Aiguille
Alp
Anemometer
Antarctic
Anthelion
Anticyclone
Antilia
Antipodes
Antonini Itinerarium
Aquae
Archipelago
Arctic
Arete
Arroyo
Atlantis
Atmosphere
Atoll
Aurora Polaris
Avalanche
Bahr
Bar
Bayou
Beach
Beaufort Scale
Bench-mark
Bergschrund
Berm
Bight
Blizzard
Bog
Bora
Bore
Brazil
Breeze
Brickfielder
British Empire
Brocken, Spectre of
Butte
Buys Ballot’s Law
Canyon
“Challenger” Expedition
Chart
Chinook
Cirque
Climate and Climatology
Cloud
Cloudburst
Coast
Col
Combe
Continent
Continental Shelf
Contour, Contour-line
Coral-reefs
Cordillera
Corrie
Crag
Creek
Crevasse
Cuesta
Cyclone
Dalle
Dawn
Delta
Desert
Dew
Dip
Divide
Doldrums
Donga
Down
Dust
Eagre
Earth, Figure of the
Earth Pillar
El Dorado
Esker
Estuary
Etesian Wind
Euroclydon
Fell
Ferrel’s Law
Fjord
Floe
Flood Plain
Fog
Föhn
Frost
Geodesy
Geography
Geoid
Giant’s Kettle
Glacier
Great Circle
Gromatici
Ground Ice
Gulf Stream
Hachure
Hail
Halo
Harmattan
Helm Wind
Hill
Horse Latitudes
Horst
Hummock
Hurricane
Hydrography
Hygrometer
Iceberg
Isabnormal (or Isanomalous) Lines
Island
Isles of the Blest
Isobar
Isoclinic Lines
Isodynamic Lines
Isogonic Lines
Isotherm
Isthmus
Itinerarium
Jebel
Jungle
Kame
Khamsin
Kuro Siwo
Lagoon
Lake
Latitude
Leste
Levée
Leveche
Lightning
Lithosphere
Longitude
Lowland
Loxodrome
Maelstrom
Maestro
Maidan
Map
Marsh
Massif
Meridian
Mesa
Meteorology
Mirage
Mistral
Monadnock
Monsoon
Moor
Moraine
Moulin
Mountain
Névé
Norther
Nullah
Nunatak
Nyanza
Oasis
Ocean and Oceanography
Ophir
Orography
Pampero
Peninsula
Plain
Plateau
Playa
Polder
Pond
Prairie
Quagmire
Rain
Rainbow
Rand
Ras
Reef
River
Roaring Forties
Sahel
St. Elmo’s Fire
Sargasso Sea
Savanna
Sea
Seiche
Simoom
Sirocco
Sleet
Snow
Snow-Line
Sounding
Squall
Steppe
Storm
Sudd
Sunshine
Surge
Surveying
Swallow-hole
Tacheometry
Tarn
Thalweg
Theodolite
Thule
Thunder
Timber-line
Topography
Tornado
Trade Winds
Tundra
Twilight
Typhoon
V-shaped Depression
Volcano
Wadi
Waterfall
Watershed
Waterspout
Weather
Wedge
Wind
World
Zone
CHAPTER LI
ANTHROPOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY
These two sciences are devoted to the study of mankind before written
history began; and they have an interest for every reader who has asked,
when he was a child and had a story told him: “What happened _before_
that?” In the chapter in this Guide on _Language and Writing_, we have
told the story of those two great inventions which made civilization
possible. The present chapter is devoted to the story of man before
writing was commonly used—that is, before historical documents could
exist.
Just as the study of children and their habits is something new and
peculiarly characteristic of the last generation, so these sciences of
anthropology and ethnology which deal with the childhood of the human
race are of recent origin. But in comparison with child-psychology these
two sciences are at a disadvantage in a very important respect: there
are always children to be studied, but the childhood of the race is long
past and remote from the student of it, save for the primitive tribes
which can still be observed, and even these tribes are now scattered and
few, and by contact with civilization they are rapidly losing the
characteristics which invite scientific study. A hundred years ago, the
opportunities for experiment and observation were far greater, but at
that time savages were not seriously studied. There could, indeed, be no
“science of man” before the evolutionary theory of Darwin, Wallace and
Huxley had been generally accepted. Throughout this Guide we see how
this theory has affected all our modern thought, modified our sciences,
and even created new sciences. The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia
Britannica may, indeed, be described as the authoritative and
interesting story of the human activities, critically studied from the
point of view of evolution. The trustworthy material is chiefly derived
from observations in Australia, in the South Seas, among the North
American Indians and among the still savage tribes of Africa, and from
studies of the tools and other remains of early peoples. All broad
conclusions must be based upon the similarity of customs among races
widely separated by time and place, and upon the fact that some traces
of such customs are still found among more highly civilized peoples.
The first article in a course of reading on the “science of man” in the
Britannica is ANTHROPOLOGY (Vol. 2, p. 108), equivalent to 40 pages in
this Guide, illustrated, by Prof. Tylor, of Oxford University, one of
the founders of the science, and author of _Researches into the Early
History of Mankind_, _Primitive Culture_, etc.
[Sidenote: Man’s Origin]
This great article deals first with “man’s place in Nature,” the most
interesting branch of the theory of evolution. Prof. Tylor traces back
the recognition of man’s structural similarity to the higher apes to
Linnaeus (1735) and to the less scientific Lord Monboddo (1774 and
1778), whose simple literary style as well as his theory of the descent
of man aroused the amusement and scorn of Dr. Samuel Johnson, who said
that Monboddo was “as jealous of his tail as a squirrel.”
Dr. Tylor remarks that:
There are few ideas more ingrained in ancient and low civilization
than that of relationship by descent between the lower animals and
man. Savage and barbaric religions recognize it, and the mythology of
the world has hardly a more universal theme. But in educated Europe
such ideas had long been superseded by the influence of theology and
philosophy, with which they seemed too incompatible.
But in 1843 Dr. J. C. Prichard, to whom Tylor gives the title that many
would give to Tylor himself, “founder of modern anthropology,” insisted
that
man is but an animal ... composed of the same materials, and framed on
the same principles, as the creatures which he has tamed to be the
servile instruments of his will, or slays for his daily food.
Dr. Tylor shows how Wallace and Darwin established a theory of human
descent, and sums up the similarities and dissimilarities in anatomical
construction between man and the man-like apes. Even more interesting is
what the article says (p. 110) about “assigning to man his place in
nature on psychological grounds.”
Huxley acknowledged an immeasurable and practically infinite
divergence, ending in the present enormous psychological gulf between
ape and man. It is difficult to account for this intellectual chasm as
due to some minor structural difference.... Beyond a doubt, man
possesses, and in some way possesses by virtue of his superior brain,
a power of co-ordinating the impressions of his senses, which enables
him to understand the world he lives in, and by understanding to use,
resist, and even in a measure rule it. No human art shows the nature
of this human attribute more clearly than does language
—although other animals have a sort of language. The article quotes Dr.
A. Russel Wallace’s conclusion that man stands “apart, as not only the
head and culminating point of the grand series of organic nature, but as
in some degree a new and distinct order of being.” And another great
anatomist, Prof. St. George Mivart, says “Man’s animal body must have
had a different source from that of the spiritual soul which informs it,
owing to the distinctness of the two orders to which these existences
severally belong.” Dr. Tylor, in citing these authorities, adds that
“man embodies an immaterial and immortal, spiritual principle which no
lower creature possesses, and which makes the resemblance of the apes to
him but a mocking simulance.”
The answer to the question “How did man originate?” depends on the
answer to the question “How did species originate?” The main points are
summed up in the article ANTHROPOLOGY (on p. 112), which also deals with
the fossil remains of man, especially skulls, and their bearing on the
question. A more detailed discussion will be found in the articles
EVOLUTION (Vol. 10, p. 22) and SPECIES (Vol. 25, p. 616).
[Sidenote: Races of Man]
The classification of man into different races is the topic next taken
up by Dr. Tylor in the article ANTHROPOLOGY, and he deals particularly
with classification by the “facial angle” (on which see also the article
CRANIOMETRY, Vol. 7, p. 372). Different classifications are criticized
and the article decides that “Huxley’s division probably approaches more
nearly than any other to such a tentative classification as may be
accepted.... He distinguishes four principal types of mankind, the
Australioid, Negroid, Mongoloid and Xanthochroic (fair whites), adding a
fifth variety, the Melanchroic (dark whites).” That races are not
species, zoologically, is made plain by the fact that the offspring of
parents of different races are fertile—those of different species being
infertile.
[Sidenote: Antiquity of Man]
One of the questions connected with the origin of man is his antiquity.
The Biblical chronology, as commonly reckoned and interpreted, allowed a
time since the appearance of the original stock which seemed far too
short for the apparent variation from the original species (see
CHRONOLOGY, Vol. 6, p. 305). The natural sciences, notably geology, have
“made it manifest that our earth must have been the seat of vegetable
and animal life for an immense period of time; while the first
appearance of man, though comparatively recent, is positively so remote,
that an estimate between twenty and a hundred thousand years may fairly
be taken as a minimum.” This geological claim is supported by the
evidence of prehistoric archaeology (see the article ARCHAEOLOGY, Vol.
2, p. 344). In the caves of France and Belgium human bones have been
found with the remains of fossil species of elephant, rhinoceros, hyena,
bear, etc., and “the co-existence of man with a fauna now extinct or
confined to other districts was brought to yet clearer demonstration by
the discovery in these caves of certain drawings and carvings of the
animals done by the ancient inhabitants themselves, such as a group of
reindeer on a piece of reindeer horn, and a sketch of a mammoth, showing
the elephant’s long hair, on a piece of a mammoth’s tusk from La
Madeleine.” See Fig. 7, Plate facing p. 118, Vol. 2; the figures of the
reindeer and mammoth, hairy and with upturned tusks, in Plate II,
article ARCHAEOLOGY (following p. 348, Vol. 2); and of the reindeer in
Plate I (Vol. 19, p. 462), and the old cave paintings of wild boars and
bison from Altamira, reproduced in colour on Plate II, the next page.
These paintings, marking by their technical excellence a high stage of
art if not of civilization, are said by geologists to date back 50,000
years. The student will be repaid for turning a moment from the article
ANTHROPOLOGY and the question of the antiquity of man to the article
[Sidenote: Cave-Dwellers] CAVE (Vol. 5, p. 573), by the eminent
archaeologist, W. Boyd Dawkins, and the author of _Cave-hunting_ and
_Early Man in Britain_. He reconstructs the civilization of the
inhabitants of the pleistocene caves of the European continent (p. 576),
describes the carvings and drawings of which we have just spoken, and
says of the cave-dwellers:
If these remains be compared with those of existing races, it will be
found that the cave-men were in the same hunter stage of civilization
as the Eskimos, and that they are unlike any other races of hunters.
If they were not allied to the Eskimos by blood, there can be no doubt
that they handed down to the latter their art and their manner of
life. The bone needles, and many of the harpoons, as well as the flint
spearheads, arrowheads and scrapers, are of precisely the same form as
those now in use amongst the Eskimos. The artistic designs from the
caves of France, Belgium and Switzerland, are identical in plan and
workmanship with those of the Eskimos.... The reindeer, which they
both knew, is represented in the same way by both. The practice of
accumulating large quantities of the bones of animals round their
dwelling-places, and the habit of splitting the bones for the sake of
the marrow, are the same in both. The hides were prepared with the
same sort of instruments, and the needles with which they were sewn
together are of the same pattern. The stone lamps were used by both.
In both there was the same disregard for sepulture. All these facts
can hardly be mere coincidences caused by both peoples leading a
savage life under similar conditions. The conclusion, therefore, seems
inevitable that, so far as we have any evidence of the race to which
the cave-dwellers belong, that evidence points only in the direction
of the Eskimos. It is to a considerable extent confirmed by a
consideration of the animals found in the caves. The reindeer and musk
sheep afford food to the Eskimos now in the Arctic Circle, just as
they afforded it to the cave-men in Europe; and both these animals
have been traced by their remains from the Pyrenees to the north-east
through Europe and Asia as far as the very regions in which they now
live. The mammoth and bison also have been tracked by their remains in
the frozen river gravels and morasses through Siberia as far as the
American side of Bering Strait. Palaeolithic man appeared in Europe
with the arctic mammalia, lived in Europe with them, and in all human
probability retreated to the north-east along with them.
