned into more profitable channels by the genius of the race which was first in Europe to arise from obscurity. The Greeks introduced the practice of using argument deliberately as an instrument for discovering the truth. Basing their argument on truths already established, they carried it forward on sound methods of reasoning to a logical conclusion, however unwelcome or unexpected it nfight be. For this they have long been honored. But it is not so generally understood that they were keen observers and intelligent experimenters. Indeed, they have been accused of neglecting experiment, an accusation which is not sustained by the generous number of selections offered in this volume. There are some outstanding histories of Greek science but none can convey an adequate picture of the field unless the reader sees something of the original sources upon which the historian relies. Although special fields, like astronomy, botany, and mathematics have been well treated, the reader with more general interests has been compelled to search for source material in various books, not all of which are easily accessible. For the first time we have in English a generous selection of the fundamental passages from Greek and L a t i n sources conveniently brought together. Some of these appear in English for the first time. The selections cover ideas in mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, physiography, geography, biology, medicine, and physiological psychology. Tfae editorial work will meet with nothing but approval. In order to assist the reader to evaluate the historical significance of the selections, the editors have furnished brief introductory comments to each science, and copious explanatory notes and bibliographies. The book should be open on the knee whenever the student is seeking enlightenment on the g r o w t h of one of the sciences with which it treats. T.C.