Home Experiments in Science. By T. O'Connor Sloane. (Sampson
Low and Co.)—There can be no doubt that if the young devotee of science knew what exquisite and beautiful, yet simple, home experi- ments he could perform, he would be happy at the thought of being able to give so much pleasure and instruction to others.
What more splendid and striking instance of the beauty and in- flexibility of mathematical laws is there than the soap-bubble, which involves and demonstrates so many natural laws ? Sound and light, particularly the former, have fundamental laws which can be demonstrated by striking experiments. Then, again, mechanics, hydraulics, and pneumatics, though so obvious, are rarely grasped by the domestic mind, and even by more enlightened intellects. Even cultivated individuals scorn as a mathematical impossibility the statement that a body projected horizontally from a certain height reaches the ground simultaneously with a body falling by gravity from the same height. Mr. Sloane details some interesting experiments, and illustrates them fully; thus there should be no difficulty for a youth of ordinary mechanical capacity in following them out.
Previous page
