ISAAC NEWTON. Optics and a Treatise on the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colors of Light. Translated from the third English edition of 1721, with notes by S. I. Vavilov. “Classics of Natural Science.” Book seventeen. GIZ. 1927, pp. 373, price (paperbound) 3 rubles 20 kopecks, on better paper 4 rubles.

Newton’s Optics is divided into three books. The first book studies the phenomena of dispersion; the second, the colors of thin (and thick) plates; the third book (unfinished) is devoted to the phenomena of diffraction. The concluding part of the third book consists of the famous “Queries” (31 in number), in which Newton, going far beyond the limits of optics, touches on a whole series of scientific topics of experimental, theoretical, and methodological content; he left the further development of these topics to others.

Of the books written by Newton, Optics is the easiest to read. On the other hand, Optics is so rich in content and not fading under the influence of time that one may hope its Russian translation will find a sufficiently wide circle of readers. Every teacher of physics will draw from reading Optics a whole series of valuable pieces of information that will enable him to refresh his presentation of the subject in comparison with those more or less stereotyped forms which migrate by inheritance from one physics textbook to another. The amateur of physics will be able, on the basis of the detailed instructions contained in Optics, to carry out a number of extremely interesting experiments requiring no instruments other than a few prisms and lenses. As for the “Queries,” they are capable of interesting not only the physicist, but also the chemist, the biologist, the philosopher, and anyone who is not indifferent to the history of science1.

checking optical systems. VIII. Diffraction gratings. IX. Manufacture of gratings. X. The echelon grating. XI. Application of interference to astronomical investigations (determination of the diameters of stars). XII. The velocity of light. XIII. The influence of the motion of a medium on the velocity of light. XIV. Relativity. XV. Metallic colors of birds and insects.

In the penultimate chapter Michelson briefly sets forth Einstein’s theory: “The theory of relativity,” he writes, “has not only explained what was already known; it has predicted and made possible the discovery of new phenomena, which constitutes one of the most convincing proofs of the value of the theory...

“The existence of the ether is apparently incompatible with the theory; a stationary ether would make it possible to measure ‘absolute’ motion. But how is one to explain, without a medium, the propagation of light waves? According to the electromagnetic theory, the velocity of transmission of electromagnetic disturbances is equal to the square root of the reciprocal of the product of the magnetic permeability and the dielectric constant, which are properties of a medium; how is one to explain the constancy of propagation, i.e. the basic assumption (at least of the special theory of relativity), if there is no medium?

“To be sure, there have been several attempts to get around this difficulty: the resurrection of the defunct corpuscular theory, propagation along lines of force, and so forth; but all this only gives rise to still greater difficulties than it was required to explain, and is wholly unsuitable for explaining the constancy of propagation.

“One must hope that the theory can be reconciled with the existence of a medium; for this it will be necessary either to modify the theory or, more probably, to ascribe the required properties to the ether, allowing, for example, changes in properties (dielectric constant, etc.) in a gravitational field.”

Regarding D. Miller’s well-known experiments, Michelson gives a brief note and indicates that experiments are being prepared for a more precise verification of Miller’s results.

S. Vavilov.

1. An essential supplement to the translation of Optics will be issue 2–3 of volume III of Advances in the Physical Sciences, where there is placed a translation made by S. I. Vavilov of ... ↩