The antiquity of man may be estimated also by the time it must have
taken to deposit the soil that overlies traces of civilization,—for
instance in Egypt where pottery is found 60 feet deep, while inundations
from the Nile probably have not averaged more than a few inches in a
century. “The most recent work of Egyptologists proves a systematic
civilization to have existed in the valley of the Nile at least 6000 to
7000 years ago.” Similar testimony is given by examining the
lake-dwellings of Switzerland and the kitchen middens of Denmark. On
these see the articles LAKE DWELLINGS (Vol. 16, p. 91), by Joseph
Anderson, keeper of the National Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh, and
SHELL-HEAPS (Vol. 24, p. 832). The latter article, in a description of
the middens of Denmark, says:
Among the bones were those of the wild bull or aurochs, beaver, seal
and great auk, all now extinct or rare in this region. Moreover, a
striking proof of the antiquity of these shell-heaps is that they
contain full-sized shells of the common oyster, which cannot live at
present in the brackish waters of the Baltic except near its entrance,
the inference being that the shores where the oyster at that time
flourished were open to the salt sea.
The article on LAKE DWELLINGS brings out very clearly the fact that
this, like other early stages of development, is to be found at widely
different periods of time: in Switzerland, thousands of years ago; in
Scotland and Ireland (see also the article CRANNOG, Vol. 7, p. 377)
during the Christian era; and in New Guinea and Central Africa within
the last few years. This is in accordance with the fact that the human
race has not “matured” with equal rapidity all over the earth—that even
now one race is in infancy, another in childhood, another in a
transition stage like adolescence, and another in the prime of
civilization.
[Sidenote: Language]
Returning to the article ANTHROPOLOGY, the next topic treated is
Language. The more important points on this subject are stated in
another chapter of this part of the Guide, on _Language and Writing_.
Dr. Tylor says:
For all that known dialects prove to the contrary, on the one hand,
there may have been one primitive language, from which the descendant
languages have varied so widely, that neither their words nor their
formation now indicate their unity in long past ages, while, on the
other hand, the primitive tongues of mankind may have been numerous,
and the extreme unlikeness of such languages as Basque, Chinese,
Peruvian, Hottentot and Sanskrit may arise from absolute independence
of origin. The language spoken by any tribe or nation is not of itself
absolute evidence as to its race-affinities. This is clearly shown in
extreme cases. Thus the Jews in Europe have almost lost the use of
Hebrew, but speak as their vernacular the language of their adopted
nation, whatever it may be.... In most or all nations of mankind,
crossing or intermarriage of races has taken place between the
conquering invader and the conquered native, so that the language
spoken by the nation may represent the results of conquest as much or
more than of ancestry.... On the other hand, the language of the
warlike invader or peaceful immigrant may yield, in a few generations,
to the tongue of the mass of the population, as the Northman’s was
replaced by the French, and modern German gives way to English in the
United States.
[Sidenote: Development of Civilization]
The last general topic in the article ANTHROPOLOGY is Development of
Civilization. In connection with it the student should read the article
CIVILIZATION (Vol. 6, p. 403), by Dr. H. S. Williams, editor-in-chief of
_The Historian’s History of the World_, and particularly the first part
of it dealing with early times.
[Sidenote: Ethnology]
The comparatively brief article ETHNOLOGY AND ETHNOGRAPHY (Vol. 9, p.
849) takes up the story of man’s progress at the point where
ANTHROPOLOGY stops, and deals particularly with the division of mankind
into separate races. Was pleistocene man specifically one? The evidence
to supply an answer to this question is of three kinds: anatomical,
physiological and cultural and psychical. Human bones from this early
period “show differences so slight as to admit of pathological or other
explanation,” and do not prove that there were separate species. The
physiological answer, that there was only one species, is given and
explained in the article ANTHROPOLOGY: species cannot breed with
species, and hybrids are infertile. The third answer is also in the
negative. “The works of early man everywhere present the most startling
resemblance.” Dr. J. C. Prichard is quoted in the article as saying that
the same inward and mental nature is to be recognized in all races of
men. When we compare this fact with the observations, fully
established, as to the specific instincts and separate psychical
endowments of all the distinct tribes of sentient beings in the
universe we are entitled to draw confidently the conclusion that all
human races are of one species and one family.
If man was specifically one, where did he originate and how did he
spread over the world? “As to man’s cradle-land there have been many
theories, but the weight of evidence is in favour of Indo-Malaysia.” The
problem of distribution “has been met by geology, which proves that the
earth’s surface has undergone great changes since man’s appearance, and
that continents, long since submerged, once existed, making a complete
land communication from Indo-Malaysia.... Proofs no less cogent are
available of the former existence of an Eurafrican continent, while the
extension of Australia in the direction of New Guinea is more than
probable.... The western hemisphere was probably connected with Europe
and Asia, in Tertiary times.” The article ETHNOLOGY closes with a
description of the four divisions of the human race proposed by Huxley,
which have already been enumerated.
Separate articles supplementing these two main articles, ANTHROPOLOGY
and ETHNOLOGY, especially in the field of comparative anatomy, are:
ANTHROPOMETRY (Vol. 2, p. 119) for physical measurements, including the
Bertillon system used to identify criminals; BRACHYCEPHALIC (Vol. 4, p.
366), or short-headed, a term applied to Indo-Chinese, Savoyards,
Croatians, Lapps, etc.; DOLICHOCEPHALIC (Vol. 8, p. 388), or
long-headed, like Eskimos, negroes, etc.; MESOCEPHALIC (Vol. 18, p.
179), for the type between the two; PROGNATHISM (Vol. 22, p. 424), for
jaw protrusion; CRANIOMETRY (Vol. 7, p. 372) and CEPHALIC INDEX (Vol. 5,
p. 684), for the measurement of skulls and heads; STEATOPYGIA (Vol. 25,
p. 860), for a peculiar heaviness of hips found in some negro and other
savage peoples; MONOGENISTS (Vol. 18, p. 730), on the theory that all
men are descended from a common original stock; and POLYGENISTS (Vol.
22, p. 24) on the opposite theory.
[Sidenote: North American Indians]
One of the most elaborate ethnological articles in the Britannica is of
particular interest to Americans, that on INDIANS, NORTH AMERICAN (Vol.
14, p. 452), by Dr. A. F. Chamberlain, professor of anthropology, Clark
University, Worcester, Mass. It is equivalent to more than 100 pages of
this Guide, and there are also scores of brief articles on different
North American Indian tribes. A few, only, of the many interesting
topics treated in it may be mentioned:
The name “American Indians”—due to the mistaken early belief that the
New World was a part of Asia. “Amerind” a suggested substitute.
Various uses of “Indian.” French “sauvage” the original of “Siwash.”
Popular fallacies of the origin of the Indians—Welsh, “lost Ten
Tribes,” etc.
Linguistic stocks. Table of languages. General description;
varied character; enormous compound words, like
_deyeknonhsedehrihadasterasterahetakwa_ for “stove-polish.”
Indian literature.
Migrations of Indian stocks. Tabular conspectus of 180
tribes—situation and population, degree of intermixture, condition and
progress, and authorities on each.
Population, physical characteristics, race mixture.
Culture, arts, industries, religion, mythology and games.
Social organization, contact of Indians and whites, Indian wars,
missions, Indian talent and capacity, syllabaries invented by Indians.
In addition to the articles on Indian tribes there are many on Indian
notables—for example, PONTIAC, TECUMSEH, KING PHILIP, BLACK HAWK, BRANT,
and SITTING BULL.
[Sidenote: Central America]
Interest in the Indians of Central America, popularly called Aztecs, is
rather archaeological than ethnological. See in the Britannica the
article CENTRAL AMERICA (Vol. 5, p. 677), by Dr. Walter Lehmann,
directorial assistant of the Royal Ethnological Museum, Munich; and the
article AMERICA, _Ethnology and Archaeology_ (Vol. 1, p. 810), by O. T.
Mason, late curator, Department of Anthropology, National Museum,
Washington, dealing with the Indians of North, Central and South America
in general. The other principal articles on races or tribes of unusual
ethnographic importance are:
NEGRO (Vol. 14, p. 344), by Thomas Athol Joyce, assistant in the
Department of Ethnography, British Museum,—with a section on the negro
in the United States, by Walter F. Willcox, late chief statistician,
United States Census Bureau; supplemented by AFRICA, _Ethnology_ (Vol.
1, p. 325), by Mr. T. A. Joyce, with a particularly valuable classified
list (p. 329) of African tribal distribution, which may be made the
basis for further study by reference to articles on the separate tribes,
such as BERBERS, KABYLES, MZABITES, TUAREG, etc.
POLYNESIA (Vol. 22, p. 33) for the Polynesian race; and also SAMOA (Vol.
24, p. 115) and HAWAII (Vol. 13, p. 83)
AUSTRALIA, _Aborigines_ (Vol. 2, p. 954) and _Maori_. The following is a
list in alphabetical order of articles on races or tribes:
Ababda
Abipones
Abnaki
Aborigines
Acholi
Afars (Danakil)
Agaiambo
Ahom
Aht
Ahtena
Aimak, or Eimak
Ainu
Akka
Alfuros
Algonquin
Alur
Amarar
Anti, or Campa
Apache
Apalachee
Arabs
Arapaho
Araucanians
Arawak
Areoi
Arikara, or Aricara
Artega
Ashraf (Shurefa)
Assiniboin
Athapascan
Attacapa
Awadia and Fadnia
Aymara
Aztecs
Babu
Badagas
Baggára
Bakalai
Bakhtiári
Ba-Kwiri
Ba-Luba
Bambute
Banate
Bangash
Barabra
Bari
Bashkirs
Basques
Battakhin
Battanni
Battas
Batwa
Bazigars
Bechuana
Bedouins
Beja, or Bija
Bellabella
Bellacoola, or Bilqula
Beni-Amer
Beni-Israel
Beothuk
Berbers
Bertat
Bhattiana
Bhils, or Bheels
Bimana
Bisharin
Blackfoot
Boer
Bogos (Bilens)
Bois Brûlés
Bongo
Botocudos
Bozdar
Brahui
Bugis
Bugti
Buriats
Bushmen
Caddo
Cagots
Cahita
Cahokia
Cakchiquel
Calchaqui
Caribs
Cashibo, or Carapache
Catauxi
Catawbas
Celt
Chamkanni
Changos
Charrua
Chechenzes
Chellian
Cheremisses
Cherokee
Cheyenne
Chickasaws
Chimesyan
Chinook
Chiquitos
Choctaws
Cholones
Chude
Chukchi
Chuncho
Chuvashes
Circassia
Cocoma, or Cucamas
Coeur d’Alêne
Comanches
Conestoga
Conibos
Copts
Cree
Creek Indians
Crow Indians
Cunas
Curetus
Czech
Dawari; or Dauri
Delaware Indians
Dinka
Dogra
Dravidian
Dualla
Duk-Duk
Durani
Dyaks
Engis
Eskimo
Ewe
Falashas
Fang
Fanti
Fellah
Fiji
Fingo, or Fengu
Finno-Ugrian
Flatheads
Fox Indians
Fula
Funj
Furfooz
Galchas
Gallas
Gararish
Ghilzai
Gilyaks
Gipsies
Golds
Gonaguas
Gros Ventres
Guanches
Guaranis
Guatos
Guatusos
Guaycurus
Gumus
Hababs
Hadendoa
Haida
Hakkas
Hamitic Races
Harratin
Hassania
Hausa
Hawawir
Hazara
Heroro, or Ovaherero
Hindki
Hipurnias
Hiung-nu
Hopi
Hottentots
Hova
Huambisas
Huastecs
Huichol
Huron
Indians, North American
Iquitos
Iroquois
Irulas
Itza
Ja’alin
Jakuns
Jats
Jeveros
Jibitos
Jicarilla
Juangs
Jur (Diur)
Juris
Kabbabish
Kabyles
Kaffirs
Kakar
Kalapuya
Kalispel
Kalkas
Kanaka
Kanuri (Beriberi)
Kara-Kalpaks
Karen
Kashubes
Kavirondo
Kaw (Kansa)
Kayasth
Khamtis
Khattak
Khazars
Khevsurs
Khonds
Kickapoo
Kiowas
Kirghiz
Klamath
Koch
Kolis
Kols
Korkus
Koryaks
Kotas
Krumen
Kubus
Kumyks
Kunbis
Kurumbas
Kusan
Kutenai
Kwakiutl
Laos
Lascar
Latuka
Legas
Lepcha
Lipan
Lolos
Madi
Mahar
Mahrattas
Makalaka
Makaraka
Malays
Mandan
Mandingo
Maneteneris
Mangbettu
Manyema
Maori
Marianas
Mariposan
Maroons
Marri
Masai
Mashona
Metabele
Maya
Mayoruna
Menangkabos
Mensa and Marea
Meshcheryaks
Meyrifab
Miami
Miaotsze
Micmac
Mikirs
Mishmi (tribe)
Modoc
Mohave
Mohawk
Mohican
Mohmand
Monassir
Montagnais
Moors
Moplah
Mordvinians
Moxos
Mpongwe (Pongos)
Mundas
Mundrucus
Muras
Musa Khel
Muskhogean Stock
Mzabites, or Beni-Mzab
Nahuatlan Stock
Namasudra
Nandi
Navaho, or Navajo
Nayar, or Nair
Negritos
Negro
Nez Percés
Niam-Niam
Nuer
Oerlams
Ojibway
Omaguas
Omahas
Oneida
Onondaga
Opata
Orakzai
Oraons
Ostiaks
Ottawa
Papuans
Pariah (caste)
Parsees
Pathan (people)
Pawnee
Penobscot
Pequot
Petchenegs
Pima
Polabs
Ponca
Pondo
Potawatami
Povindah
Prabhu (caste)
Pueblo Indians
Puelche
Pygmy
Quiché, or Kichés
Quichua
Rajput
Riffians
Ruthenians
Sahos
Sakai
Salishan
Samoyedes
Santals
Semang
Seminole
Seneca
Serers
Shagia
Shangalla
Shans
Shawnee
Sherani, or Shirani
Shilluh
Shilluk
Shinwari
Shukria
Sienetjo
Sikh
Sioux
Slavs
Slovaks
Slovenes
Songhoi
Sorbs
Swahili
Syryenians
Tajik
Talaing
Tamils
Tarkani
Tatars
Tehuelche
Tembu
Tibbu, or Tebu
Todas
Toltecs
Troglodytes
Tshi
Tuareg
Tukulor (Tuculers)
Tunguses
Tupis
Turi
Turki
Turkoman
Turks
Tuscarora
Uighur
Unyamwezi
Ustarana
Ute (Utah)
Utman Khel
Vaalpens
Veddahs
Wa
Wichita
Wochua
Wolof (Woloff, Jolof)
Wyandot (Huron)
Yaos
Yusafzai
Zaimukht
Zaparos
Zenaga
Zenata
[Sidenote: Terminology]
The technical terms of nearly every science are words coined from Latin
and Greek roots, so that the student of these languages is at an
advantage in learning any science—its terms have some meaning to him no
matter how strange the science itself. But in anthropology and ethnology
we come across such terms as _taboo_, _totem_, _shaman_ and _manitou_.
