NEW BOOKS RIel et Determinisme dans la Phgsique Quantique. By E. MEYERSON, with a preface by L. de Broglie. 50pp. Monograph No. 68 of the scientific and industrial series published by Hermann & Go., Paris, 1933. This volume is t h e first of a group of monographs published under the direction of Professor L. de Broglie on the philosophy of the sciences. These philosophical treatises are t o be part of the large scientific series mentioned. In the present essay the concepts of physical science are discussed in the light of quantum theory. References are given to the author’s own works and t o seven original articles. No headings, no subdivisions, no index, and the discursive style make the volume very slow reading when one considers the difficult subject matter dealt with. GEORGEGLOCKLER.
Wege ZUT physikalischen Erlcenntnis. Reden und Vortrage. By MAX PLANCK. 22.5 x 15 cm.; ix 280 pp. Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1933. Price: bound, 8 marks; unbound, 6 marks. Professor Planck has collected in this volume eleven lectures, given over a period from 1908 to 1933, in which the central theme is the physical conception of the universe and its reactions on philosophy. The physicist’s picture of the universe has changed during this period very considerably, and in recent times it has seemed t o some that all hope of retaining the law of causality, and of going beyond the purely formal descriptions of events by mathematical methods, would have to be abandoned. Professor Planck, whose own work has been most concerned in this change of outlook in physics, does not adopt this rather pessimistic view, and in this series of lectures he has examined the consequences of each new step in the physical description of events. Thelectures are, in fact, the result of careful thought on the part of a scientist who has always tried to see beyond the narrow walls of the physical laboratory, and the volume is one in which former students of the great physicist will recognize his inimitable command of his subject and the great power of exposition and logical clarity which characterize all his work. The Nobel Lecture on the quantum theory is included. The volume is one of considerable interest and value. J. R. PARTINQTON.
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The Cotton E$ect. By S. MITCHELL. 22 x 13.5 cm.; vii 92 pp. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1933. Price: 7 s. 6 d. The opening chapter of this excellent little book is devoted to a consideration of the fundamental conceptions of refractive dispersion, normal and anomalous dispersion, double refraction, plane,. circular, and elliptical polarization, circular double refraction, anomalous rotatory dispersion, the detection of elliptical vibration, the Cotton effect, and circular dichroism. These terms and the causes of the various phenomena are fully explained, together with an account of the history of the work which led t o their recognition. This is followed by a description of the measurement of absorption spectra. The Hartley method and its modifications are described, as also are the uses of the spectrophotometer and the polarization-photometer. The third chapter is devoted t o theoretical considerations and in this the equations of Sellmeier and Drude, connecting refractive dispersion and absorption, are considered together 1083
