Old Trades and New Knowledge: Six Lectures delivered before a ‘Juvenile Auditory’ at the Royal Institution, Christmas 1925

Abstract

THE publication of Sir William Bragg's lectures to a ‘juvenile auditory’ at Christmas 1925 will enable a much larger audience than could be accommodated in the historic Albemarle Street theatre to enjoy what he has to say on the application of modern scientific discovery to the study of practical problems. Our earliest inventors are known only by their works, but just as it is one of the aims of the archeologist to inform us of the social habits of past races, so the scientific investigator finds it worth while to attempt to explain the technique used in age-long industries. By so doing he not only shows us the why and wherefore of processes evolved by centuries of patient groping and accidental discoveries, but also at the same time lays bare the fundamental principles on which future improvements depend. Through the ages men have gradually learnt to smelt, cast, forge, harden, temper, spin, weave, dye, fashion, fire, and glaze, producing utensils, implements, tools, weapons, garments, and ornaments, but never before has it been possible to unfold the laws on which such operations depend for their success.

Old Trades and New Knowledge: Six Lectures delivered before a Juvenile Auditory at the Royal Institution, Christmas 1925.

By Sir William Bragg. Pp. xii + 266 + 42 plates. (London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1926.) 8s. net.