For their comprehension Latin and Greek give no aid. Each of these terms
comes into English from the language of a primitive people to convey an
idea at once too primitive and too complex to be expressed by any
English word or by a Greek or Latin compound. “Taboo” is a Malay word
meaning both “unclean” (as that word is used in the Old Testament) and
“sacred”; and the idea it conveys is characteristic of the religious and
social system found among the Polynesians and nearly all other peoples
in a comparatively low stage of civilization, which sets persons or
things apart as sacred or accursed. “Totem” is a Chippewa (North
American Indian) word denoting an animal, plant, or other object chosen
as the name of a whole family or tribal division. The word “shaman”
comes from the Ural-Altaic (Tungus), and means “medicine-man,” a
combination of priest, magician and exorcist. “Manitou” is another North
American word meaning “spirit” or “genius.”
[Sidenote: Taboo and Totem]
The practice of taboo and totemism, although one word comes to us from
the South Seas and the other from the American Indians, is found all
over the less civilized world, and—even more important—it explains many
things in the social and religious life of more civilized communities.
For instance, the account by modern students of Greek and Roman religion
has had to be largely rewritten in the light of what we have learned in
the last two generations about taboo and totemism.
The articles TABOO (Vol. 26, p. 337) and TOTEMISM (Vol. 27, p. 79) are
both by Andrew Lang, author of _Custom and Myth_ and other standard
works on folk-lore. It is unnecessary to outline these two articles
here, as the two words have been defined, and the importance of the
subject suggested. The reader should refer to the article on ANDREW LANG
(Vol. 16, p. 171), in which it is said that “he explained the irrational
elements of mythology as survivals from earlier savagery....” idealized
“savage animism ... maintained the existence of high spiritual ideas
among savage races, and instituted comparisons between savage practices
and the occult phenomena among civilized races.” His appreciation of the
culture of the savage and his remarkably interesting style should induce
the student to read Lang’s other and related articles in the Britannica,
especially:
FAMILY (Vol. 10, p. 158), (equivalent to 27 pages of this Guide),
dealing particularly with the question of marriage as related to
totemism, and the practices of marrying only _out_ of the tribe or
totem, and of marrying only _within_ the totem (see the articles
ENDOGAMY and EXOGAMY, MATRIARCHATE, POLYANDRY, POLYGAMY, LEVIRATE and
COUVADE).
NAME (Vol. 19, p. 157), which discusses the relation of the name to the
totem, the strange primitive custom of the individual’s having many
names and concealing his true name, etc.; and also the articles FAIRY
(Vol. 10, p. 134) and MYTHOLOGY (Vol. 19, p. 128).
[Sidenote: Religion]
For special forms of superstition, read the articles MAGIC, SHAMANISM,
WITCHCRAFT, DEMONOLOGY and LYCANTHROPY, and in the field of religion,
RELIGION, _Primitive_ (Vol. 23, p. 63), by R. R. Marett, of Oxford
University, author of _The Threshold of Religion_, etc. This article
puts particular stress on the importance of ritual in early religion.
Compare also the matter, already mentioned, on religion in the article
on North American Indians with the short articles MANITOU (Vol. 17, p.
568) and GHOST DANCE (Vol. 11, p. 925). Besides, the student should road
ORDEAL (Vol. 20, p. 173), PRAYER (Vol. 22, p. 256), RITUAL (Vol. 23, p.
370), SACRIFICE (Vol. 23, p. 980), ANIMISM (Vol. 2, p. 53), on the
attempt to explain religion as due to the fear and worship of ghosts—and
FETISHISM (Vol. 10, p. 295), by N. W. Thomas, government anthropologist
to Southern Nigeria; ANCESTOR-WORSHIP (Vol. 1, p. 945), FUNERAL RITES
(Vol. 11, p. 329) and PURIFICATION (Vol. 22, p. 660), all by Dr. F. C.
Conybeare, author of _Myth, Magic and Morals_, etc.; TREE-WORSHIP (Vol.
27, p. 235) and SERPENT-WORSHIP (Vol. 24, p. 676), both bearing on
totemism, by S. A. Cook, author of _Religion of Ancient Palestine_, etc.
[Sidenote: Biographical Study]
A course of reading on anthropology may well close with the study in the
Britannica of the lives of some leaders in this science. The student
will thus be familiarized with the theories of each great
anthropologist—and will notice the manifold appeal of the science by
seeing from what point each approached it—one from his interest in
geology, another from travel, a third because of his studies in surgery
or biology, another as a psychologist.
Avebury, 1st Baron
Bandelier, Adolph F. A.
Bastian, Adolf
Brasseur de Bourbourg, C. E.
Brinton, D. G.
Broca, Paul
Catlin, George
Christy, Henry
Dawkins, William Boyd
Deniker, Joseph
Fletcher, Alice C.
Hale, Horatio
Hodgson, B. H.
Lartet, Edouard
M’Lennan, John F.
Mantegazza, Paolo
Morgan, Lewis Henry
Mortillet, L. L. G. de
Prichard, James Cowles
Schoolcraft, H. R.
Tylor, Edward B.
Wagner, Rudolf
Waltz, Theodor
CHAPTER LII
MATHEMATICS
There is no single book in the English language, save the Britannica, in
which the whole body of mathematical knowledge is examined and
classified with special reference to the inter-relation of its various
parts and to the results obtained in the neighboring domains of physics,
chemistry, and engineering. Text-books necessarily have a somewhat
narrow purpose, namely to teach the student how to solve problems in a
single given field; wide views over the surrounding country can,
therefore, seldom be afforded. The Britannica, however, does for English
readers, what the _Encyclopädie der Mathematischen Wissenchaften_ does
for German, and more, in that in the Britannica the shadowy borderlands
are illuminated and the roads cleared which connect the mathematical and
the experimental sciences. In fact if anyone possessed every
mathematical text-book that had ever been published, he would still find
the articles full of suggestion to him, for in them the whole subject
has been presented, in all its complex bearings, logically and as a
whole.
[Sidenote: History]
It is nearly 4,000 years since a mathematician was last deified in the
person of Amenophis, and as far as can be ascertained only one other of
his calling ever received this honour, and he also was an Egyptian who
had entered into his godship a full thousand years earlier (Vol. 9, p.
46). To the ancient Egyptians mathematics owes the first fragmentary
ideas of arithmetic and mensuration, but little else, for despite their
amazing mechanical achievements very little record of purely
mathematical knowledge has come down from them. It was the Greeks,
starting with Thales (600 B.C.), who really created the sciences of
geometry and numbers. To them we owe the great abstract ideas which
dominate the science. The Greek period lasted till the capture of
Alexandria by the Mohammedans, A.D. 640, at which time the Arabian
school took shape, and to it we owe the development of algebra
(_al-jebr-wa’l-muqubala_, which means the transposition and removal [of
terms of an equation]). With the Renaissance the centre of scientific
research shifted to Western Europe and from then on the boundaries of
mathematical knowledge were rapidly extended, till to-day the subject is
the common ground on which all the physical sciences meet. The student
is referred to the article MATHEMATICS (Vol. 17, p. 878), by A. N.
Whitehead, fellow and senior lecturer in mathematics, Trinity College,
Cambridge, for a brilliant exposition of the foundations of the subject.
The professed mathematician will, of course, not need any set guide to
his reading, but it may be well to point out one or two articles which
he will find especially worthy of his attention.
[Sidenote: Leading Articles]
The article PROBABILITY, (Vol. 22, p. 376), by Professor Edgeworth,
author of _Mathematical Psychics_, and numerous papers on the calculus
of probabilities, gives, to the best of our belief, the only statement
of the whole problem in the English language. That on ALGEBRAIC FORMS
(Vol. 1, p. 620), by Major Macmahon, former president of the London
Mathematical Society, includes a number of results not previously
published. The article ELASTICITY (Vol. 9, p. 141), by A. E. H. Love,
professor of natural philosophy in the University of Oxford, embodies
the experience of a distinguished mathematician who has made this
subject the object of his special study for years. Sir George Darwin
(son of Charles Darwin) in the article TIDE (Vol. 26, p. 938) summed up
the results of his life’s work. The new electrical theory of the
properties of MATTER (Vol. 17, p. 891) is discussed by Sir J. J.
Thomson, professor of physics, Cambridge, who has done more than anyone
else to develop it. There are many other valuable articles, e.g.,
GEOMETRY, _Axioms_ (Vol. 11, p. 730), and GEOMETRY, _Non-Euclidean_
(Vol. 11, p. 724), by A. N. Whitehead; UNITS, DIMENSIONS OF (Vol. 27, p.
736), by Professor J. A. Fleming; ENERGY and ENERGETICS (Vol. 9, p. 398
and p. 390), by Sir Joseph Larmor; GROUPS, by Prof. Burnside, author of
_Theory of Groups of Finite Order_. Articles which will be found highly
useful to the engineer are MENSURATION (Vol. 18, p. 134); EARTH, FIGURE
OF (Vol. 8, p. 801); GEODESY (Vol. 11, p. 607); STRENGTH OF MATERIALS
(Vol. 25, p. 1007).
[Sidenote: Leading Contributors]
The mathematician will at once recognize the peculiar fitness of the
contributors to deal with the subjects allotted to them, and this
fitness is the more noticeable in the following list, arranged in
alphabetical order, which names and briefly describes the distinguished
mathematicians who have collaborated in the Britannica, and indicates
the principal articles written by each.
H. F. Baker, Fellow and Lecturer of St. John’s College, Cambridge.
Cayley Lecturer in Mathematics in the University. Author of _Abel’s
Theory and the Allied Theory_, etc.:
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION; _Function_, _Functions of Complex Variables_.
Ludwig Boltzmann, formerly Professor of Theoretical Physics in the
Universities of Munich, Vienna, and Leipzig. Author of _Lectures on
the Theory of Gas_; _Lectures on Maxwell’s Theory of Electricity and
Light_:
MODEL.
W. Burnside, Professor of Mathematics, Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
Hon. Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Author of the _Theory of
Groups of Finite Order_, etc.:
GROUPS, THEORY OF
Arthur Cayley, formerly Professor of Pure Mathematics in the
University of Cambridge. See the biographical article (Vol. 5, p.
589):
CURVE (in part); DETERMINANT; EQUATION; NUMBERS, PARTITION OF;
SURFACE (in part); GAUSS, K. F.; MONGE, G.
George Chrystal, Professor of Mathematics and Dean of the Faculty of
Arts, Edinburgh University, Hon. Fellow and formerly Fellow and
Lecturer, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge:
PERPETUAL MOTION; PASCAL (in part); RIEMANN, GEORG.
Col. A. R. Clarke, Royal Medal of Royal Society 1887; in charge of
trigonometrical operations of the Ordnance Survey 1854–1881:
EARTH, FIGURE OF THE (in part); GEODESY (in part); MAP,
_Projections_ (in part).
