(1)Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony without Wires(2)A Text-book of Physics(3)Medizinische Physik(4)Principles of Thermodynamics

Abstract

(1) AT R. GIBSON'S book is a brightly written J.VX account of the development of wireless telegraphy, with just sufficient broadly popular explanations to give the ordinary reader the impression that he is understanding the nature of electricity and of electric waves. The historical sketch in chap, iv., in which the early suggestions and experiments of Steinheil, Morse (1844), Lindsay (1854), Trowbridge, and Preece (1882) find their due place, is very good reading, and the account of Lodge's syntonic jars and the improvements effected by Jackson, Righi, and Popoff brings out many points on which the ordinary man's memory has become somewhat hazy. Then comes Marconi's “antenna” and earthed apparatus, which increased the effectiveness of radiotelegraphy a hundredfold, and led to its most striking triumphs. From that time forward “wireless” and “Marconi” become almost synonymous among English speakers, but the German combination of the Braun-Siemens and Slaby-Arcs systems now known as the “Telefunken” system is allowed some space, and the American systems of de Forest and Fessenden, as also the Danish Poulsen system, are briefly described. A chapter on “telephoning without wires,” a chronological table, and a short glossary of terms conclude a pleasing and eminently readable volume.

(1) Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony without Wires.

By C. R. Gibson. Pp. 156. (London: Seeley, Service and Co., Ltd., 1914.) Price 2s. net.

(2) A Text-book of Physics.

By Dr. R. S. Willows. Pp. viii + 471. (London: Edward Arnold, n.d.) Price 7s. 6d. net.

(3) Medizinische Physik.

By Prof. Otto Fischer. Pp. xx + 1120. (Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1913.) Price 36 marks.

(4) Principles of Thermodynamics.

By Prof. G. A. Goodenough. Second edition, revised. Pp. xiv + 327. (London: Constable and Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 14s. net.