N. V. KASHIN. Laboratory Course in Physics. GTZ, 1928. 439 pp. Price 5 rubles.

From the pen of Prof. N. V. Kashin there has appeared yet another textbook for our schools, under the title Laboratory Course in Physics, intended for industrial technical schools. In its content and in the way it is worked out, this new physics textbook represents the next level of difficulty in comparison with physics textbooks written for seven-year schools. It has been prepared so that students in technical schools may become acquainted with the phenomena under study not only qualitatively, but also quantitatively, with clarification of the functional dependence of those quantities that characterize these phenomena. At the same time, serious attention has been paid to ensuring that stu-

so that the students learn to perform the calculations required by each exercise and to obtain numbers whose degree of reliability would be correctly assessed by them.

The content of the book has been selected so as to give students the foundations for understanding technical subjects—heat engineering and electrical engineering; and the physical theory of each question is developed to the extent necessary for the proper conduct of laboratory work, for establishing the mutual connection between the separate exercises, and for constructing the generalizations that follow from all this.

The whole book is divided into an introduction and 22 chapters; in each chapter there is a simply and clearly presented theory of the material being studied, a number of problems for working through this material and for going more deeply into its content, and also several pieces of laboratory work with a description of the instruments and methods necessary for carrying out the indicated work.

As for the content of the indicated chapters, it may be presented as follows: a) mechanical questions are set forth in the first seven chapters, over 120 pages; b) the doctrine of solids, liquids, and gases—in the next three chapters, up to p. 177; c) the doctrine of heat occupies the 11th, 12th, and 13th chapters, up to p. 238; d) the doctrine of light—the next four chapters, up to p. 319; e) finally, the doctrine of electricity and magnetism occupies the last five chapters, up to p. 435.

This survey of the contents shows us that the author has fixed his attention on selected questions in mechanics, heat, light, and electricity, having in view that only the foundations for a proper mastery of special courses in heat engineering and electrical engineering should be given in this material. It must further be said that what is presented in each of the mentioned chapters is set forth thoroughly, with the corresponding mathematical derivations and proofs, and such presentation distinguishes the Laboratory Course in Physics very favorably from many other physics courses, where the authors avoid going more deeply into the methods of the questions studied and into the counting of the results obtained. The mechanical questions, which usually present no small difficulty for students, are especially well set forth.

On the basis of all that has been said, we think that Professor N. V. Kashin’s Laboratory Course in Physics is a very valuable contribution to our physical literature and that it will be sympathetically received by teachers and students. The book is printed on excellent paper, in good type, with considerable spacing between lines and between words, so that what is set in bold type stands out clearly and is pleasant for the eye.

T. De Metts.