A Treatise on the Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies: with an introduction to the Problem of Three Bodies

THE first edition of this book was reviewed in NATURE of April 27, 1905. At that time what we now call aeroplanes only existed in people's imagination and in reports of successes by the Wright brothers, and it was scarcely to be wondered at if applications to aerial navigation found no suitable place in a treatise on analytical dynamics. In the twelve years that have elapsed there has been plenty of time for pure and applied mathematicians to provide material that would not occupy merely a single chapter on “The Aeroplane” in a second edition of such a book as this, but might even form a predominating feature of the whole work. Yet on referring to the index we do not even find the word “aeroplane,” while the references under “stability” and “resistance of the air” do not lead to any matter suggestive, even vaguely, of the existence of aerial navigation. It may well be a matter of surprise that such an omission should be possible at the present day.A Treatise on the Analytical Dynamics of Particles and Rigid Bodies: with an introduction to the Problem of Three Bodies.By Prof. E. T. Whittaker. Second edition. Pp. xii + 432. (Cambridge: At the University Press, 1917.) Price 15s. net.