Agnes Mary Clerke, Author of _History of Astronomy in the 19th
Century_; _The System of the Stars_; _Problems in Astrophysics_; and
many other astronomical books. See the biographical article (Vol. 6,
p. 497):
ASTRONOMY, _History_: ZODIAC; BRAHE, TYCHO; COPERNICUS; FLAMSTEED;
HALLEY; HUYGENS; KEPLER, etc.
Lt. Col. C. F. Close, head of the Geographical Section, British
General Staff, formerly British Representative on the Nyasa-Tanganyika
Boundary Commission. Author of _Text-Book of Topographical Surveying_,
etc.:
MAPS, _Projections_ (in part).
W. E. Dalby, Professor of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at the City
and Guilds of London Institute, Central Technical College, South
Kensington. Author of _The Balancing of Engines_, etc.:
MECHANICS, _Applied_ (in part); and several engineering subjects.
Sir George H. Darwin, late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and
Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy in the
University. President of the British Association, 1905. Author of _The
Tides and Kindred Phenomena in the Solar System_, etc.:
TIDE.
F. Y. Edgeworth, Professor of Political Economy in the University of
Oxford, etc. Author of _Mathematical Psychics_, and numerous papers on
the Calculus of Probabilities in the _Philosophical Magazine_, etc.:
PROBABILITY.
E. B. Elliott, Waynflete Professor of Pure Mathematics, and Fellow of
Magdalen College, Oxford. Formerly Fellow of Queen’s College, Oxford.
President of the London Mathematical Society, 1896–1898. Author of
_Algebra of Quantics_, etc.:
CURVE, (in part); GEOMETRY, IV _Analytical Geometry_.
C. Everitt, Magdalen College, Oxford:
ALGEBRA, _History_: DENSITY; LIGHT, _Introduction_, _History_, etc.
J. A. Ewing, Director of (British) Naval Education. Hon. Fellow of
King’s College, Cambridge. Formerly Professor of Mechanism and Applied
Mechanics in the University of Cambridge. Author of the _Strength of
Materials_, etc.:
STRENGTH OF MATERIALS, and several engineering subjects.
J. A. Fleming, Pender Professor of Electrical Engineering in the
University of London. Fellow of University College, London. Formerly
Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and Lecturer on Applied
Mechanics in the University. Author of _Magnets and Electric
Currents_, etc.:
UNITS, PHYSICAL; and many articles on Electrical Science.
Rev. A. H. Frost:
MAGIC SQUARE.
W. Garnett, Educational Adviser to the London County Council; formerly
Fellow and Lecturer of St. John’s College, Cambridge. Principal and
Professor of Mathematics, Durham College of Science. Author of
_Elementary Dynamics_, etc.:
ENERGY (in part); HYDROMETER; KELVIN, LORD.
J. W. L. Glaisher, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Formerly
President of the Cambridge Philosophical Society and the Royal
Astronomical Society, Editor of _Messenger of Mathematics_ and the
_Quarterly Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics_:
LOGARITHM; TABLE, MATHEMATICAL; LEGENDRE, A. M.; NAPIER, JOHN.
J. H. Grace, Lecturer in Mathematics at Peterhouse and Pembroke
College, Cambridge. Fellow of Peterhouse:
GEOMETRY, _Line Geometry_.
Sir A. G. Greenhill, formerly Professor of Mathematics in the Ordnance
College, Woolwich. Author of _Differential and Integral Calculus with
Applications_; _Hydrostatics_; _Notes on Dynamics_, etc.:
BALLISTICS; GYROSCOPE AND GYROSTAT; HYDROMECHANICS.
Sir Thomas Little Heath, Assistant-Secretary to the Treasury, London.
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Author of _Apollonius of Perga_;
_Treatise on Conic Sections_; _The Thirteen Books of Euclid’s
Elements_, etc.:
ANTHEMIUS; APOLLONIUS OF PERGA; ARCHIMEDES; HERO OF ALEXANDRIA;
PAPPUS OF ALEXANDRIA; PORISM, etc.
F. R. Helmert, Professor of Geodesy in the University of Berlin:
EARTH, FIGURE OF THE (in part); GEODESY (in part).
O. M. F. Henrici, Professor of Mechanics and Mathematics in the
Central Technical College of the City and Guilds of London Institute.
Author of _Vectors and Rotors_; _Congruent Figures_, etc.:
CALCULATING MACHINES; GEOMETRY, I. _Euclidean_; II. _Projective_;
III. _Descriptive_; PERSPECTIVE; PROJECTION.
E. W. Hobson, Fellow and Tutor in Mathematics, Christ’s College,
Cambridge. Stokes Lecturer in Mathematics in the University:
FOURIER’S SERIES; SPHERICAL HARMONICS; TRIGONOMETRY.
A. E. Jolliffe, Fellow, Tutor and Mathematical Lecturer, Corpus
Christi College, Oxford. Senior Mathematical Scholar, 1892:
CONTINUED FRACTIONS; MAXIMA AND MINIMA; SERIES.
H. Lamb, Professor of Mathematics, University of Manchester, formerly
Fellow and Assistant Tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge; Member of
Council of Royal Society, 1894–1896. Royal Medallist, 1902. President
of London Mathematical Society 1902–1904. Author of HYDRODYNAMICS,
etc.:
DYNAMICS; HARMONIC ANALYSIS; MECHANICS, I. _Theoretical_; VECTOR
ANALYSIS; WAVE.
A. E. H. Love, Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy in the
University of Oxford. Hon. Fellow of Queen’s College; formerly Fellow
of St. John’s College, Cambridge; Secretary to the London Mathematical
Society:
ELASTICITY; VARIATIONS, CALCULUS OF; FUNCTION, _Functions of Real
Variables_; INFINITESIMAL CALCULUS.
W. H. Macaulay, Fellow and Tutor of King’s College, Cambridge:
MOTION, LAWS OF.
Major P. A. Macmahon, Deputy Warden of the Standards, Board of Trade.
Joint General Secretary, British Association. Formerly Professor of
Physics, Ordnance College. President of London Mathematical Society,
1894–1896:
ALGEBRAIC FORMS; COMBINATORIAL ANALYSIS; CAYLEY, ARTHUR.
G. B. Mathews, formerly Professor of Mathematics, University College
of N. Wales, sometime Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge:
ALGEBRA, _Special Kinds of Algebra_; NUMBER.
J. Clerk Maxwell, former Professor of Experimental Physics in the
University of Cambridge. See biographical article (Vol. 17, p. 929):
CAPILLARY ACTION (in part); DIAGRAM.
Simon Newcomb, former Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy, Johns
Hopkins University, etc. See the biographical article (Vol. 19, p.
474):
ASTRONOMY, _Descriptive_; and many other astronomical subjects.
J. H. Poynting, Professor of Physics and Dean of the Faculty of
Science in the University of Birmingham. Formerly Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge. Joint-author of _Text-Book of Physics_:
ACOUSTICS; GRAVITATION (in part); SOUND.
F. Purser, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin; Professor of
Natural Philosophy in the University of Dublin; Member of the Royal
Irish Academy:
SURFACE (in part).
J. Purser, formerly Professor of Mathematics in Queen’s College,
Belfast. Member of the Royal Irish Academy:
SURFACE (in part).
W. J. M. Rankine, former Professor of Civil Engineering at Glasgow
University. See the biographical article (Vol. 22, p. 894):
MECHANICS, _Applied_ (in part).
Hon. B. A. W. Russell, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Author of _Foundations of Geometry_; _Principles of Mathematics_,
etc.:
GEOMETRY, VI. _Non-Euclidean_ (in part).
W. F. Sheppard, Senior Examiner in the Board of Education; formerly
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; Senior Wrangler, 1884:
ALGEBRA, _Principles of Ordinary Algebra_; ARITHMETIC; DIFFERENCES,
CALCULUS OF; INTERPOLATION; MENSURATION.
P. G. Tait, late professor of Natural Philosophy, Edinburgh
University. Author of _Elementary Treatise on Quaternions_. Joint
author with Lord Kelvin of _Treatise on Natural Philosophy_:
KNOT; QUATERNIONS (in part); HAMILTON, SIR WILLIAM; MAXWELL, JAMES
CLERK.
Rev. Charles Taylor, formerly Master of St. John’s College, Cambridge.
Vice-Chancellor, Cambridge University, 1887–1888. Author of
_Geometrical Conics_, etc.:
GEOMETRICAL CONTINUITY.
H. M. Taylor, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; formerly Tutor and
Lecturer. Smith’s Prizeman, 1865. Editor of the Pitt Press _Euclid_:
NEWTON, SIR ISAAC.
Sir J. J. Thomson, Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics and
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. President of the British
Association, 1909–1910. Author of _A Treatise on the Motion of Vortex
Rings_; _Application of Dynamics to Physics and Chemistry_:
MATTER; and several articles on Electrical Science.
J. Walker, Christ Church, Oxford. Demonstrator in the Clarendon
laboratory. Formerly Vice-President of the Physical Society. Author of
_The Analytical Theory of Light_, etc.:
POLARIZATION OF LIGHT; REFRACTION, _Double Refraction_.
A. N. Whitehead, Fellow and Lecturer in Mathematics, Trinity College,
Cambridge. Author of _A Treatise on Universal Algebra_, etc.:
GEOMETRY VI. _Non-Euclidean Geometry_ (in part); GEOMETRY VII.
_Axioms on Geometry_; MATHEMATICS.
These are the men who are responsible for the mathematical sections of
the Britannica. A fuller list of articles on mathematical subjects is
given below.
Abel, Niels Henrik
Abscissa
Acceleration
Agnesi, Maria Gaetana
Aguillon, F. D.
Algebra
Algebraic Forms
Aliquot
Allen, or Alleyn T.
Amicable Numbers
Anderson, Alexander
Angle
Anthemius
Apollonius of Perga
Archimedes
Argument
Arithmetic
Autolycus of Pitane
Axis
Babbage, Charles
Baldi, Bernardino
Ballistics
Barlow, Peter
Barrow, Isaac
Bernoulli (family)
Bessel Function
Binomial
Biquadratic
Bisectrix
Boole, George
Borda, Jean Charles
Boscovich, Roger J.
Bouguer, Pierre
Bowditch, Nathaniel
Brachistochrone
Briggs, Henry
Buxton, Jedediah
Calculating Machines
Camus, Charles E. L.
Cardan, Girolamo
Cardioid
Castel, Louis Bertrand
Catenary
Cauchy, A. L., baron
Cayley, Arthur
Charles, J. A. C.
Chebichev, P. L.
Circle
Cissoid
Clairault, A. C.
Clifford, William K.
Cocker, Edward
Colburn, Z.
Combinatorial Analysis
Conchoid
Cone
Conic Section
Conoid
Continued Fractions
Cotes, Roger
Cremona, Luigi
Cube
Curve
Cycloid
Cylinder
Demoivre, Abraham
De Morgan, Augustus
Determinant
Diagonal
Diagram
Diameter
Differences, Calculus of
Differential Equation
Dimension
Diophantus of Alexandria
Ditton, Humphry
Dodecahedron
Dynamics
Earth, Figure of the
Elasticity
Ellipse
Ellipsoid
Emerson, William
Energetics
Energy
Epicycloid
Equation
Euclid
Euler, Leonhard
Fermat, Pierre de
Figurate Numbers
Focus
Folium
Fourier, J. B. J.
Fourier’s Series
Frisi, Paolo
Frustum
Function
Galloway, Thomas
Galois, Evariste
Gauss, Karl Friedrich
Geodesy
Geometrical Continuity
Geometry
Gnomon
Graphical Methods
Gravitation
Greaves, John
Gregory (family)
Gregory, Olinthus G.
Groups, Theory of
Gunter, Edmund
Gyroscope and Gyrostat
Hachette, J. N. P.
Hamilton, Sir W. R.
Harmonic
Harmonic Analysis
Harriot, T.
Hero of Alexandria
Hodograph
Hutton, Charles
Huygens, Christiaan
Hydrodynamics
Hydromechanics
Hydrostatics
Hyperbola
Icosahedron
Inaudi, Jacques
Infinite
Infinitesimal Calculus
Interpolation
Inversion
Involution
Ivory, Sir James
Jacobi, Karl G. J.
Kelvin, William Thomson, 1st baron
Kinematics
Kinetics
Kircher, Athanasius
Knot
Kovalevsky, Sophie
Lagrange, Joseph L.
Landen, John
Laplace, P. S., de
Lardner, Dionysius
Legendre, Adrien Marie
Lemniscate
Leonardo of Pisa
Leslie, Sir John
Lever
Lie, Marius Sophus
Limaçon
Line
Lobachevskiy, N. I.
