Static and Dynamic Electricity

FOR some time there has been a crying need for a standard text-book on electromagnetic theory, which should give a concise summary of its fundamental principles, and should illustrate them by abundant reference to problems of practical physics and technical engineering. The classical treatises by Jeans and Livens give admirable accounts of the basic laws of electro-magnetism, of the mathematical analysis required in problems and of the semi-philosophical problems which lie at the root of the speculative parts of the theory. But it was not their aim to deal in any detail with practical applications or to present the results of the theory in a form adapted for use in research. This magnificent text-book by Prof. W. R. Smythe has as its express object to exhibit the theory of electricity and magnetism in direct relation to problems of research.Static and Dynamic ElectricityBy Prof. William R. Smythe. (International Series in Physics.) Pp. xviii + 560. (New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1939.) 40s.