Abstract
IN the second edition of this well-known book, the author explains that he has found with regret that certain passages in the original book were liable to be misunderstood, misinterpreted, and even misquoted, in various unexpected ways. He has expunged some of these passages and re-written or amplified others. Here and there new paragraphs, occasionally even whole passages, have been added in the hope of making the argument clearer. The main line of thought, however, is unchanged, and needs no comment. The opportunity has also been taken of correcting certain misprints and errors in the first edition. It is a pity that this was not carried out more thoroughly. We still have, for example, the ambiguous this “on p. 38, line 11; the miscalculation on p. 84; the singular noun and plural verb at the top of p. 134; and the statement (p. 49) that Maxwell had shewn “(instead of predicted) and Lebedew had measured” (instead of observed) the pressure of radiation. One of the newly introduced paragraphs, in fact, contains the misstatement (p. 119) that Kepler believed in the truth of his five solids “law for one brief moment”. Criticism of details to the neglect of the whole is admittedly reprehensible, but insufficient care in verifying details, especially in a second edition, is nevertheless to be regretted. The paper and printing of the new edition are in no way inferior to those of the old, despite the reduction in price.
The Mysterious Universe.
Sir
James
Jeans
By. Second edition. Pp. ix + 142 + 2 plates. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1931.) 2s. net.
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The Mysterious Universe . Nature 130, 8 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130008b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130008b0