Locus
Logarithm
Logocyclic Curve, Strophoid or Foliate
MacCullagh, James
Maclaurin, Colin
Magic Square
Map
Mascheroni, Lorenzo
Mathematics
Matter
Maupertuis, Pierre de
Maxima and Minima
Maxwell, J. Clerk
Mechanics
Mensuration
Mersenne, Marin
Monge, Gaspard
Montucia, Jean-Étienne
Motion, Laws of
Murphy, Robert
Napier, John
Newton, Sir Isaac
Nicomachus of Gerasa
Number
Numbers, Partition of
Numeral
Octahedron
Ordinate
Oughtred, William
Oval
Pantograph
Pappus of Alexandria
Parabola
Peacock, George
Peirce, Benjamin
Pell, John
Perpetual Motion
Perspective
Pfaff, J. F.
Playfair, John
Plücker, Julius
Poinsot, Louis
Poisson, Siméon Denis
Polygon
Polygonal Numbers
Polyhedral Numbers
Polyhedron
Poncelet, Jean Victor
Porism
Price, Bartholomew
Prism
Probability
Projection
Quadratrix
Quaternions
Recorde, Robert
Riccati, J. F., count
Riemann, G. F. B.
Roberval, G. P. de
Robins, Benjamin
Roulette
Routh, Edward John
Russell, John Scott
Salmon, George
Saunderson, N.
Serenus of Antissa
Series
Serpentine
Simpson, Thomas
Simson, Robert
Smith, H. J. S.
Smith, Robert
Snell, Willebrord
Sphere
Spherical Harmonics
Spheroid
Spiral
Spottiswoode, W.
Statics
Steiner, Jakob
Stevinus, Simon
Stirling, James
Stokes, Sir George G.
Strength of Materials
Sturm, J. C. F.
Surface
Sylvester, J. J.
Table, Mathematical
Tait, Peter G.
Tartaglia, Niccolo
Taylor, Brook
Tetrahedron
Theodosius of Tripolis
Thompson, T. P.
Tide
Todhunter, Isaac
Triangle
Trigonometry
Trisectrix
Units, Dimensions of
Units, Physical
Variations, Calculus of
Vector Analysis
Vernier, Pierre
Vieta (or Viète), F.
Wallace, William
Wallis, John
Wave
Witch of Agnesi
Zero
CHAPTER LIII
ASTRONOMY
No greater homage has ever been paid to the progress of American science
than when the planning and supervision of the astronomical section of
the new Encyclopaedia Britannica was entrusted to the late Prof. Simon
Newcomb, who was also the only American save Benjamin Franklin ever
elected an associate of the French Institute. His death occurred some
time before the Britannica was completed, but he had already finished
the articles which he had undertaken personally to contribute, and read
a great number of the other articles which had, at his suggestion, been
assigned to eminent astronomers in various parts of the world. His
famous hand-book, _Popular Astronomy_, has been translated into all the
European languages, and into Japanese as well; but the unlimited
resources in the way of collaboration which the editorial organization
of the Britannica put at his disposal, enabled him to assemble in these
volumes a complete body of astronomical knowledge which is the greatest
of his educational achievements.
The making of a lens for a great telescope is the most difficult
undertaking in all craftsmanship, and the mounting of the telescope
itself a triumph of mechanical ingenuity. Yet the stars and planets have
been guide-posts for the shepherd and the sailor throughout the ages,
and have told the farmer when to sow and when to reap, and, even in our
day, observations made by an amateur, through a common field-glass, have
in more than one instance yielded results of serious value.
[Sidenote: A Few Facts]
Progress is from one point of view so slow that astronomers are now
compiling data regarding fixed stars of which the motion cannot be
deduced for centuries to come; yet some of the changes to be observed
are so swift that solar prominences often rise at the rate of 350,000
miles an hour, and have been seen to rise to that height. The
temperature of the sun’s envelope, 6000° C., greatly exceeds any that we
can artificially create, and would convert into gas any substance we
know; and for every unit of heat it sends to the earth, a hundred
million other units, poured into space, are absolutely lost for any
purposes of mechanical effect.
Astronomy deals with objects so minute that even a shooting star
evolving, as it passes through our atmosphere, so much light that we can
trace its course with the naked eye, may be no larger than a grain of
sand; deals, too, with objects of so shadowy a nature that the white
clouds in our sky are, in comparison, solid blocks; and deals, again,
with distances and surfaces so vast that numerical description fails to
convey any impression but one of confusion.
It is not easy to conceive, when we see a balloon in the air, the
remainder that would exist if the bag, the car, and the cordage were all
subtracted. There would be, until the gas mixed with the atmosphere, a
sphere of gas. The stars, our sun included, seem to be masses of
incandescent gas, possessing fairly definite boundaries, and not far
from spherical in shape; the nebulae seem also to be masses of
incandescent gas, irregular in form and having no clearly marked limits;
even the nucleus of a comet is apparently not solid enough to be opaque;
and as the four great planets also seem to be gaseous, it is probable
that only the smaller bodies, like our earth, the moon, and Mars, are
solid.
To the rule that we can handle none of the matter that originates beyond
the limits of our atmosphere, the meteorites supply an exception.
Seventy years ago, a mass of stone, cold and invisible, flying through
the aether of space at the rate of some hundred thousand miles an hour,
entered our atmosphere, became so hot, as the air’s friction checked its
speed, that bits of its surface, fused to crust, flicked off and floated
in the air, leaving a shining trail; then as its speed was reduced to
some three hundred miles an hour, cooled until it was no hotter than a
laundress likes her iron to be. At Mhow, in India, as it made a dent in
the earth, it killed a man—the only man known to history who has died so
uncanny a death. But near Wold Cottage, in Yorkshire, England, thirty
years before, another meteorite had fallen only ten yards from a
labourer; and only thirty years ago another arrived on a Yorkshire
railway line, forty yards from a gang of platelayers. The largest
meteoric mass known weighs about fifty tons, but most of them seem to
have split in the course of their journey; and at Hessle, a hundred
thousand fragments spread, like grapeshot from a giant gun, over an area
of some thirty square miles. See METEORITE (Vol. 18, p. 262).
[Sidenote: Life on Mars]
Although the closest scrutiny has not discovered in any meteorite a
shred of life, even the lowest, we obtain, from another source, and by a
different method of observation, evidence—as yet inconclusive,—that not
only life, but intelligent life exists beyond our planet. As in respect
of other astronomical problems, the Britannica is singularly clear,
impartial and authoritative in its treatment of this question. The
article MARS (Vol. 17, p. 761) was written by Professor Newcomb, but
Professor Percival Lowell contributes a summary of the recent
investigations and deductions relating to Mars with which his name is
associated. In 1877, Schiaparelli, adopting the old belief now abandoned
by all astronomers, that oceans occupied the darker-coloured regions of
Mars, observed dark streaks connecting these dark patches, and,
believing them to be strips of water, described them by the Italian word
“canale,” by which he meant channels, or natural bodies of water. An
absurd misconception of his meaning gave wide currency to the idea that
these strips were artificial _canals_, a manifest impossibility, as they
are many miles in width. No canal, properly so called, could be so wide,
and no reservoir could conceivably be so extensive. There is, in the
existence of such patches, even if they were bodies of water, as no one
now believes them to be, not the slightest indication of excavation. In
1894, Professor Lowell, an American astronomer of great authority,
established, for the special purpose of observing Mars, the Lowell
Observatory at Flagstaff, in Arizona, 7,250 feet above sea level, in
singularly clear, dry air, equipped with a twenty-four-inch telescope.
This observatory unquestionably commands greater penetration than any
other, and Professor Newcomb says that the work there upon Mars “has
been continued with such care and assiduity that its results must take
precedence of all others.” Professor Lowell’s first announcement that he
had detected evidences of the existence of extensive artificial canals,
which would of course absolutely prove Mars to be inhabited by
intelligent creatures, was received with derision by many critics who
jumped to the conclusion that he meant artificial canals many miles in
width. Fuller statements from Professor Lowell showed that he believed
Schiaparelli’s wide strips to be not water, _but areas of vegetation
lying on each side of artificial irrigating canals of no extraordinary
width_, by a network of which water is brought to, and distributed
throughout, the temperate and equatorial zones of Mars from the extreme
North and South, as the polar snow caps melt; and that this irrigation
gives the rainless area a seasonal fertility, just as the melting of
Abyssinian snows fecundates the distant valley of the lower Nile. These
strips, according to Professor Lowell and other observers, are at one
season of a bluish-green colour suggesting prosperous vegetation, then
fade to a paler shade or in some places to a tawny brown. The strips are
thousands of miles in length, perfectly straight. No one claims to have
seen the artificial canals, but if there are areas of vegetation, they
must be due to irrigation performed by waterways. If continued
observations confirm the existence of these strips, it will become
certain that they are not telescopic illusions, but the results of
engineering operations on a scale unknown to our planet. The readings
indicated in this chapter will yield a survey of this special field, as
of all other fields of current research in astronomy, and give new
interest to current investigations.
A brief account of some of the principal astronomical articles is
printed here in tabular form, and a fuller list, alphabetically
arranged, follows this topical outline.
_Topics for Reading_ _Article and Contributor_
Early Interest in the Sky.
Astral theology—the “assumption of ASTROLOGY (Vol. 2, p. 795), and
a close link between the BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN RELIGION
movements going on in the heavens (Vol. 3, p. 114), by Dr. Morris
and occurrences on the earth.” Jastrow, author of _Religion of
The history of astrology traced the Babylonians and Assyrians_.
to ancient Babylonia (about 3000
B.C.).
Story of the Constellations. A Map CONSTELLATION—with star-maps and
of the Heavens. tables (Vol. 7, p. 11), by
Charles Everitt, fellow Royal
Astronomical Society. See also
separate articles on the
principal constellations and
stars.
Development of Astronomy.
Scientific knowledge of the ancient ASTRONOMY, _History_ (Vol. 2, p.
Chinese, Egyptians and 808), by Agnes M. Clerke, author
Babylonians. Revolutionary cycle of _A Popular History of
of the planets. Astronomy_.
First conception of the earth as a PYTHAGORAS (Vol. 22, p. 699), by
globe. “The harmony of the Dr. A. S. Pringle-Pattison,
spheres.” Identification of author of _Man’s Place in the
morning and evening stars (about Cosmos_, etc.
520 B.C.).
The Greeks measure the earth by ERATOSTHENES OF ALEXANDRIA (Vol. 9,
astronomical means (about 200 p. 733), by Sir Thomas Little
B.C.). Heath, author of _Treatise on
Conic Sections_.
The first observatory. OBSERVATORY (Vol. 19, p. 954), by
J. L. E. Dreyer, Director of
Armagh Observatory.
The first systematic astronomer, PTOLEMY, _Mathematics_ (Vol. 22, p.
Ptolemy and his System (A.D. 620), by Prof. George J. Allman,
150). Queen’s, Galway; COPERNICUS (Vol.
7, p. 100), by Agnes M. Clerke.
Revival of heliocentric theory KEPLER, JOHANN (Vol. 15, p. 749),
(A.D. 1506–1512). by Agnes M. Clerke.
Plan of Solar System realized. The GALILEO GALILEI (Vol. 11, p. 406),
founder of descriptive astronomy by Agnes M. Clerke.
(1564–1642).
Newton’s contributions to astronomy NEWTON, SIR ISAAC (Vol. 19, p.
and astronomical physics 586), by Henry M. Taylor, Fellow
(1585–1586). of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Continuation of Newton’s work. EULER, LEONHARD (Vol. 9, p. 887).
Nebular hypothesis of Laplace NEBULAR THEORY (Vol. 19, p. 333),
(1796). by Sir Robert S. Ball, author of
_The Story of the Heavens_, etc.
The New Astronomy.
Work of Wollaston, Fraunhofer, ASTROPHYSICS (Vol. 2, p. 819), by
Kirchoff, and Rowland in spectrum Dr. Simon Newcomb, late director
analysis. National Observatory, Washington.
Discoveries during recent eclipses. PHOTOGRAPHY, CELESTIAL (Vol. 21, p.
Photographing the Heavens, 523), by Prof. H. H. Turner,
Star-charts, etc. Oxford, author of _Modern
Astronomy_, etc.
Measuring light and heat from the PHOTOMETRY, _Celestial, or Stellar
stars,—radio-micrometer. Photometry_ (Vol. 21, p. 530), by
Dr. H. H. Turner, Oxford.
New method of photographing the sun SPECTROHELIOGRAPH, illustrated
and the results of this mode of (Vol. 25, p. 618), by Dr. George
study. E. Hale, inventor of the
spectroheliograph.
Principles of Astronomy.
How the positions and motions of ASTRONOMY, _Spherical or
the heavenly bodies are defined. Geometrical Astronomy_ (Vol. 2,
System of co-ordinates. p. 801), by Dr. Simon Newcomb.
Distance of sun from earth the PARALLAX (Vol. 20, p. 760), by Dr.
fundamental celestial Simon Newcomb.
measurement.
