Readings from the Scientists: an Anthology

Abstract

TO produce, in small compass, a readable, and varied, anthology of the literature of science is a difficult matter, and the editor is to be congratulated on the success of his effort. It were easier, and safer, to stick to the descriptive sciences, but the editor has taken his courage into his hands and has laid under contribution chemistry, geology, natural history, mechanics, exploration, astronomy, physics, science and art, and fiction. If we divide the selections in time, and regard the date of Ruskin's death as marking the close of an era (as indeed it does), we find that out of the 280 pages of text, 130 pages are allocated to the post-Ruskin period. Obviously the natural sciences bulk largely in the selection, and opinions will differ concerning the value of the eleven pages devoted to a selection from Einstein's “Relativity” probably the majority of readers will get more fun out of the excerpts from “The Time Machine”. But the balance has been very well kept—it is pleasant to meet again the friendly words of Gilbert White, Miller and Darwin; equally pleasant to read the newer story of the eel, to learn something of spinning tops and boomerangs, and to wander into space (four-dimensional) under the guidance of Jeans or Eddington.

Readings from the Scientists: an Anthology.

Selected and edited by J. Edward Mason. (The Scholar's Library.) Pp. x + 309. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1935.) 2s. 6d.