Dictionary of Physics or an Attempt at an Explanation of the Most Important Concepts and Technical Terms of Natural Philosophy

Preface.

leads me on better paths or prevents me from useless work, it will be highly valuable.

With all that I have found to criticize in the works of Brisson and La Fond, I must nevertheless gratefully confess that they have by no means been useless to me in my own work. I have used them with profit not only in the gathering of the words to which the articles of this dictionary are dedicated, but also in the execution itself—especially from Brisson—having incorporated much whose procurement from other sources would have cost me more time and effort. In general, no one will look for new inventions in this dictionary; a work of this kind can be little more than a compilation from other writers. I have therefore, in order not to be guilty of plagiarism, indicated at the end of each article in smaller print those sources from which I have drawn in composing it. One will, as I hope, find that I have chosen good sources, and also that I have never used them slavishly or without judgment. Where such sources are not indicated, I have