Atoms (Classic Reprint) - Couverture souple

Jean Perrin

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1330686594 ISBN 13 : 9781330686591

Editeur : Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Excerpt from Atoms

Each of these principles has been reached by noting analogies and generalising the results of experience, and our lines -of reasoning and statements of results have related only to objects that can be observed and to experiments that can be performed. Ostwald could therefore justly say that in the doctrine of energy there are no hypotheses. Certainly when a new machine is invented we at once assert that it cannot create work but we can at once verify our statement, and we cannot call an assertion a hypothesis if, as soon as it is made, it can be checked by experiment.

Now, there are cases where hypothesis is, on the contrary, both necessary and fruitful. In studying a machine, we do not confine ourselves only to the consideration of its visible parts, which have objective reality for us only as far as we can dismount the machine. We certainly observe these visible pieces as closely as we can, but at the same time we seek to divine the hidden gears and parts that explain its apparent motions.

To divine in this way the existence and properties of objects that still lie outside our ken, to explain the complica tions of the visible in terms of invisible simplicity, is the function of the intuitive intelligence which, thanks to men such as Dalton and Boltzmann, has given us the doctrine of Atoms. This book aims at giving an exposition of that doctrine.

The use of the intuitive method has not, of course, been used only in the study of atoms, any more than the inductive method has found its sole application in energetics. A time may perhaps come when atoms, directly perceptible at last, will be as easy to observe as are microbes to-day. The true spirit of the atomists will then be found in those who have inherited the power to divine another universal structure lying hidden behind a vaster experimental reality than ours.

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A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Forgotten Books
• Date d'édition: 2018
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1330686594
• ISBN 13: 9781330686591
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 262
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Copytech (UK) Ltd, Trading as Printondemand-worldwide.com; gpsr@podww.com; ; 9 Culley Court; Orton Southgate; Peterborough; Cambridgeshire; PE2 6WA; Royaume-Uni
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