The Advance of Science in the Last HalfCentury Thomas Henry Huxley 9781530425914 Books
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Thomas Henry Huxley was popularly known as "Darwin's Bulldog," and that's because the 19th century scientist was a forceful advocate for Darwin's theory of evolution. Huxley himself also wrote at length on the topic.
The Advance of Science in the Last HalfCentury Thomas Henry Huxley 9781530425914 Books
Huxley explains the advances in science which increasedindustrial production, improved old technical processes and
brought about new processes. He explains how Descartes,
Newton and Leibnitz opened new worlds to mathematicians.
There is a good discussion of Tyndall's work on matter,
heat and sound. Darwinian theory is well developed as
is the work of Bain on the senses and intellect. Overall,
the presentation helps to explain quite a bit of scientific
history as to its context and positioning of humankind
for even further advances in successive centuries.
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Tags : The Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century [Thomas Henry Huxley] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>Thomas Henry Huxley was popularly known as Darwin's Bulldog, and that's because the 19th century scientist was a forceful advocate for Darwin's theory of evolution. Huxley himself also wrote at length on the topic. </b>,Thomas Henry Huxley,The Advance of Science in the Last Half-Century,CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,1530425913,General,History,History General,History: World,Science,ScienceGeneral
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The Advance of Science in the Last HalfCentury Thomas Henry Huxley 9781530425914 Books Reviews
It was interesting to read about the modern advances from a past view point. It gave me some insight into the history of what I have learned.
Awesome Book!!
Boring
REMEMBER IT IS AN OLD BOOK
Reading these old books is a very good thing to do. I have a few of them. For instance The Common People Of Ancient Rome was written in 1911 and uses the price/wage controls of Diocletion to compare living standards with the ancient Romans.
Writing 1n 1887, Huxley outlines the scientific and technological advances of the previous half-century and compares it with what had gone before. In doing so he sets out clearly his philosophy of science. In some details this would need modifying in the light of subsequent discoveries, but his views are still worthy of consideration.
"The most obvious and the most distinctive features of the History of Civilisation, during the last fifty years, is the wonderful increase of industrial production by the application of machinery, the improvement of old technical processes and the invention of new ones, accompanied by an even more remarkable development of old and new means of locomotion and intercommunication. By this rapid and vast multiplication of the commodities and conveniences of existence, the general standard of comfort has been raised, the ravages of pestilence and famine have been checked, and the natural obstacles, which time and space offer to mutual intercourse, have been reduced in a manner, and to an extent, unknown to former ages. The diminution or removal of local ignorance and prejudice, the creation of common interests among the most widely separated peoples, and the strengthening of the forces of the organisation of the commonwealth against those of political or social anarchy, thus effected, have exerted an influence on the present and future fortunes of mankind the full significance of which may be divined, but cannot, as yet, be estimated at its full value."
PROs
* Brief history of science
* Detailed explanations of the scientific discoveries of the 19th century
* Nearly every field of science covered
* Tons of different scientists talked about with mini biographies
* Many scientific theories explained
* Interesting predictions made by Huxley and others
CONs
* Extremely complicated
* Can be boring if the terminology and explanations go over your head
* Some slightly outdated concepts
"Anyone who is practically acquainted with scientific work is aware that those who refuse to go beyond fact, rarely get as far as fact; and anyone who has studied the history of science knows that almost every great step therein has been made by the 'anticipation of Nature,' that is, by the invention of hypotheses, which, though verifiable, often had very little foundation to start with."
It is singular how much T.H. Huxley knows about science. He is a vast storehouse of knowledge and he puts this storehouse on display here. His deep understanding of every field of science, including the history of science, is mind boggling. The problem is is that Huxley is *so* smart that he seems to forget that he is dealing with people who don't have near the understanding of science that he has. This can make his books hard to follow for the layman. To get an idea of his eloquence of explanation, take this piece of him explaining how Darwin came of with his theory of evolution as an example
"The careful observations and the acute reasonings of the Italian geologists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the speculations of Leibnitz in the 'Protogaea' and of Buffon in his 'Théorie de la Terre;' the sober and profound reasonings of Hutton, in the latter part of the eighteenth century; all these tended to show that the fabric of the earth itself implied the continuance of processes of natural causation for a period of time as great, in relation to human history, as the distances of the heavenly bodies from us are, in relation to terrestrial standards of measurement. The abyss of time began to loom as large as the abyss of space. And this revelation to sight and touch, of a link here and a link there of a practically infinite chain of natural causes and effects, prepared the way, as perhaps nothing else has done, for the modern form of the ancient theory of evolution."
Huxley's goal with this book is to demonstrate that the last half century (from the writing of the book) was subject to greater scientific achievements than in any other half century in the history of humanity. I think he easily succeeds in this task. The first thing he does is give a brief history of science, from the ancient Greeks up to the enlightenment. He explains that, although there were many great past discoveries, that none of them benefited the average person until his time. He explains that scientists must do their research for the love of knowledge, not for the promise of future benefits. Practical application will coke in time from our further understanding.
Huxley then focuses on the discoveries of his time, which directly benefited all of mankind. He says that three recent principles are greater than any other scientific development in history. The principles are atomic theory (or the molecular basis of matter), conservation of energy, and evolution. He then goes into detail about how these principles were formulated and how they are useful. He then gives a brief summary of the advances from the past half century in countless fields of science, from physiology to spectroscopy. It would be beneficial if the reader already has a pretty deep understanding of these concepts since Huxley does not make the effort to simplify things. This is much more complicated that books like Sagan's 'Cosmos'.
"Historically, no branch of science has followed this order of growth; but, from the dawn of exact knowledge to the present day, observation, experiment, and speculation have gone hand in hand; and, whenever science has halted or strayed from the right path, it has been, either because its votaries have been content with mere unverified or unverifiable speculation (and this is the commonest case, because observation and experiment are hard work, while speculation is amusing); or it has been, because the accumulation of details of observation has for a time excluded speculation."
Huxley explains the advances in science which increased
industrial production, improved old technical processes and
brought about new processes. He explains how Descartes,
Newton and Leibnitz opened new worlds to mathematicians.
There is a good discussion of Tyndall's work on matter,
heat and sound. Darwinian theory is well developed as
is the work of Bain on the senses and intellect. Overall,
the presentation helps to explain quite a bit of scientific
history as to its context and positioning of humankind
for even further advances in successive centuries.
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