Excerpt from Classics of Modern Science (Copernicus to Pasteur) These movements of science have produced a Copious literature which has not enjoyed the same attention and reading as imaginative books, because, once the ideas are known and incorporated into the existing body of scientific knowledge, these scientific writings tend to acquire chiefly an historical interest. Yet they are monuments of the advance of civilization, and deserve a better fate. Many of them are still interesting to read as human documents because they illustrate how painfully and slowly man's exact knowledge of verifiable pheno mena has been accumulated. No one outside of the small company of highly trained scientists can read all of them through, yet most of them have sections which are as readable and as exciting as any mod ern novel. It is the purpose of this book to present to the young col lege student and to the general reader some of the more representative of these classics in the literature of science, bringing together in this convenient form at least some reminders of a vast field of reading where one may browse for a lifetime with interest and profit. If it be used in conjunction with a history of science it will readily supply a vivid sense of the movement of the mind of western civilization, in creasing in us a respect for the effort of our ancestors, and inspire us to encourage and to forward the work of contemporary scientists, and restrain us at least from hindering them in their efforts. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.