Fragments of Science: A Series of Detached Essays, Addresses, and Reviews. V. 1-2

A wide-ranging collection of essays, lectures, and reviews examines physical laws and their applications, with sustained attention to radiation, the nature of the luminiferous aether, molecular and thermal phenomena, optics, and spectroscopy. Experimental results on radiant heat, light, absorption by gases and vapours, and chemical effects of illumination are described, and airborne dust and contagion are considered with practical comment on germ theory and hygiene. Other pieces offer geological and scenic observations, discussions of instrumentation such as fog-signals and the electric light, and contributions to magnetism and molecular physics. A second volume addresses intersections of physical and mental questions, including vitality, prayer and natural law, miracles, materialism, and debates on fermentation, spontaneous generation, and evolution.