Considered by many educators one of the finest elementary scientific treatises ever written, this work contains all of the characteristic freshness and elegance of Maxwell's writings and gives illuminating glimpses of a great mind's approach to fundamental subjects. After 115 years, Matter and Motion still retains its power of suggestion; it deserves a place in any well-rounded modern scientific library.
As drawn up by one of the masters of science, the book is a carefully thought-out survey of Newtonian dynamics. Its generalizations proceed gradually from simple particles of matter to physical systems beyond complete analysis.
In this edition, the treatment of the fundamental principles of dynamics has been enlarged along the author's own lines by the inclusion of the chapter On the Equations of Motion of a Connected System, from Volume II of Electricity and Magnetism. Two apprendices have been added by the editor, one dealing with the principles of the relativity of motion and the other with the wider aspects of the principle of least action.