"
A book at once clear, concise, and modern has long been the great
desideratum.
This need is most amply supplied by the recent work of Dr. Youmans.
Laying no claim to the character of an exposition of original
discoveries, and thus keeping aloof from involved discussion, it is at
the same time so lucid in its statements, so pertinent in its
illustrations, and so philosophic in its reflections, as to invest with
a new charm every subject of which it treats. The author deserves high
praise for taking into account the circumstance that the reading public
is not entirely composed of physicists and chemists. It has been too
much the fashion for writers on scientific subjects to give definitions
which can be rendered intelligible only by an intimate acquaintance with
the very matters defined. It would be tedious to enumerate the countless
absurd explanations given in elementary text-books of the phenomena of
interference, polarization, and double refraction,--explanations as
enigmatical as the inscriptions at Memphis and Karnak,--explanations
useless to the optician because needless, and to the student because
obscure.
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