fectly fair in intention, but it must be admitted that they are ponderous, and represent a line of thought which has not found favour with later writers. The most curious characteristic is the prominence given to positive law in the deduction of moral principles. A severe criticism by Mill of the ethical writings appeared in the ‘Westminster Review’ for October 1852, and is reprinted in Mill's ‘Dissertations,’ ii. 450–508.
Whewell was rather a critic than an original investigator in science. Upon one subject, however, he seems to have done really good work. Professor Darwin, who has kindly given his opinion, states that Whewell ‘will always rank among the great investigators of the theory of tides. His memoirs fill about 350 quarto pages, generally giving only the result of laborious computations. His most important work was the construction of a map showing the march of the tide-wave round the earth. The data were voluminous and necessarily imperfect. No one has repeated the enormous task of preparing such a chart; and, though it could be only an approximation, it fairly embodies all that is yet known on the point. The data for the seas round the British islands were comparatively plentiful, and Whewell spent enormous labour in constructing a “local cotidal chart,” which probably needs only slight amendments to make it perfectly correct. It has never been reconstructed. Whewell carefully considered the tides at various English ports, and was a pioneer in formulating satisfactory methods of prediction from large masses of observation. He was the first to bestow much attention upon the diurnal inequality of the tides which are conspicuous in most parts of the world. Whewell took such tides to be exceptional, though it is now known that the simplicity of the North Atlantic tides is the true exception. The modern method of treating the tide as composed of a number of constituent waves is of especial value in regard to this problem. Though Whewell's data were scanty and his methods have become obsolete, his treatment of the question was of great service at the time. He endeavoured to form a local diurnal cotidal chart for the British islands, but concluded that the facts could not be presented in this form. His conclusion may be correct, although the errors in his data and the imperfection of his method made his failure inevitable. The problem is now more feasible; but sufficient data are still wanting, and the attempt has not been renewed. Whewell also considered the rise and fall of water during a single tidal oscillation, and gave formulæ for predicting the height of water at any moment from a knowledge of the height and time of high and low water. He received much help from professional computers supplied by the admiralty; but his personal work, considering that he had the whole direction of the computations, must have been very heavy. His success showed a splendid perseverance, which is the more remarkable when we take into account his contemporaneous work upon many other matters.’
The first volume of Todhunter's ‘life’ is in great part devoted to an elaborate account of Whewell's writings, and contains full and minute bibliographical details of the complicated changes due to the frequent remodelling the books in successive editions.
Whewell's works are: 1. ‘Boadicea’ (Cambridge prize poem), 1814. 2. ‘An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics,’ 1819, 1 vol. 8vo. A ‘syllabus’ of this treatise appeared in 1821. Later editions appeared in 1824 (almost a new work), 1828, 1833, 1836, 1841 (‘entirely rewritten’), and 1847. A part supposing more mathematical knowledge was omitted in 1833 and published separately as ‘Analytical Statics.’ The work was translated into German in 1841. 3. ‘A Treatise on Dynamics,’ 1823, 8vo, substantially a second volume of the ‘Mechanics’ of 1819. This was replaced by three volumes: (i.) ‘An Introduction to Dynamics,’ &c., an addition intended for students with little mathematical knowledge; (ii.) ‘On the Free Motion of Points … the first part of a Treatise on Dynamics,’ 1832, 8vo, called a ‘second edition’ of the first part of the ‘Dynamics’ (new edition in 1836); and (iii.) ‘On the Motion of Points constrained … and on the Motion of a Rigid Body,’ 1834, 8vo, called ‘second part’ of a new edition of the ‘Dynamics.’ 4. ‘Essay on Mineralogical Classification and Nomenclature,’ 1828, 8vo. 5. ‘Account of Experiments made at Dolcoath Mine …,’ 1828, 16 pp. 8vo (privately printed) 6. ‘Essay on Chemical Elements and Nomenclature,’ 1829, 8vo. 7. ‘Architectural Notes on German Churches, with Remarks on the Origin of Gothic Architecture,’ 1830, 1 vol. 8vo. An enlarged edition, with ‘notes during an architectural tour in Picardy and Normandy,’ appeared in 1835, and a third, with ‘notes on the churches of the Rhine by M. F. de Lassaulx …,’ in 1842 (first edition anonymous). 8. ‘The First Principles of Mechanics, with Historical and Practical Illustrations,’ 1832, 1 vol. 8vo, ‘superseded’ by part of the ‘History of the Inductive Sciences.’ 9. ‘Astronomy and General Physics considered with reference
