Reading in the Literature of Science Being extracts from the writing of men of science to illustrate the development of scientific thought

THE BOOK OF GENESIS. CH. I and CH. II, vv. 1-3 I
ARISTOTLE . . 3
Ön the Heavens. Extracts based on a translation 4
ARISTARCHUS AND ARCHIMEDES . . . 7
Jristarchus on the Sizes and Distances of the Sun and
Moon. Extract . . . . . 7
From Aristarchus of Samos, by Sir Thomas Heath. By per-
mission of the Delegates of the Clarendon Press.
.irchimedes. The Sand-Reckoner. Extract . . 8
From The Works of Archimedes, edited by Sir Thomas Heath.
Cambridge University Press.
COPERNICUS . 10
De Revolutionibus Orbium Celestium. Lib. I, Cap. VIII
and x . I I
GALILEO GALILEI . . . 14.
The Sidereal Messenger. Extracts . 15
From The Sidereal Messenger of Galileo Galilei, translated by
E. S. Carlos. x880. By permission of the translator.
NEWTON . . . . . 31
The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.
Extract from a translation . . . . 31
The System of the World. Extract from a translation 33
LAPLACE . . . . . . 43
The System of the World. Extracts from a translation 44
FOUCAULT, STOKES, BUNSEN AND KIRCHHOFF . 50
Extracts relating to the Early History of Spectrum
Jinalysis . . 51
From the Philosophical Magazin, xxx (x86o), pp. 196-7. By
permission of the Editors.


viii CONTENTS
EINSTEIN, MINKOWSKI, EDDINGTON. Relativity 55
Space, Time and Gravitation. CH. VI . 57
From Space, Time and Gravitation, by A. S. Eddington.
Cambridge University Press.

II. THE ATOMIC THEORY
LUCRETIUS 69
De Rerum Natura. Extracts from a translation of
Bk. . 70
ALCHEMY THE PARENT OF CHEMISTRY 74.
Paracelsus: The Coelum Philosophorum. Extracts . 75
From Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, trans-
lated by A. E. Waite. By permission of the translator.
LAVOISIER AND THE RISE OF MODERN CHEMISTRY . 83
Works of Lavoisier. Extracts from Memoirs . . 84.
CHEMISTRY AND THE ATOMIC THEORY . 93
Dalton: .cl New System of Chemical Philosophy.
Part r, Chs. II and m . . 93
THE COMBINATION OF GASES . . I00
Gay-Lussac: Mernoir on the combination of Gaseous
Substances with each other . . . . 100
From an Alembic Club Reprint. By permission of the Club.
ATOMS AND MOLECULES . . . . . . 105
Avogadro: Essay on a manner of determining the rela-
tíve Masses of the Elementary Molecules of Bodies,
and the Proportions in which they enter into these
Compounds . . . . . . . 106
From an Alembic Club Reprint. By permission of the Club.
THE PERIODIC LAW . . . . I I2
Mendeleeff: The Periodic Law of the Chemical
Elements . . . . . . I I3
By permission of the Fellows of the Chemical Society.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY . . . . 118
Faraday: Ön Electrochemical Decomposition. Extracts 118


•

CONTENTS ix

THE IONIC DISSOCIATION THEORY . . . . 127
Arrhenius: Ön the Dissociation of Substances dissolved
in fater . . . . . . • I27
From the translation by H. C. Jones. Harper's Scientc
Memoirs, 1v (1899).
THE ELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF GASES AND THE DIS-
COVERY OF PARTICLES SMALLER THAN CHEMICAL
ATOMS . . . . . 132
Sir J. J. Thomson: Cathode Rays . . . 132
From the Philosophical Magazine, v. 44 (z897), pp. 293 ff. By
permission of the Editors.
POSITIVE RAYS AND ISOTOPES . . . . 14+
F. W. Aston: Isotopes and Átomic Weights . . i+5
From Nature, 105, pp. 617 ff. By permission of the Editor.
THE NATURE OF X-RAYS AND THE DISCOVERY OF
ATOMIC NUMBERS . . . . . . 149
H. G. J. Moseley: The High Frequency Spectra of
the Elements . . . . . . . 150
From the Philosophical Magazine, VI. 26 (1913), pp. 1024 ff.;
la. 27 (1914), pp. 703 ff. By permission of the Editors.
RADIO-ACTIVITY AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE ATOM . 160
Sir Ernest Rutherford: The Stability of Átoms . 161
Abridged Report of a Lecture delivered before the Physical
Society, 5925. By permission of the author.

III. THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION
ARISTOTLE . 167
Historia 1lrzimalium, Bk. vm, I . 168
De Generatione Ánimalium, Bk. III, II . 170
From The Works of Aristotle, translated into English u• nder
the editorship of J. A. Smith and W. D. Ross. By per-
mission of the Delegates of the Clarendon Press.
THE DARK AGES: PLINY 171
The History of the World. Extracts from a• translation 172
MEDIAEVAL ALLEGORIES: PHYSIOLOGUS . 179
Physiologus of Leyden. Ch. I . . . . 179
From the translation by P. N. Laud. 1875. By permission of
E. J. Brill, Leiden.


x CONTENTS
HOOKE: AN EARLY MICROSCOPIST . 181
Micro,graphia. Observ. XLIII . 181
SPECIES: THE LINNAEAN SYSTEM OF CLASSIFICATION . 187
Linnaeus: The Families of Plants. Extracts i88
NEW THEORIES OF EVOLUTION: LAMARCK 195
Philosophie Zoologique. Chs. m and VII . . 195
From Zoological Philosophy, translated by Hugh S. Elliot. By
permission of Macmillan and Co., Ltd.
EVOLUTION IN GEOLOGY: LYELL . 206
Principles in Geology. Vol. m, Ch. I 207
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY: WÖHLER . 213
Ön the Ártificial Production of Urea 213
PASTEUR AND THE OUESTION OF SPONTANEOUS GENERA-
TION . . . . . . . 216
Memoir on the Organised Corpuscles which exist in
the Átmosphere. Extracts . 217
THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES . . . 229
Malthus: Án Essay on the Principle of Population.
Extract . . . . . . 230
Darwin: The Origin of Species. Extracts 232
„ The Descent of Man. Extracts . 240
By permission of Sir Francis Darwin and Mr John Murray.
THE LAWS OF HEREDITY: MENDEL . . 247
Experiments in Plant-Hybridisation. Extracts. 247
From Mendel's Principles of Heredir, by W. Bateson. Cam-
bridge University Press.
THE CHROMOSOME THEORY OF HEREDITY . . 262
T. H. Morgan: The Mechanism of Mendelian
Heredity. Ch. I . . . 263
By permission of Constable and Co., Ltd.
PRESENT PROGRESS . . . 267
Bergson: Creative Evolution. Introduction . . 268
From Creative Evolution, translated by Arthur Mitchell. By
permission of Macmillan and Co., Ltd.
INDEX . . . 271