History of Radio to 1926 by Gleason L. ArcherReview by: I Bernard CohenIsis, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Jul., 1940), pp. 210-211Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/226091 .

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2IO ISIS, XXII, I

he include BALL'S very useful treatise, A history of the study of mathematics- at Cambridge. It is difficult, too, to explain the presence of HOGBEN'S Sciencefor the citizen; there might be some justification for his Mathematics for the million which is not on the list.

Curiously too, Mr. BOYER used the Opera mathematica of JOHN WALLIS of I656-57 (2 vols.) rather than the later Opera of I693-99 (3 vols.). This has forced Mr. BOYER to make the statement that ' NEWTON, in fact, acknowledged that he had been led to his first discoveries in analysis and fluxions by the Arithmetica infinitorum of WALLIS, and the principles of induction and interpolation which WALLIS there employed may have been instrumental also in leading NEWTON to the discovery of the binomial theorem ". The last part of this statement is attributed by Mr. BOYER to a secondary source. Had he used the later edition, he would have found a letter (vol. III, p.634) from NEWTON to OLDENBURG, in which he states that the idea for the binomial theorem came directly from a study of WALLIS'S work on series.

But for the few occasional misstatements of the kind instanced above, the book is an admirable one, covering a much needed field of investigation. It is to be hoped that in the near future, Mr. BoyER will revise the book to bring it all up to a high standard of excellence. For Mr. BoYER's contributions are highly original and very valuable. If I have attempted to show the pitfalls into which he has fallen, it is only so that the reader may gain the full value of Mr. BoYER's work without being led astray by errors which can easily be rectified.

I BEmARD COHEN.

Gleason L. Archer.-History of radio to 1926. Vr+42I p. New York, American Historical Society, 1938. ($4.00).

The history of radio forms an exciting chapter in the history of thought. When one views the gargantuan industry connected today with radio communication, and when one considers the tremendous sweep of research, both pure and practical, allied with it, it seems hardly possible that " radio broadcasting as we know it today, began as a scientific novelty in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the year i920 ."

One of the most interesting features of the book under review is the section devoted to pre-radio communication systems. FRANKLIN devised a means of signalling with electricity and there followed a quick succession of similar schemes, some using magnets, others even making use of litmus solutions. The most notable of these systems were those of JOSEPH BOZOLUS 1767, LOUIS LE SAGE I774, FRANCIS RONALDS I8I6, HARRISON GRAY DYAR 1828, Baron SCHELLING 1823. Although most of these schemes were never even applied for demonstration purposes, it is

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REVIEWS 2Ir

interesting to note that Baron SCHELLING established a telegraph svstem which saw continuous operation between two Russian cities for a few years and that but for his untimely death, the system would have perhaps attracted more attention and seen more use. But these early efforts remain on the record as curiosities and as such they were viewed by their contemporaries who were much interested in the spread of the semaphore system. There were many experimenters with telegraph systems in the early nineteenth century, among them GAUSS and WEBER, but it remained for MORSE, using methods perfected by JOSEPH HENRY, to make the telegraph practical.

Mr. ARCHER, after tracing the development of the telegraph, continues with the story of the Atlantic Cable and the invention and development of the telephone to bring us up to the work of HERTZ, MAXWELL, EDISON and MARCONI. Here the story becomes extremely complicated, but through the intricate maze of overlapping invention, commercial intrigue, and international complication, Mr. ARCHER leads us with a sure and steady hand. The book is well documented, with numerous illustrations and generous quotation. The sole criticism to be made is that in the second half of the book, Mr. ARCHER seems not to have decided whether he was writing a history of science or a history of industry. This part contains less and less of the scientific aspect of radio and the very end of the book is a history of commercial broadcasting. This is extremely interesting, but from the point of view of the historian of science, of little value. Thus, the book is to be recommended largely for the first half (roughly up to the period after the World War), and, for that period, it fills a very real need and fills it very well.

I BERNARD COHEN.

James Corbett.-Catalogue des manuscrits alchimiques latins. Publie sous la direction de J. BIDEZ, FR. CUMoNT, A. DELATTE, Sir FRDERIC KENYON et V. DE FALco. I. MUanuscrits des bibliotheques publiques de Paris antbieurs au XVII siecle. 367 p. Bruxelles, Secretariat Administratif de l'U. A. I., Palais des academies, I939.

Nous devons deja a l'Union acadimique internationale une serie de catalogues de MSS. extremement precieux pour l'historien des sciences. Tout d'abord le Catalogus codicum astrologorum graecorum, commence en I 898 sous la direction de FRANZ CUMONT (Isis 6, 2o6; I5, 295) et dont le dernier fascicule relatif aux MSS. astrologiques conserves dans les bibliotheques russes (tome XII, I936) fut edite par M. A. F. SANGIN

(Isis 26, 483-84). Le Catalogue des jMSS. akhimiques grecs fut commence en 1924 sous la direction de J. BIDEZ, F. CUMONT, J. L. HEIBERG et 0. LAGERCRANTZ (Isis 7, 507-iI), et le dernier fascicule resu par moi

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