Abstract
Duhem introduces and discusses Maxwell’s first theory, which is the theory of dielectric media constructed by analogy with the theory of the conduction of heat.
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Notes
- 1.
M. Chasles , Énoncé de deux théorèmes généraux sur l’attraction des corps et la théorie de la chaleur (Comptes Rendus , t. VIII, p. 209; 1839).
- 2.
W. Thomson , On the Uniform Motion of Heat in Homogeneous Solid Bodies and its Connexion with the Mathematical Theory of Electricity (Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal, February 1842.—Reprinted in the Philosophical Magazine in 1854 and in the Papers on Electrostatics and Magnetism, Art. 1).
- 3.
Faraday , Experimental Researches in Electricity, XXVIth series, read at the Royal Society of London on 28 Nov. 1850 (Experimental Researches , vol. III, p. 200).
- 4.
Faraday , loc. cit., p. 208.
- 5.
W. Thomson , On the Elementary Laws of Statical Electricity (Cambridge and Dublin Mathematical Journal. 1845.—Papers on Electrostatics, Art. II, n\(^\text {o}\) 50 [p. 37]).
- 6.
J. Clerk Maxwell , On Faraday ’s Lines of Force , read at the Philosophical Society of Cambridge, 10 December 1855 and 11 February 1856 (Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. X, part, I p. 27; 1864.— Scientific Papers of James Clerk Maxwell , vol. 1, p. 156; Cambridge, 1890).
- 7.
To reconcile our notation with that used by Maxwell in the cited memoir, we need to replace
$$\begin{aligned} \varPsi&\quad \text {by}\quad {-}V,\\ e\,d\omega&\quad \text {by}\quad dm,\\ K&\quad \text {by}\quad \frac{1}{K},\\ f,g,h&\quad \text {by}\quad u,v,w,\\ P,Q,R&\quad \text {by}\quad X,Y,Z. \end{aligned}$$ - 8.
[p. 177].
- 9.
[ibid., p. 178].
- 10.
[ibid., p. 179–80].
- 11.
J. Clerk Maxwell , Scientific Papers , vol. I, p. 176; Maxwell wrote the equality
$$\begin{aligned} V = -\sum \frac{dm}{r} \end{aligned}$$which, with his notation, is equivalent to the previous one.
- 12.
[ibid., p. 178].
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Duhem, P.M.M. (2015). The First Electrostatics of Maxwell . In: The Electric Theories of J. Clerk Maxwell. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 314. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18515-6_3
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