MÜLLER-POUILLET’S Textbook of Physics, Vol. I, Part 3: Acoustics, edited by E. Waetzmann, p. 484 (approx. 37 printed sheets).

MÜLLER-POUILLET. Course of Physics. Acoustics, edited by E. Waetzmann.

Volume I, Part 3 of Müller-Pouillet’s textbook, devoted to acoustics, has been prepared by a number of well-known specialists with the participation and under the general editorship of Prof. E. Waetzmann (Breslau). As in the other volumes of the same textbook, the presentation of acoustics is maintained in an elementary form, without an in-depth consideration of theoretical questions and almost without the use of mathematical analysis; only in the appendices, in small print, are simple mathematical derivations given. It must undoubtedly be acknowledged that this textbook is one of the best books on acoustics, combining seriousness and thoughtfulness of exposition with completeness in the coverage of the material and up-to-dateness in its treatment. The arrangement of the material is very successful. The book contains the following chapters: I. General theory of waves (P. Chermak). II. Fundamental acoustic phenomena (E. Waetzmann and A. Kalähne). III. Hearing (E. Waetzmann). IV. Sources of sound. Strings, membranes, air cavities (E. Waetzmann). Musical instruments (A. Kalähne). The voice (E. Waetzmann). V. Receivers and secondary sources of sound (electrical radiators) (Waetzmann and Erwin Meyer). VI. Measurement of sound intensity (Er. Meyer). VII. Propagation of sound in free space, in various media, and in pipes; interference, diffraction, acoustic filters, architectural acoustics (E. Waetzmann, I. Fricke, K. Schuster). All chapters are richly illustrated with well-executed figures, most of which are taken from the latest works on acoustics.

As for the basic approach of the entire exposition, I cannot consider it entirely correct. The fact is that the book on acoustics has considerably outgrown the limits of an elementary physics textbook, which it was supposed to be according to the original plan of the whole textbook, and has turned into a very complete and sufficiently serious manual to be used not only for instructional purposes but also as an aid in scientific and technical work. That is why avoiding questions of theory and not using even an elementary mathematical apparatus often creates unnecessary difficulties. Indeed, questions that are essentially complex must nevertheless be touched upon because of their importance.

practical applications, but their analysis has to be carried out without sufficient preparation. Thus, for example, it turns out that the consideration of the radiation and propagation of sound in numerous applied problems is conducted without serious acquaintance with the theory of radiation, although, undoubtedly, this theory could have been presented in an elementary spirit, and this would have given the reader the necessary basis for clarifying the subject and would have removed a number of obscurities in the discussion of questions concerning the membranes of electroacoustic instruments, microphones, horns, sound receivers, etc. Exactly the same difficulties are caused by the absence of a detailed analysis of the theory of free and forced oscillations of systems with one degree of freedom.

Among the questions touched upon somewhat incompletely, I shall point to the field of underwater acoustics and ultrasonic oscillations, including applications of piezo-quartz. In the discussion of speech, unfortunately, the results of the fundamental works of Crandall on speech analysis have not been used.

S. Rzhevkin.