Abstract
THIS small text-book contains practically a condensed account of all the leading points in hydrostatics which are usually included in an elementary course, accompanied by an unusually large number of exercises. It makes no attempt at exhaustive treatment, and is rather intended for those studying the subject with tutorial aid. We are sorry to see that the author has gone on the old lines in the dual interpretation of “pressure” as thrust, and also as thrust per unit area, and we should have liked to have seen the notion of “whole pressure” kept in the background, and greater emphasis laid on the use of the formula for the same in obtaining the resultant thrust on a plane area. The familiar figure of the air condenser with the valves resting in their usual impossible upside-down position is here once more reproduced. We like the author's simple treatment of centres of pressure as being instructive and useful to beginners, despite the objections that mathematicians may raise against its validity. For the points which we have criticised, the fault probably lies not so much with the author as with the examinations for which it is his purpose to prepare candidates, and we think that the book will be of great value to all students whose limited time prevents their reading a large treatise.
Elementary Hydrostatics.
By Charles Morgan Pp. 106. (London: Rivingtons, 1899.)
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B., G. Elementary Hydrostatics. Nature 59, 414 (1899). https://doi.org/10.1038/059414a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/059414a0