A Dictionary of Applied Physics

Abstract

IT is interesting to compare the second volume of Sir Richard Glazebrook's “Dictionary of Applied Physics”with the electrical portions of older dictionaries. For example, in Barlow's “Dictionary of Pure and Applied Mathematics”(1814) it is said that “the science of electricity became a general subject of conversation “after the discovery of the” Leyden Vial. “In Nichol's” Cyclopoedia of the Physical Sciences “(1866) we learn that electrical science “has spoken for itself to the world as no other has.” “Witness the simultaneous discovery of the Leyden Phial and the Electric shock.” Three practical applications of electricity are given, namely, the lightning-conductor, the electric telegraph, and electroplating. The last is specially commended as being “so conducive to the comforts and elegancies of life.” An examination of the volume under review will show how greatly our knowledge has been widened during the last sixty years. We were sorry, however, not to have seen the “Leyden Jar” mentioned.

A Dictionary of Applied Physics.

Edited by Sir Richard Glazebrook. Vol. II. Electricity. Pp. vii + 1104. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1922.) 63s. net.