Book Description

Excerpt from The Mathematical Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, Vol. 1 The exhaustive character of the late Professor Maxwell's work on Electricity and Magnetism has necessarily reduced all subsequent treatises on these subjects to the rank of commentaries. Hardly any advances have been made in the theory of these - branches of physics during the last thirteen years of which the first suggestions may not be found in Maxwell's book. But the very excellence of the work, regarded from the highest physical point of view, is in some respects a hindrance to its efficiency as a student's text-book. Written as it is under the conviction of the para mount importance of the physical as contrasted with the purely mathematical aspects of the subject, and therefore with the determination not to be diverted from the immediate contemplation of experimental facts to the development of any theory however fas cinating, the style is suggestive rather than didactic, and the mathematical treatment is occasionally some what unfini'shed and obscure. It is possible, therefore, that the present work, of which the first volume is now offered to students of the mathematical theory of electricity, may be of service as an introduction to, or commentary-upon, Maxwell's book. Its aim is to state the provisionally accepted two-fluid theory, and to develop it into its mathematical consequences. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.