Page:The Scientific Papers of the Honourable Henry Cavendish v1.djvu/20

x vistas into the philosophical explication of nature. Though standing so far beyond most of his contemporaries in intellect and vision, there is abundant evidence in these volumes that in the cooperative tasks which united the scientific men of the time, largely conducted under the auspices of the Royal Society, he was always ready to take unsparing pains, and to devote himself without limit to the assistance of his colleagues. The operations and discussions preparatory to the gravity survey of Schehallion, summarised in Vol. II, are an example.

The two volumes now published may be regarded as the final garnering of the work of one of the greatest of scientific discoverers. The acknowledgments of the intellectual world will doubtless be accorded to the Cambridge University Press for their courage in facing the great expense involved in a complete edition of the writings of Cavendish, in a form adequate to the subject, which was projected in the less exacting times before the Great War. The Editors desire to record their thanks to the staff of the Press for very efficient cooperation on the technical side of the undertaking.

J.L.


 * February 1921.