SCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY.
ATOMS AND ELECTRONS. By J. W. N. Sullivan. " The People's Library." (Hodder and Stoughton. 2s. 6d.)
Since those far-off days when the atom could be imagined as a small marble, difficultly small, no doubt, but still simple and splendidly final, the scientists have not ceased to upset our comfortable stability. But if the ordinary layman has resigned himself to the conception of the atom as itself a system whose units are continually in motion, the highly specialized nature of modern science, and above all its mathe- matical foundation, have hindered his real appreciation. The first merit of Mr. Sullivan's admirable little volume is the absence of mathematical exposition. The achievement is more remarkable than appears from the result ; the very simplicity of his explanations blinds us to the vast mass of specialized thought of which they are the outcome. No doubt many scientists find it impossible to think in words, and so- try to lead on their readers by means of formulas which are meaningless in themselves. Mr. Sullivan is free from this vice, and also from the other one which uses too freely common images. It is barely possible to say that the earth is something like an orange, but no one has yet thought of a fruit to which the atom may helpfully be com- pared. It would be difficult to improve on the present work which really meets a need. Our only objection is that it ends abruptly.
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