Elements of Electromagnetic Theory

Abstract

MODERN electromagnetic theory is so full of interest, and yet at the same time so full of difficulties, that every fresh attempt to present an elementary account of it in a systematic and connected form is sure to attract the attention of students who are endeavouring to gain a grasp of the fundamental principles of the subject. Such students are always looking out for a “good textbook,” hoping that this book, when found, will be better adapted to their needs than those they already possess. Their desire for something better probably arises, in part, from the difficulty of the subject, and the large number of new ideas which it presents to their minds. It is perhaps too much to expect that a student should be able to gain from any single book really vivid physical conceptions of electric and magnetic phenomena and principles, for perhaps, after all, these can only gradually grow in the mind. The author of the treatise under review has, it is clear, made a serious attempt to supply the student's want, so far, at least, as the more formal theory is concerned.

Elements of Electromagnetic Theory.

By S. J. Barnett Pp. 480. (New York: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1903.) Price 12s. 6d. net.