Review by Choice Review
As the first published English version of Huygens's most important treatise on mechanics-and next to Newton's Principia the most important treatise on mechanics of the 17th century-this volume should be most welcome. Published in 1673, some 14 years before the Principia, Huygens's work is in many ways very different from Newton's. In the first place, Huygens's original purpose was to furnish a theoretical basis for a particular technological device-the pendulum clock, which he had invented; and almost everything in the treatise is closely related to, or suggested by, the operation of this device. Huygens's most important theoretical results concern the isochronous property of the cycloid: the so-called involute of the cycloid (e.g., the curve traced out by the end of a taut string unwinding from the cycloid), which turns out to be another cycloid; and the so-called center of oscillation of a pendulum of arbitrary shape. In its elegant proofs characterized by the rigorous but backward-looking methods of classical geometry, Huygens's treatise, unlike Newton's Principia, was to have little direct influence on the future development of mechanics. All this is explained by the leading Huygens scholar, H.J.M. Bos, in his helpful introduction, which includes a valuable bibliography. Recommended for college and university libraries.-R. Palter, Trinity College, Conn.
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
