Project Gutenberg 2011-06-28 Public domain in the USA. 108 Phin, John 1830 1913 06002330 The Seven Follies of Science [2nd ed.] A popular account of the most famous scientific impossibilities and the attempts which have been made to solve them. To which is added a small budget of interesting paradoxes, illusions, and marvels Preface -- The seven follies of science: Introductory note. Squaring the circle. The duplication of the cube. The trisection of an angle. Perpetual motion. The transmutation of metals, alchemy. The fixation of mercury. The universal medicine and the elixir of life -- Additional follies: Perpetual or ever-burning lamps. The alkahest or universal solvent. Palingenesy. The powder of sympathy -- A small budget of paradoxes, illusions, and marvels (with apologies to Professor De Morgan): The fourth dimension. How a space may be apparently enlarged by merely changing its shape. Can a man lift himself by the straps of his boots? How a spider lifted a snake. How the shadow may be made to move backward on the sun-dial. How a watch may be used as a compass. Micrography or minute writing; writing so fine that the whole Bible, if written in characters of the same size, might be inscribed twenty-two times on a square inch. Illusions of the senses (taste and smell; sense of heat; sense of hearing; sense of touch, one thing appearing as two). How objects may be apparently seen through a hole in the hand. How to see (apparently) through a solid brick -- Curious arithmetical problems: The chess-board problem. The nail problem. A question of population. How to become a millionaire. The actual cost and present value of the First Folio Shakespeare. Arithmetical puzzles. Archimedes and his fulcrum. Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) "The Seven Follies of Science [2nd ed.]" by John Phin is a scientific publication written in the early 20th century. This work explores some of the most infamous scientific impossibilities and the historical attempts made to solve them, detailing concepts such as squaring the circle, perpetual motion, and the philosopher's stone. By presenting these topics in a straightforward manner, the author aims to make complex ideas accessible to the general reader. At the start of the publication, the author introduces the concept of 'scientific follies'—problems that have captivated the human imagination despite being mathematically impossible. Phin emphasizes the allure these challenges hold, noting that many seek to solve them out of sheer curiosity and sometimes misguided confidence. In addition to shedding light on various famous problems, he touches upon the historical context and cultural fascination surrounding them, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of each folly in the chapters to follow. Overall, the opening portion lays a foundation for examining the intersection of human curiosity, error, and the relentless pursuit of knowledge in science. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Geometry -- Famous problems Scientific recreations Q Text Browsing: Mathematics Browsing: Science - General 352408 352423 2024-09-15T12:08:32.488984 2023-09-16T05:48:38.869632 text/html text/html 344722 2011-06-28T09:25:48 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 482671 2011-06-28T09:25:52 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 532417 2024-09-15T12:08:41.217966 application/epub+zip 534390 2024-09-15T12:08:35.003954 application/epub+zip 179803 2024-09-15T12:08:33.360977 application/epub+zip 1087297 2024-09-15T12:08:45.931900 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1039117 2024-09-15T12:08:39.823963 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 254161 2022-09-16T16:12:14.614768 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 300724 300494 2024-09-15T12:08:31.442003 2023-09-16T05:48:38.027609 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 300710 2011-06-28T09:25:46 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 111603 2011-06-28T09:25:52 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 300763 2011-06-28T09:25:46 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 111548 2011-06-28T09:25:52 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 21692 2024-09-15T12:08:46.081901 application/rdf+xml 12157 2024-09-15T12:08:33.755956 image/jpeg 2837 2024-09-15T12:08:33.546960 image/jpeg 528943 2024-09-15T12:08:32.607980 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog