Abstract
READERS of Prof. Franklin's book, “Bill's School and Mine,”will open the present volume with zest, and their anticipation of enjoy ment will be increased by the remark on the title-page: “The authors are teachers, and they con sider teaching to be the greatest of fun; but they never yet have been helped in their work by any thing they have ever read concerning their pro fession.”Bacon mentioned a “calendar of lead ing experiments for the better interpretation of Nature ”as one of the things most needful for the advancement of learning, and it would seem that the authors, having failed to find assistance with regard to physical lecture demonstrations, have boldly set about filling the gap. Perhaps this method of statement is a little unfair to the excel lent volume published under the auspices of the French Physical Society ! The authors state that their book has to do primarily with class-room experiments in physics; secondarily it is intended to set forth the possibilities of an extended course in elementary dynamics, including the dynamics of wave motion. The writer is of opinion that most teachers will find the most stimulating part of the volume to be the humorous Jnterludes, criticisms, and questions with which the book is filled from beginning to end. “So many things in teaching are funny, from our point of view.“Precision of thought is not dependent upon pre cision of measurement.“Science, even in its elements, presents serious difficulties.”The fol lowing problem was given to a group of engineer ing students:—“A cart moves due northwards at a velocity of 5/ ft. per sec. A man pushes verti cally downwards on the cart with a force of 200 lb., and a mule pulls due northwards on the cart with a force of 50 lb. Find the rate at which the man does work, and the rate at which the mule does work.”In answer to the question 44 per cent, of the young men found that the man developed 2 h.p. and the mule developed \ h.p. “Truly, mule-driving would be strenuous labour for our pampered college students ! ”
A Calendar of Leading Experiments.
By William S. Franklin Barry Macnutt. Pp. viii + 210. (South Bethlehem, Pa.: Franklin, Macnutt, and Charles, 1918.) Price 2.50 dollars.
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ALLEN, H. A Calendar of Leading Experiments . Nature 102, 262 (1918). https://doi.org/10.1038/102262a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/102262a0
