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Cotidal lines are lines on a map which connect points at which the same tidal level occurs simultaneously. Isaac Newton had explained the movement of the tides by the action of the moon and sun, and Daniel Bernoulli had used Newton's findings to create tide tables for specific locations, but William Whewell wanted to take research further by gathering and analysing information which would link cotidal points or lines across the world. Fellow and eventually Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, Whewell (1794–1866) published this work in 1833. In it he proposes various observations that would need to be undertaken to produce a cotidal map, with detailed descriptions of the factors to be taken into account in computing the results. In 1837, Whewell, several of whose other works are also reissued in this series, was awarded a royal prize medal by the Royal Society for his work on 'tidology'.
First published in 1840, this two-volume treatise by Cambridge polymath William Whewell (1794–1886) remains significant in the philosophy of science. The work was intended as the 'moral' to his three-volume History of the Inductive Sciences (1837), which is also reissued in this series. Building on philosophical foundations laid by Immanuel Kant and Francis Bacon, Whewell opens with the aphorism 'Man is the Interpreter of Nature, Science the right interpretation'. Volume 1 contains the majority of Whewell's section on 'ideas', in which he investigates the philosophy underlying a range of different disciplines, including pure, classificatory and mechanical sciences. Whewell's work upholds throughout his belief that the mind was active and not merely a passive receiver of knowledge from the world. A key text in Victorian epistemological debates, notably challenged by John Stuart Mill and his System of Logic, Whewell's treatise merits continued study and discussion in the present day.
The Cambridge polymath Isaac Barrow (1630–77) gained recognition as a theologian, classicist and mathematician. This one-volume collection of his mathematical writings, dutifully edited by one of his successors as Master of Trinity College, William Whewell (1794–1866), was first published in 1860. Containing significant contributions to the field, the work consists chiefly of the lectures on mathematics, optics and geometry that Barrow gave in his position as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics between 1663 and 1669. It includes the first general statement of the fundamental theorem of calculus as well as Barrow's 'differential triangle'. Not only did he precede Isaac Newton in the Lucasian chair, but his works were also to be found in the library of Gottfried Leibniz. However, rather than considering arid questions of priority, scholars can see in these Latin texts the status of advanced mathematics just before the great revolution of Newton and Leibniz.
First published in 1840, this two-volume treatise by Cambridge polymath William Whewell (1794–1886) remains significant in the philosophy of science. The work was intended as the 'moral' to his three-volume History of the Inductive Sciences (1837), which is also reissued in this series. Building on philosophical foundations laid by Immanuel Kant and Francis Bacon, Whewell opens with the aphorism 'Man is the Interpreter of Nature, Science the right interpretation'. Volume 2 contains the final sections of Part 1, addressing namely the philosophy of biology and palaetiology. Part 2, 'Of Knowledge', includes a selective review of opinions on the nature of knowledge and the means of seeking it, beginning with Plato. Whewell's work upholds throughout his belief that the mind was active and not merely a passive receiver of knowledge from the world. A key text in Victorian epistemological debates, notably challenged by John Stuart Mill and his System of Logic, Whewell's treatise merits continued study and discussion in the present day.