Philosophy and Modern Science

"The present book tells the romance of modern physical science. It attempts to humanize certain data and speculations which have emerged from a body of recent astonishing experiments. It begins with some problems first proposed by the Greeks and traces the story of their development during subsequent centuries. Particularly are the strange concepts of these recent days set forth as the logical culmination of past experience. The present volume attempts to set forth as simply as possible the basic postulates of physics and to trace their implications. Technical language has been avoided as far as the subject matter will permit. The philosophical aspect of the problems has been constantly emphasized. It has been shown that the concept of the ether is found in the "extension" of Descartes. The history of man's attempt to endow this "necessity of reason" with material properties has been carefully developed down to the recent experiments at the basis of the wave mechanics, where it disappears in the mystical postulates of Schrdøinger, Dirac, Heisenberg, and de Broglie"--Preface