Methods of determining distances of STAR, _Distances and Parallaxes of
stars. the Stars_ (Vol. 25, p. 789), by
Arthur S. Eddington, Royal
Observatory, Greenwich.
Apparent motion of the heavenly ABERRATION, _Aberration of Light_
bodies. (Vol. 1, p. 54), by Dr. S. Otto
Eppenstein, Zeiss Optical Works,
Jena, Germany.
Eclipses and their recurrence. List ECLIPSE (Vol. 8, p. 887), by Dr.
of solar eclipses. Methods of Simon Newcomb.
computing eclipses.
Diameter of earth as an EARTH, FIGURE OF THE (Vol. 8, p.
astronomical unit. Determination 801), by Alexander R. Clarke,
of diameter and figure of earth. Ordnance Survey, and Prof. F. R.
Helmert, University of Berlin.
The Stars. The two Star-Streams. STAR (Vol. 25, p. 785), by Arthur
Milky Way. Distribution of stars. S. Eddington, Royal Observatory,
Greenwich.
True nebulae. Constitution. How NEBULA, illustrated (Vol. 19, p.
they differ from star-clusters. 332), by Arthur S. Eddington.
Comets—origins and orbits. Physical COMET, illustrated (Vol. 6, p.
constitution. List of periodic 759), by Dr. Simon Newcomb.
comets.
Shooting Stars. History of meteoric METEOR (Vol. 18, p. 260), by W. F.
showers. Denning, formerly president,
Liverpool Astronomical Society.
Constitution of Shooting Stars. METEORITE (Vol. 18, p. 262), by
Lazarus Fletcher, author of
_Introduction to the Study of
Meteorites_.
General description of the Solar SOLAR SYSTEM (Vol. 25, p. 357), by
System. Dr. Simon Newcomb.
The photosphere, chromosphere and SUN, illustrated (Vol. 26, p. 85),
corona, dimensions, temperature, by Dr. Ralph A. Sampson,
and age of the sun, sun-spots. Astronomer Royal for Scotland.
The vast envelope which surrounds ZODIACAL LIGHT (Vol. 28, p. 998),
the sun. by Dr. Simon Newcomb.
Are Northern Lights due to AURORA POLARIS, illustrated (Vol.
emanations from the sun? 2, p. 934), by Dr. Charles Chree,
president Physical Society of
London.
Opaque Bodies, members of the Solar PLANET, illustrated (Vol. 21, p.
System. Their relation to each 714), and PLANETS, MINOR (Vol.
other. Their spectra, atmosphere, 21, p. 717), both by Dr. Simon
temperatures. First planetoid Newcomb.
discovered (Jan. 1, 1801).
Groupings of the planetoids.
The smallest major planet. How it MERCURY (Vol. 18, p. 154), by Dr.
presents the same face always to Simon Newcomb.
the sun.
Venus: Its peculiar rotation and VENUS (Vol. 27, p. 1013), by Dr.
cloudy atmosphere. Has Venus a Simon Newcomb.
satellite?
The earth as a member of the solar EARTH (Vol. 8, p. 799).
system.
Our nearest neighbour. Is it MARS, illustrated (Vol. 17, p.
inhabited? Similarity of physical 761), by Dr. Simon Newcomb, with
conditions to those of the earth. a summary by Professor Lowell, of
the observations at Flagstaff.
The largest planet. Its belts, JUPITER, illustrated (Vol. 15, p.
spots, markings and surface. Is 562), by W. F. Denning, formerly
the great red spot a floating president, Liverpool Astronomical
island? Society.
The ringed planet. Physical SATURN (Vol. 24, p. 232), by Dr.
constitution of rings. Simon Newcomb.
Uranus: Its discovery, physical URANUS (Vol. 27, p. 788), by Dr.
characteristics and satellites. Simon Newcomb.
The outermost known planet. NEPTUNE (Vol. 19, p. 385), by Dr.
Dimensions. Resemblance to Simon Newcomb.
Uranus.
Wonderful story of its discovery ADAMS, JOHN COUCH (Vol. 1, p. 177).
(1845). LEVERRIER, U. J. J. (Vol. 16, p.
510), by Agnes M. Clerke, author
of _A Popular History of
Astronomy_.
The moon. Its aspects, phases and MOON, illustrated (Vol. 18, p.
constitution. Its mountains and 802), by Dr. Simon Newcomb.
atmosphere.
Development of Practical and
Observational Astronomy.
Current mode of star nomenclature ASTRONOMY, _History of Astronomy_
adopted (1603). First planetary (Vol. 2, p. 813), by Agnes M.
transit observed by Gassendi Clerke, author of _A Popular
(1631). History of Astronomy_.
Astronomical Instruments.
How co-ordinates used in ASTRONOMY, _Practical Astronomy_
astronomical research are (Vol. 2 p. 807), by Dr. Simon
determined. Newcomb.
Telescope: Discovery and history. TELESCOPE, illustrated (Vol. 26, p.
Parts and mounting. Great 557), by Sir David Gill, formerly
telescopes of the world. Astronomer Royal at the Cape of
Good Hope, and H. Dennis Taylor,
inventor of the Cooke
Photographic Lens.
The Transit Circle due to Tycho TRANSIT CIRCLE, illustrated (Vol.
Brahe. Description and use. 27, p. 181), by J. L. E. Dreyer,
Armagh Observatory, author of
_Planetary Systems from Thales to
Kepler_, etc.
Measuring machines. Importance and MICROMETER, illustrated (Vol. 18,
use in astronomy. p. 381), by Sir David Gill.
Measuring the sun’s diameter. HELIOMETER, illustrated (Vol. 13,
p. 224), by Sir David Gill.
Old time instruments. “Nearly every ASTROLABE, illustrated (Vol. 2, p.
one of the modern instruments 795), by Lady Huggins, author of
used for the observatories of _Life and Work of G. P. Mazzini_.
practical astronomy is part of
the perfected astrolabe.”
Complete list of observatories OBSERVATORY (Vol. 19, p. 953), by
throughout the world, date of J. L. E. Dreyer, director Armagh
foundation, their equipment and Observatory, author of _Planetary
their specialized work. Systems from Thales to Kepler_.
LIST OF ARTICLES IN THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA ON ASTRONOMY
Aberration
Ablatitious
Adams, John Couch
Airy, Sir George B.
Albategnius
Albedo
Albumazar (Abu-Maaschar)
Algol
Alidade
Almacantar
Altitude
Amici, Giovanni B.
Amplitude
Andromeda
Andronicus of Cyrrhus
Anomaly
Ansa
Aphelion
Apse and Apsides
Aquarius
Aquila
Arcturus
Argelander, F. W. A.
Aries
Aristarchus, of Samos
Armilla
Astrolabe
Astrology
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Auriga
Azimuth
Bailly, Jean S.
Baily, Francis
Bainbridge, John
Bessel, Friedrich W.
Bianchini, Francesco
Binary System
Biquintile
Black Drop
Bode, Johann Elert
Boötes
Bradley, James
Brahe, Tycho
Brisbane, Sir Thomas M.
Brünnow, F. F. E.
Calvisius, Sethus
Campani-Alimenis, M.
Cancer
Canes Venatici
Canis Major
Capricornus
Carrington, R. C.
Cassini (family)
Cassiopeia
Celsius, Anders
Centaurus
Cepheus
Cetus
Chromosphere
Clerke, Agnes Mary
Colure
Coma Berenices
Comet
Comet-Seeker
Compression
Conjunction
Conon
Constellation
Copernicus, Nicolaus
Corona
Coronium
Cosmic
Culmination
Cunitz, Maria
Cycle
Cygnus
Cynosure
Declination
Dee, John
Deferent
Delambre, J. B. J.
De la Rue, Warren
Delisle, Joseph N.
Delphinus
Dial and Dialling
Dick, Thomas
Direct Motion
Diurnal Motion
Donati, Giovanni B.
Draco
Dupuis, Charles F.
Earth
Eccentric
Eclipse
Ecliptic
Egress
Ellipticity
Elongation
Encke, Johann Franz
Ephemeris
Epicycle
Epoch
Equation of the Centre
Equation of Time
Equator
Equinox
Eratosthenes of Alexandria
Eridanus
Eros
Establishment of a Port
Evection
Facula
Firmament
Flamsteed, John
Galileo, Galilei
Gegenschein
Gemini
Geocentric
Gould, B. A.
Grant, Robert
Halley, Edmund
Hansen, Peter Andreas
Hansteen, Christopher
Heliacal
Heliocentric
Heliometer
Hercules
Herschel, Caroline L.
Herschel, Sir F. W.
Herschel, Sir J. F. W.
Hevelius, Johann
Hipparchus
Horizon
Horrocks, Jeremiah
Hour Angle
Huggins, Sir William
Hydra
Ideler, C. L.
Immersion
Inghirami, G.
Ingress
Invariable Plane
Janssen, Pierre Jules C.
Jupiter
Kepler, Johann
Lacaille, N. L. de
Lalande, J. J. L. de
Lamont, Johann von
Latitude
Lemonnier, Pierre C.
Leo
Leverrier, U. J. J.
Libra
Libration
Lilly, William
Lockyer, Sir J. Norman
Longitude
Longomontanus, C. S.
Lunation
Lyra
Magellanic Clouds
Mars
Mayer, Johann Tobias
Mercury
Meridian
Meteor
Metonic Cycle
Micrometer
Mitcel, Ormsby M.
Mitchell, Maria
Möbius, August F.
Moon
Mouchez, A. E. B.
Nadir
Nebula
Nebular Theory
Neptune
Newcomb, Simon
Node
Nostradamus
Nutation
Observatory
Occultation
Olbers, Heinrich W. M.
Orbit
Orion
Parallax
Penumbra
Perigee
Perihelion
Perseus
Phoebe
Photography, Celestial
Photometry, Celestial
Piazzi, Giuseppe
Pickering, E. C.
Pisces
Planet
Planets, Minor
Pleiades
Pond, John
Pons, Jean Louis
Precession of the Equinoxes
Prime Vertical
Pritchard, Charles
Proctor, Richard A.
Ptolemy (Claudius)
Quadrature
Quetelet, L. A. Jacques
Ramsden, Jesse
Regiomontanus
Reichenbach, G. von
Repsold, Johann G.
Retrograde
Rheticus, or Rhaeticus
Right Ascension
Rittenhouse, David
Robinson, J. T. R.
Roemer, Ole
Rosse, William Parsons, 3rd earl of
Rümker, C. L. C.
Sabine, Sir Edward
Sacro Bosco, Johannes de (John Holywood)
Sagitta
Sagittarius
Santini, Giovanni
Satellite
Saturn
Schiaparelli, G. V.
Schönfeld, Eduard
Schröter, Johann H.
Schumacher, H. C.
Schwabe, Samuel H.
Scorpio
Secchi, Angelo
Serpentarius or Ophiuchus
Sextant
Smyth, Charles Piazzi
Solar System
Solstice
Somerville, Mary
Sosigenes
Spectroheliograph
Star
Stationary
Stone, Edward Jones
Struve, E. G. W.
Sun
Synodic Period
Syzygy
Taurus
Telescope
Terminator
Three Bodies, Problem
Tide
Time, Measurement of
Time, Standard
Tisserand, F. F.
Transit Circle, or Meridian Circle
Trepidation
Troughton, Edward
Ulugh Beg
Umbra
Uranus
Ursa Major
Ursa Minor
Venus
Vertical
Virgo
Vulpecula et Anser
Walker, Sears Cook
Walther, Bernhard
Zach, Baron von
Zenith
Zodiac
Zodiacal Light
Zöllner, J. K. F.
CHAPTER LIV
PHYSICS
[Sidenote: Early Ideas of the World]
More than two thousand years ago the poet Lucretius, reviewing the
physical knowledge and theories of the Greeks, described, as the
Britannica tells us, how “the world was formed by the conjunctions of
streams of atoms, which condensed into the earth, with its attendant
water, air, and aether, to form a self-contained whole,” and went on to
tell how in the changes of infinite time all possible forms of life
appeared, but only those fittest to survive persisted. Here we have an
unconscious anticipation of the nebular hypothesis and the theory of
natural selection, two of the most tremendous of modern speculations.
Four hundred years earlier Democritus, the greatest of the Greek natural
philosophers, had said: “According to convention there is a sweet and a
bitter, and according to convention there is colour. In truth there are
atoms and a void.” Democritus came near announcing the doctrines of the
indestructibility of matter and the conservation of energy, yet the
conventions which he assailed persisted for generations: colour, taste
and other qualities of a substance being regarded as of its essence and
as much realities as the substance itself. The theories of the Greeks in
fact held the field for centuries, until, during the Renaissance, men’s
minds attacked the secrets of nature in a more modern spirit. Yet, long
as has been its history, physical science, as we know it to-day, is but
a few years old, the result of the feverish activity which has been the
obsession of the generation now passing (Vol. 24, p. 396).
