The Third Electrostatics of Maxwell

Duhem, Pierre Maurice Marie

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-18515-6_5

Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem²

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science ((BSPS,volume 314))

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Abstract

Duhem compares the second and third electrostatic theories of Maxwell, concluding with a comparison to the first theory.

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Notes

1.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Scientific Papers , vol. I, p. 561.
2.
J. Clerk Maxwell , On a Method of Making a Direct Comparison of Electrostatic with Electromagnetic Force: With a Note on the Electromagnetic Theory of Light (Read at the Royal Society of London on 18 June 1868. Philosophical Transactions, vol. Society of London on 18 June 1868. Philosophical Transactions, vol. CLVIII.— Scientific Papers , vol. II, p. 139).
3.
J. Clerk Maxwell , A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism ; Oxford, 1873, vol. I, p. 63.— Traité d’Électricité et de Magnétisme , translated from English in the 2nd edition, by G. Seligmann-Lui; Paris, 1885–1887; Volume I, p. 73 [65].—We will cite the Treatise of Maxwell according to the French translation whenever no changes have been made to the 1st English edition.
4.
Treatise \(\ldots \), vol. II, p. 287 [232].
5.
The comparison of the equalities (5.1) with equalities (4.4) shows that the quantity \(\frac{K}{4\pi }\) introduced here by Maxwell is what is designated by \(\frac{1}{K}\) in his memoir A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field .
6.
J. Clerk Maxwell , An Elementary Treatise on Electricity , edited by W. Garnett.— Traité élémentaire d’Électricité , translated from English by Gustave Richard. Paris 1884, p. 141 [108].
7.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Scientific Papers , vol. II, p. 339.
8.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. I, p. 71 [63].
9.
J. Clerk Maxwell , An Elementary Treatise on Electricity , p. 71 [53].
10.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. I, p. 69 [61–62].
11.
J. Clerk Maxwell , An Elementary Treatise on Electricity , p. 61 [48–49].
12.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. 1, p. 74 [66–67].
13.
[Duhem omits the rest of the sentence: “provided suitable hypotheses be introduced when any difficulty occurs”].
14.
[The French translation adds this, which is not found here in the original English.].
15.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. II, p. 11 [10].
16.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. I, p. 69 [62].
17.
Ibid., t. II, p. 288 [232–233].
18.
Ibid., t. I, p. 73 [66].
19.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. I, p. 67 [59–60].
20.
J. Clerk Maxwell , An Elementary Treatise on Electricity , p. 63 [49].
21.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , [t. I,] p. 175 [155].
22.
Ibid., [t. II,] p. 289 [233].
23.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. I, p. 72 [64].
24.
I do not believe that any physicist has paid attention to the paradoxical nature of this proposition of Maxwell before H. Hertz exposed it in a particularly clear and striking form (H. Hertz , Gesammelte Werke, Bd. II: Untersuchungen über die Aushreitung der elektrischen Kraft: Einleitende Uebersicht [English translation [99]: Hertz (1893)], p. 27).
25.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. I, p. 73 [65–66].
26.
Ibid., t. I, p. 175 [155].
27.
J. Clerk Maxwell , An Elementary Treatise on Electricity , p. 63 [49].
28.
J. Clerk Maxwell , An Elementary Treatise on Electricity , p. 62 [49].
29.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. I, p. 174 [154].
30.
Ibid., p. 69 [61–62].
31.
Ibid., p. 73 [66].
32.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. I, p. 73 [65]; t. II, p. 287 [232].
33.
Ibid., t. I, p. 67 [60].
34.
Ibid., t. I, p. 176 [156]; t. II, p. 304 [246].
35.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. I, p. 176 [156].
36.
Ibid., t. II, p. 274 [221], equation (B).
37.
Ibid., t. II, p. 303 [246].
38.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism t. I, p. 108 [96]; t. II, p. 303 [246].
39.
Ibid., t. I, p. 104 [94].
40.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. I, p. 106.
41.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , p. [51,] [§] 64.
42.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism , t. I, p. 104 [94–95].
43.
These equalities (5.22) are, in all editions of the Treatise of Maxwell , replaced by erroneous equalities. In the French translation, the term \(Ke'\) of equality (5.21) is replaced by \(e'\); this error is not in the first English edition.

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Cabrespine, France
Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem

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Duhem, P.M.M. (2015). The Third Electrostatics of Maxwell. In: The Electric Theories of J. Clerk Maxwell. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 314. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18515-6_5

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18515-6_5
Published: 02 June 2015
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
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