A History of Science, Volume 3   By: Henry Smith Williams (1863-1943)

MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES

By Henry Smith Williams, M.D., Ll.D.

Assisted By Edward H. Williams, M.D.

In Five Volumes

Volume III.

CONTENTS

BOOK III

CHAPTER I. THE SUCCESSORS OF NEWTON IN ASTRONOMY

The work of Johannes Hevelius Halley and Hevelius Halley's observation of the transit of Mercury, and his method of determining the parallax of the planets Halley's observation of meteors His inability to explain these bodies The important work of James Bradley Lacaille's measurement of the arc of the meridian The determination of the question as to the exact shape of the earth D'Alembert and his influence upon science Delambre's History of Astronomy The astronomical work of Euler.

CHAPTER II. THE PROGRESS OF MODERN ASTRONOMY

The work of William Herschel His discovery of Uranus His discovery that the stars are suns His conception of the universe His deduction that gravitation has caused the grouping of the heavenly bodies The nebula, hypothesis, Immanuel Kant's conception of the formation of the world Defects in Kant's conception Laplace's final solution of the problem His explanation in detail Change in the mental attitude of the world since Bruno Asteroids and satellites Discoveries of Olbersl The mathematical calculations of Adams and Leverrier The discovery of the inner ring of Saturn Clerk Maxwell's paper on the stability of Saturn's rings Helmholtz's conception of the action of tidal friction Professor G. H. Darwin's estimate of the consequences of tidal action Comets and meteors Bredichin's cometary theory The final solution of the structure of comets Newcomb's estimate of the amount of cometary dust swept up daily by the earth The fixed stars John Herschel's studies of double stars Fraunhofer's perfection of the refracting telescope Bessel's measurement of the parallax of a star, Henderson's measurements Kirchhoff and Bunsen's perfection of the spectroscope Wonderful revelations of the spectroscope Lord Kelvin's estimate of the time that will be required for the earth to become completely cooled Alvan Clark's discovery of the companion star of Sirius The advent of the photographic film in astronomy Dr. Huggins's studies of nebulae Sir Norman Lockyer's "cosmogonic guess," Croll's pre nebular theory.

CHAPTER III. THE NEW SCIENCE OF PALEONTOLOGY

William Smith and fossil shells His discovery that fossil rocks are arranged in regular systems Smith's inquiries taken up by Cuvier His Ossements Fossiles containing the first description of hairy elephant His contention that fossils represent extinct species only Dr. Buckland's studies of English fossil beds Charles Lyell combats catastrophism, Elaboration of his ideas with reference to the rotation of species The establishment of the doctrine of uniformitarianism, Darwin's Origin of Species Fossil man Dr. Falconer's visit to the fossil beds in the valley of the Somme Investigations of Prestwich and Sir John Evans Discovery of the Neanderthal skull, Cuvier's rejection of human fossils The finding of prehistoric carving on ivory The fossil beds of America Professor Marsh's paper on the fossil horses in America The Warren mastodon, The Java fossil, Pithecanthropus Erectus.

CHAPTER IV. THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN GEOLOGY