There are many entertaining touches in the historical account of the
development of the physical sciences with which this section of the
Britannica is enriched, for every branch of the subject has been treated
from the historical point of view. The articles, too, have been written
by masters who can describe clearly because they see clearly, and no
reader, desiring a sound knowledge of the general principles on which
science rests, and of the conclusions to which the latest investigations
have directed scientific thought, will go away empty handed.
The section of the Physical Sciences in the Britannica covers, of
course, an enormous field which for general purposes may be conveniently
divided into:—
(_i_) _Matter and Motion_
(_ii_) _Sound_
(_iii_) _Light_
(_iv_) _Heat_
(_v_) _Electricity and Magnetism_
As a preliminary to any one of these and to the whole subject the reader
will be well advised to read the article SCIENCE (Vol. 24, p. 396), by
W. C. D. Whetham of Trinity College, Cambridge, author of _Recent
Development of Physical Science_; those on UNITS, PHYSICAL (Vol. 27, p.
738), and UNITS, DIMENSIONS OF (Vol. 27, p. 736), are also of
fundamental importance; and those on SPACE AND TIME (Vol. 25, p. 525),
and TIME, MEASUREMENT OF (Vol. 26, p. 983), may profitably be consulted.
(_I_) _Matter and Motion_
[Sidenote: Matter]
Since all physical phenomena are manifestations, in one form or other,
of matter in motion, this first division of the subject is introductory
to all the rest, and should preferably be studied first. The latest
theories in connection with the properties of MATTER (Vol. 17, p. 891)
are discussed by Sir J. J. Thomson, professor of experimental physics,
Cambridge University, who has led the way in the investigation of the
electrical theory of matter. The article is directed to the
establishment of the electronic theory, and in view of the vast amount
of original work which the author has carried out in this field, his
treatment in the Britannica should be welcome to all students of
physical science. Supplementing this are the following: ELEMENT, by
Wilhelm Ostwald (Nobel Prizeman in Chemistry, 1909), especially the
concluding remarks (Vol. 9, p. 253); ATOM (Vol. 2, p. 870); ELECTRICITY,
_Electronic Theory_ (Vol. 9, p. 192). Early hypotheses are described
under SCIENCE (Vol. 24, p. 397); MOLECULES (Vol. 18, p. 654); ALCHEMY
(Vol. 1, p. 521); and modern conceptions are discussed under LIQUID
GASES, _Cohesion_ (Vol. 16, p. 756); and SPECTROSCOPY (Vol. 25, p. 625).
Reference should also be made to the articles DENSITY (Vol. 8, p. 46);
DIFFUSION (Vol. 8, p. 255); and especially GRAVITATION (Vol. 12, p.
384), by Professor Poynting of the University of Birmingham, and AETHER
(Vol. 1, p. 292), by Sir Joseph Larmor, secretary of the Royal Society.
[Sidenote: Motion]
The principal articles dealing with motion are: MOTION, LAWS OF (Vol.
18, p. 906), which deals mainly with Newton’s Laws; and ENERGY (Vol. 9,
p. 398), and ENERGETICS (Vol. 9, p. 390), both by Sir Joseph Larmor. Of
as great importance from the physical point of view are WAVE (Vol. 28,
p. 424), the part of the article MECHANICS dealing with simple harmonic
motion (Vol. 17, p. 975) and elliptic harmonic motion (p. 978), and
HARMONIC ANALYSIS (Vol. 12, p. 956), all by Professor Lamb of the
University of Manchester. Other articles which should be consulted are
CAPILLARY ACTION (Vol. 5, p. 256), and PERPETUAL MOTION (Vol. 21, p.
180).
(_II_) _Sound_
The main article SOUND (Vol. 25, p. 437) is by Prof. J. H. Poynting of
the University of Birmingham, and very completely covers the subject;
the reader will, however, wish to refer to several other articles for
supplementary information. Thus in the article HEARING (Vol. 13, p.
124), the range of audibility is discussed (see also TARTINI, Vol. 26,
p. 436, for an account of Tartini’s tones), while with regard to quality
of tone the reader will find suggestive matter under VIOLIN (Vol. 28, p.
104). An account of experiments in balloons on the propagation of sound,
will be found (Vol. 1, p. 267) under AERONAUTICS. Reference should also
be made to the articles WAVE (Vol. 28, p. 425), ELASTICITY, _Vibrations
and Waves_ (Vol. 9, p. 158), and HARMONIC ANALYSIS (Vol. 12, p. 956) for
a discussion of the form of sound waves. For applications of the
principles of sound production, see also the articles PHONOGRAPH (Vol.
21, p. 467), GRAMOPHONE (Vol. 12, p. 333), and especially STRINGED
INSTRUMENTS (Vol. 25, p. 1038), WIND INSTRUMENTS (Vol. 28, p. 709), and
other articles on musical instruments (see the chapter on _Music_ in
this Guide). For accounts of the researches of KUNDT (Vol. 15, p. 946),
LAGRANGE (Vol. 16, p. 75) and STOKES (Vol. 25, p. 951), see those
articles.
(_III_) _Light_
The main article LIGHT (Vol. 16, p. 608) is in four parts. The
_Introductory_ and _Historical_ sections are by C. Everitt; that on the
_Nature_ of Light by Professor Lorentz of the University of Leiden; that
on its _Velocity_ by the late Simon Newcomb, the eminent American
astronomer. The different phenomena connected with the subject may
conveniently be grouped and studied as follows:—
(a) COLOUR (Vol. 6, p. 728); Intensity, see PHOTOMETRY (Vol. 21, p.
525), a brilliant article by Prof. H. H. Turner, of Oxford University;
ILLUMINATION (Vol. 14, p. 320).
(b) REFLECTION OF LIGHT (Vol. 23, p. 2); ABSORPTION (Vol. 1, p. 76);
REFRACTION (Vol. 23, p. 25); DISPERSION (Vol. 8, p. 315); INTERFERENCE
(Vol. 14, p. 685); POLARIZATION OF LIGHT (Vol. 21, p. 932).
(c) SHADOW (Vol. 24, p. 738); DIFFRACTION (Vol. 8, p. 238); CALORESCENCE
(Vol. 5, p. 60); FLUORESCENCE (Vol. 10, p. 375); PHOSPHORESCENCE (Vol.
21, p. 476).
(d) MIRROR (Vol. 18, p. 575); LENS (Vol. 16, p. 421); CAUSTIC (Vol. 5,
p. 558); ABERRATION (Vol. 1, p. 54).
(e) CORONA (Vol. 7, p. 184); HALO (Vol. 12, p. 864); MIRAGE (Vol. 18, p.
573); RAINBOW (Vol. 22, p. 861); SKY (Vol. 25, p. 202); TWILIGHT (Vol.
26, p. 492)—see also DUST (Vol. 8, p. 713).
(f) TELESCOPE (Vol. 26, p. 557); MICROSCOPE (Vol. 18, p. 392); OBJECTIVE
(Vol. 19, p. 948); CAMERA LUCIDA (Vol. 5, p. 104); CAMERA OBSCURA (Vol.
5, p. 104); BINOCULAR INSTRUMENT (Vol. 3, p. 949); STEREOSCOPE (Vol. 25,
p. 895).
(g) VISION (Vol. 28, p. 130).
Far reaching developments are described in PHOTOGRAPHY (Vol. 21, p. 485)
and SPECTROSCOPY (Vol. 25, p. 619). In the former article Sir W. de W.
Abney describes in great detail photographic _Processes_; Major-General
Waterhouse, _Apparatus_ and _Lenses_, while A. H. Hinton discusses the
_Pictorial_ aspect of the subject. There are also valuable articles on
CELESTIAL PHOTOGRAPHY (Vol. 21, p. 523), by Professor Turner, and on the
SPECTROHELIOGRAPH (Vol. 25, p. 618), by the inventor, G. E. Hale,
director of the Solar Observatory of the Carnegie Institution at Mount
Wilson, Cal. The relation between magnetism and light is discussed in an
article MAGNETO-OPTICS (Vol. 17, p. 388), by Sir J. J. Thomson.
(_IV_) _Heat_
The treatment of this subject in the Encyclopaedia Britannica has been
generally organized by Prof. H. L. Callendar, of the Royal College of
Science, London, who was designated by Lord Kelvin as his successor in
this department of the work. In pursuing the subject the following order
may conveniently be followed:
(a) HEAT (Vol. 13, p. 135), THERMOMETRY (Vol. 26, p. 821), CALORIMETRY
(Vol. 5, p. 60), and THERMODYNAMICS (Vol. 26, p. 808), all by Professor
Callendar; COLD (Vol. 6, p. 663).
(b) CONDUCTION OF HEAT (Vol. 6, p. 890); RADIATION, THEORY OF (Vol. 22,
p. 785); RADIOMETER (Vol. 22, p. 806).
(c) FUSION (Vol. 11, p. 369); VAPORIZATION (Vol. 27, p. 897);
CONDENSATION OF GASES (Vol. 6, p. 844); LIQUID GASES (Vol. 16, p. 744);
THERMOELECTRICITY (Vol. 26, p. 814).
(_V_) _Electricity and Magnetism_
[Sidenote: Historical]
We are so accustomed to think of electricity as the peculiar possession
of our own age (the first crude attempts at an electric light were only
two score years ago) that we are apt to forget that the first
experiments in the science were made at least 2500 years ago. The first
effort to place it on a true experimental and inductive basis dates back
more than three centuries to the publication of the researches of
WILLIAM GILBERT (see Vol. 12, p. 9), the most distinguished man of
science of his time, whom Queen Elizabeth appointed her private
physician at the “usual” salary of £100. A hundred years later, VOLTA
(Vol. 28, p. 198), who might be called the patron saint of electricity,
produced the first electric current with the pile which bears his name.
Meanwhile BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (Vol. 11, p. 30) had been experimenting with
his famous kite, and CAVENDISH (Vol. 5, p. 580) and COULOMB (Vol. 7, p.
508) had been paving the way for the startling developments which
resulted from Volta’s invention. In the 19th century FARADAY (Vol. 10,
p. 173), AMPÈRE (Vol. 1, p. 878), OHM (Vol. 20, p. 34), LORD KELVIN
(Vol. 15, p. 721), JAMES CLERK MAXWELL (Vol. 17, p. 929) and other
brilliant investigators in rapid succession developed the field, until
the science and application of electricity have attained a position
absolutely dominating our daily life.
[Sidenote: Analysis of the Subject]
The section of the Britannica treating this great subject is therefore
one of the most important in the whole work, and it was in the fullest
recognition of the fact that the editor asked Prof. J. A. Fleming, of
the University of London, famous for his original work in both the
mathematical and the experimental branches of the science, to organize
the sections for the new edition. The ground is generally covered in the
four articles, on electricity, electrostatics, electrokinetics, and
electromagnetism, all contributed by Prof. Fleming himself. The article
ELECTRICITY (Vol. 9, p. 179) is the key article to the subject, and
should be read first. The two great branches of electrical theory then
follow: (a) ELECTROSTATICS (Vol. 9, p. 240), in connection with which
the article ELECTRICAL MACHINE (Vol. 9, p. 176) should also be studied,
with reference to ELECTROSCOPE (Vol. 9, p. 239) and ELECTROPHORUS (Vol.
9, p. 237). (b) ELECTROKINETICS (Vol. 9, p. 210) and, supplementing it,
CONDUCTION, ELECTRIC (Vol. 6, p. 855). The latter is divided into three
parts: (i.) _Conduction in Solids_, by Prof. Fleming; (ii.) _Conduction
in Liquids_ by W. C. D. Whetham; (iii.) _Conduction in Gases_, by Sir J.
J. Thomson. In connection with (ii.) should be read ELECTROLYSIS (Vol.
9, p. 217), by W. C. D. Whetham, and with (iii.) RÖNTGEN RAYS (Vol. 23,
p. 694) and VACUUM TUBE (Vol. 27, p. 834), both by Sir J. J. Thomson,
whose article ELECTRIC WAVES (Vol. 9, p. 203) is of fundamental
importance. The general principles of electrical engineering are set out
in the article ELECTRIC SUPPLY (Vol. 9, p. 193) with reference to DYNAMO
(Vol. 8, p. 764); MOTORS, ELECTRIC (Vol. 18, p. 910); TRANSFORMERS (Vol.
27, p. 173); ACCUMULATOR (Vol. 1, p. 126); POWER TRANSMISSION,
_Electric_ (Vol. 22, p. 233); TRACTION, _Electric Traction_ (Vol. 27, p.
120); LIGHTING, _Electric_ (Vol. 16, p. 659); see also ELECTROCHEMISTRY
(Vol. 9, p. 208) and ELECTROMETALLURGY (Vol. 9, p. 232); TELEGRAPH (Vol.
26, p. 510); TELEPHONE (Vol. 26, p. 547).
