Miscellaneous Scientific Papers by W. J. Macquorn Rankine, C.E., LL.D., F.R.S., late Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics in the University of Glasgow

Abstract

THE volume before us contains thirty-seven papers of rare scientific interest written by the late Prof. Rankine, who died now eight years ago. As to the cause of this long interval the Editor gives us no hint, nor is there anything in the volume to explain it. All the papers are reprints, without note or comment, except such as is contained in the concise but extremely graceful Memoir. These papers are not by any means all Rankine's original works. They are principally those relating to Thermodynamics and Hydrodynamics. There are however two important papers on the latter subject which are not contained in the volume (“On Stream Lines,” Philosophical Magazine, 1865; “On the Mathecal Theory of Stream Lines,” Phil. Trans. Royal Society, 1871). These can hardly have been omitted by design, as in the very last paper contained in the volume the author resumes the subject, directing attention to his paper of 1865, while the paper of 1871 is the most general and important paper Rankine wrote on this subject, besides being his last work.

Miscellaneous Scientific Papers by W. J. Macquorn Rankine, C.E., LL.D., F.R.S., late Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics in the University of Glasgow.

From the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal and other Scientific and Philosophical Societies and the Scientific Journals. With a Memoir of the Author by P. G. Tait., Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. Edited by W. J. Millar, C.E., Secretary to the Institute of Shipbuilders in Scotland. With Portrait, Plates, and Diagrams. (London: Charles Griffin and Co., 1881.)