PREFACE N arranging a book of extracts from the writings of IN men of science, two methods are possible. Passages may be chosen for their intrinsic interest or for their importance in the history of knowledge, but isolated from the less outstanding work that led up to and followed them. On the other hand, extracts may be taken to illustrate the development of definite subjects in the thought of succeeding ages. This volume is planned on the second method to tell a connected story. We have picked out as threads on which to string our anthology of science the ideas of mankind on three problems of transcending importance: (1) the structure of the universe-cosmogony; (2) the nature of matter-atomic theories; (3) the development of life-evolution. Along these three lines we try to trace the thoughts of man from the inspired poetry of the Book of Genesis to the latest revelations of the telescope and the laboratory. CAMBRIDGE, 582142 W.C.D.W. M.D.W. CONTENTS THE BOOK OF GENESIS. CH. I and CH. II, VV. I-3 On the Heavens. Extracts based on a translation From Aristarchus of Samos, by Sir Thomas Heath. By per- From The Works of Archimedes, edited by Sir Thomas Heath. Cambridge University Press. The Sidereal Messenger. Extracts From The Sidereal Messenger of Galileo Galilei, translated by E. S. Carlos. 1880. By permission of the translator. The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. The System of the World. Extract from a translation The System of the World. Extracts from a translation FOUCAULT, STOKES, Bunsen and KIRCHHOFF From the Philosophical Magazine, XIX (1860), pp. 196-7. By permission of the Editors. ΙΟ De Rerum Natura. Extracts from a translation of ALCHEMY THE PARENT OF CHEMISTRY Paracelsus: The Coelum Philosophorum. Extracts From Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus, trans- lated by A. E. Waite. By permission of the translator. LAVOISIER AND THE RISE OF MODERN CHEMISTRY Gay-Lussac: Memoir on the combination of Gaseous From an Alembic Club Reprint. By permission of the Club. Avogadro: Essay on a manner of determining the rela- tive Masses of the Elementary Molecules of Bodies, From an Alembic Club Reprint. By permission of the Club. Mendeleeff: The Periodic Law of the Chemical By permission of the Fellows of the Chemical Society. 105 |