Cambridge Readings in the Literature of Science
Being Extracts from the Writings of Men of Science to Illustrate the Development of Scientific Thought

This 1928 second edition of a 1924 original presents a series of extracts illustrating the development of scientific thought.

William Cecil Dampier Dampier-Whetham (Edited by), Margaret Dampier-Whetham (Edited by)

9781107689220, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 March 2013

302 pages
20.3 x 12.7 x 1.7 cm, 0.33 kg

First published in 1928, as the second edition of a 1924 original, this book presents a series of extracts illustrating the development of scientific thought. The text is divided into three sections: 'Cosmogony', 'The Atomic Theory', and 'The Theory of Evolution'. Within each section the extracts run chronologically, revealing the development of the subject in the thought of succeeding ages. Illustrative figures are also included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of science.

Preface
Part I. Cosmogony: 1. The book of genesis
2. Aristotle
3. Aristarchus and Archimedes
4. Copernicus
5. Galileo Gallilei
6. Newton
7. Laplace
8. Foucault, Stokes, Bunsen and Kirchhoff
9. Einstein, Minkowski, Eddington. Relativity
Part II. Atomic Theory: 10. Lucretius
11. Alchemy the parent of chemistry
12. Lavoisier and the rise of modern chemistry
13. Chemistry and the atomic theory
14. The combination of gases
15. Atoms and molecules
16. The periodic law
17. Electrochemistry
18. The ionic dicclocation theory
19. The electric properties of gases and the discovery of particles smaller than chemical atoms
20. Positive rays and isotopes
21. The nature of x-rays and the discovery of atomic numbers
22. Radio-activity and the structure of the atom
Part III. The Theory of Evolution: 23. Aristotle
24. The dark ages: Pliny
25. Mediaeval allegories: physiologus
26. Hooke: an early microscopist
27. Species: the Linnaean system of classification
28. New theories of evolution: Lamarck
29. Evolution in geology: Lyell
30. Organic chemistry: Wöhler
31. Pasteur and the question of spontaneous generation
32. The origin of species
33. The laws of heredity: Mendel
34. The chromosome theory of heredity
35. Present progress
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]