A bridge to MAGNETISM (Vol. 17, p. 321), an article by Shelford Bidwell,
former president of the Physical Society, is the article
ELECTROMAGNETISM (Vol. 9, p. 226), by Prof. Fleming. This article leads
also to the study of manifestations in nature of electricity and
magnetism: see the articles ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY (Vol. 2, p. 860);
AURORA POLARIS (Vol. 2, p. 927); EARTH CURRENTS (Vol. 8, p. 813); and
MAGNETISM, TERRESTRIAL (Vol. 17, p. 353); and to the applications of its
principles in the COMPASS (Vol. 6, p. 804).
An alphabetical list of the articles in the Britannica on the subjects
treated in this chapter is given below. The biographies of distinguished
physicists, included in the list, are valuable as containing accounts of
their contributions to science, and are full of human interest.
ARTICLES ON THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES IN THE BRITANNICA, INCLUDING THOSE ON
FAMOUS PHYSICISTS
Aberration
Absorption of Light
Accumulator
Achromatism
Acoustics
Acre
Actinometer
Adhesion
Aepinus, F. U. T.
Aether, or Ether
Aggregation
Agonic Lines
Aldini, Giovanni
Alhazen
Amontons, Guillaume
Ampère, A. M.
Amperemeter or Ammeter
Anderson, John
Angström, A. J. and K. J.
Aperture
Arago, D. F. J.
Armature
Arnaldus de Villa Nova
Arrhenius, S. A.
As
Atmospheric Electricity
Atwood, George
Auncel
Avogadro, Amedeo
Avoirdupois
Ayrton, W. E.
Bache, Alexander D.
Baker, Henry
Balance
Barleycorn
Barometer
Barometric Light
Barrel
Battery
Beccaria, G. B.
Becquerel (family)
Bell, A. Graham
Binocular Instrument
Biot, Jean Baptiste
Boyle, Robert
Brewster, Sir David
Bushel
Cagniard de la Tour, C.
Calibration
Calorescence
Calorimetry
Camera Lucida
Camera Obscura
Canton, John
Capillary Action
Carat
Carnot, Sadi N. L.
Carucate
Caustic
Cavallo, Tiberius
Cinematograph
Claudet, A. F. J.
Clausius, Rudolf J. E.
Cold
Colour
Compass
Condensation of Gases
Conduction, Electric
Conduction of Heat
Cornu, Marie Alfred
Coulomb, C. A.
Curie, Pierre
Cyclometer
Daguerre, L. J. M.
Dallmeyer, John Henry
De la Rive, A. A.
Della Porta, G. Battista
Demijohn
Density
Diamagnetism
Dielectric
Diffraction of Light
Diffusion
Dimension
Dispersion
Dolland, John
Duhamel, J. B.
Dynamo
Earth Currents
Edison, T. A.
Electrical or Electrostatic Machine
Electricity
Electricity Supply
Electric Waves
Electrochemistry
Electrokinetics
Electrolysis
Electromagnetism
Electrometallurgy
Electrometer
Electron
Electrophorus
Electroplating
Electroscope
Electrostatics
Electrotyping
Energetics
Energy
Erman, Paul
Fahrenheit, G. D.
Fathom
Fizeau, A. H. L.
Fluorescence
Forbes, James David
Forman, Simon
Foucault, J. B. L.
Fraunhofer, J. von
Fresnel, Augustin J.
Furlong
Fusion
Fuze, or Fuse
Gallon
Galvanometer
Geissler, Heinrich
Gibbs, J. W.
Gilbert, or Gylberde, W.
Glaisher, James
Graduation
Gramophone
Gravitation
Gray, Elisha
Grove, Sir William R.
Guericke, Otto von
Harris, Sir W. S.
Hearing
Heat
Heliostat
Helmholtz, H. L. F. von
Henry, Joseph
Hertz, Heinrich R.
Hogshead
Hooke, Robert
Hopkinson, John
Hour-glass
Hughes, D. E.
Hydrometer
Hypsometer
Hysteresis
Illumination
Inch
Inclinometer
Induction Coil
Interference of Light
Jablochkov, Paul
Joule, J. P.
Kaleidoscope
Kater, Henry
Kelvin, 1st baron
Kirchhoff, G. R.
König, K. R.
Kundt, A. A. E. E.
Lambert, J. H.
Langley, S. P.
Lantern
Lens
Leyden Jar, or Condenser
Lichtenberg, G. C.
Light
Lighting
Lightning Conductor
Liquid Gases
Lodge, Sir Oliver J.
Magnetism
Magnetism, Terrestrial
Magnetograph
Magnetometer
Magneto-Optics
Malus, E. L.
Manometer
Mariotte, Edme
Marum, Martin van
Matter
Matteucci, Carlo
Maxwell, J. Clerk
Mayer, Julius R.
Melloni, Macedonio
Meter, Electric
Metric System
Michell, John
Microscope
Mirror
Model
Molecule
Morgen
Morse, S. F. B.
Motion, Laws of
Motors, Electric
Musschenbroek, P. van
Neckam, A.
Nicholson, W.
Nicol, William
Niepce, J. Nicéphore
Nobili, Leopoldo
Nollet, Jean Antoine
Objective, or Object Glass
Ohm, Georg Simon
Ohmmeter
Olmsted, Denison
Optics
Oscillograph
Ounce
Papin, Denis
Peck
Peltier, J. C. A.
Permeability, Magnetic
Permeameter
Perpetual Motion
Phonograph
Phosphorescence
Photography
Photometry
Pint
Plateau, J. A. F.
Pneumatics
Poggendorff, J. C.
Polarity
Polarization of Light
Pood
Potentiometer
Pound
Power Transmission
Prévost, Pierre
Pyrometer
Radiation, Theory of
Radiometer
Rayleigh, Lord
Reflection of Light
Refraction
Rod
Röntgen Rays
Röntgen, W. K.
Rowland, Henry A.
Rumford, Count
Saussure, H. B. de
Science
Shadow
Siemens, E. Werner von
Sky
Sound
Space and Time
Spectacles
Spectroscopy
Speculum
Spherometer
Standard
Stereoscope
Stewart, Balfour
Sun or Photo Copying
Swan, Sir Joseph W.
Tait, Peter G.
Talbot, W. H. Fox
Talent
Tartini, G.
Telegraph
Telephone
Thermodynamics
Thermoelectricity
Thermometry
Thomson, James
Torricelli, E.
Transformers
Trumpet, Speaking and Hearing
Tyndall, John
Units, Dimensions of
Units, Physical
Vacuum Tube
Vaporization
Vision
Volta, Alessandro
Voltmeter
Wattmeter
Wave
Weber, W. E.
Weighing Machines
Weights and Measures
Wheatstone’s Bridge
Wheatstone, Sir Chas.
Wiedemann, G. H.
Young, Thomas
CHAPTER LV
CHEMISTRY
We have traveled far since Chemistry had as its simple basis four
elements: fire, air, water, and earth, regarded as perfect and complete
since they embody every essence of which a body was supposedly capable:
for fire was hot and dry; air, hot and wet; water, cold and wet; earth,
cold and dry. We have outlived the belief in the philosopher’s stone
which animated the Middle Ages. Yet these fallacies are but
manifestations of the effort—old as thought—to reduce the manifoldness
of matter to primordial elements, from which, in one form or other,
every substance should be capable of being built up. The ultimate
problem of chemistry is, therefore, the constitution of matter, and the
fight around this is waged on the marches of the physical and chemical
sciences.
[Sidenote: Triumphs of Chemistry]
The great commercial triumphs of chemistry are, of course, those due to
the conquest of waste, to the utilization of by-products which for
thousands of years had been regarded as useless. We are all familiar
with the uses to which the by-products of coal-tar are put; we swallow
one derivative to relieve headache, we may sugar our tea and flavour our
ice-cream with others; with one derivative we clean our clothes which
have been dyed with others; and we disinfect them with yet another.
Phenacetin, saccharin, synthetic vanilla, benzine, naphthaline, analine
dyes, carbolic acid, are only a few of the many substances won to the
consumer by the chemist in his laboratory; and this is only one field of
research. The chemist is always busy (as now with rubber, camphor,
etc.), working at the synthesis of natural products in the hope that he
will be able to find a means of manufacturing them in quantities at a
cost which will make them, commercially possible, and thus lessen the
drain on the world’s natural supply. In almost every detail of our lives
this science enters so familiarly that we forget that the many things
made possible by the chemist do not simply “happen,” but are the result
of laborious research in the laboratory.
It is not possible to attain proficiency in any experimental science
without laboratory work; but to the student of chemistry the lucid and
original articles in the Britannica will provide a most useful
commentary on his work with test-tube and burner. The general reader
will find in these articles an admirable survey of the subject, and of
its bearings on problems of daily life. The main article CHEMISTRY (Vol.
6, p. 33) generally covers the ground, and serves as an introduction to
separate articles on important divisions of the subject. Following its
arrangement the scheme outlined below suggests a useful course of
reading.
(i.) Chemistry, _History_ (Vol. 6, p. 33). Supplementary to this section
are the articles ALCHEMY (Vol. 1, p. 519), ELEMENT (Vol. 9, p. 253),
MOLECULE (Vol. 18, p. 654), ATOM (Vol. 2, p. 870); and reference may
also be made to MEDICINE, _Iatro-chemical School_ (Vol. 18, p. 50).
(ii.) Chemistry, _General Principles_ (Vol. 6, p. 39), with reference to
VALENCY (Vol. 27, p. 847), CHEMICAL ACTION (Vol. 6, p. 26), CATALYSIS
(Vol. 5, p. 501), ISOMERISM (Vol. 14, p. 881), STEREO-ISOMERISM (Vol.
25, p. 890), RADIOACTIVITY (Vol. 22, p. 793).
(iii.) _Inorganic Chemistry_ (Vol. 6, p. 44). See also ACID (Vol. 1, p.
145), ALKALI (Vol. 1, p. 674), and the list of 138 elements and
compounds under this heading below.
(iv.) _Organic Chemistry_ (Vol. 6, p. 47), with all the 240 articles
enumerated under this heading below, especially that on POLYMETHYLENES
(Vol. 22, p. 29); see also EXPLOSIVES (Vol. 10, p. 81).
(v.) _Analytical Chemistry_ (Vol. 6, p. 60), with which may be
consulted, BLOW PIPE (Vol. 4, p. 89), DISTILLATION (Vol. 8, p. 318),
ELECTROLYSIS (Vol. 9, p. 217), INDICATOR (Vol. 14, p. 482), SOLUTION
(Vol. 25, p. 368), STOICHIOMETRY (Vol. 25, p. 939).
(vi.) _Physical Chemistry_ (Vol. 6, p. 65) supplemented by ENERGETICS
(Vol. 9, p. 390), CHEMICAL ACTION (Vol. 6, p. 26), THERMOCHEMISTRY (Vol.
26, p. 804), SOLUTION (Vol. 25, p. 368), DISTILLATION (Vol. 8, p. 318),
CONDENSATION OF GASES (Vol. 6, p. 844), with the important articles
PHOTOCHEMISTRY (Vol. 21, p. 484), ELECTROCHEMISTRY (Vol. 9, p. 208),
METALLURGY (Vol. 18, p. 203), ELECTROMETALLURGY (Vol. 9, p. 232),
ASSAYING (Vol. 2, p. 776).
Among the contributors to the chemical department of the Britannica are:
Professor Ernest Rutherford, of the University of Manchester; Walter
Nernst, professor of physical chemistry in the University of Berlin; W.
C. D. Whetham, author of _Theory of Solution_, etc.; Prof. James Walker
of the University of Edinburgh; Johannes Diderik van der Waals,
professor of physics, University of Amsterdam; W. R. E. Hodgkinson,
professor of chemistry and physics, Ordnance College, Woolwich, perhaps
the greatest living authority on explosives.
The following is a classified list of the articles on Chemistry which
are contained in the Britannica. For discussions of the application of
chemistry to photography, the reader should consult the article
PHOTOGRAPHY (Vol. 21, p. 485), of which the chemical section is by Sir
W. de W. Abney, adviser in Science to the English Board of Education.
CHEMISTRY—GENERAL
Affinity, Chemical
Alchemy
Alembic
Allotropy
Amorphism
Analysis
Assaying
Atmolysis
Atom
Blowpipe
Catalysis
Chemical Action
Chemistry
Combustion
Condenser
Crystallization
Decolourizing
Desiccation
Dialysis
Dissociation
Distillation
Electrochemistry
Electrolysis
Element
Elixir
Equivalent
Explosives
Flame
Formula
Gas
Hydrolysis
Iatrochemistry
Indicator
Isomerism
Matrass
Molecule
Photochemistry
Pigments
Pyrophorus
Radioactivity
Solution
Stereochemistry
Stereo-isomerism
Stoichiometry
Thermochemistry
Valency
INORGANIC CHEMISTRY