History of the Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Time

Scientific discoveries become the organizing landmarks in William Whewell's account of how knowledge develops. He divides the history of each science into major advances, the work that prepares for them, and the developments that follow. His preface explains a further purpose: to give the philosophy of science a foundation in the discoveries people have actually made. References to earlier historians and original authors form part of this approach.

The discussion of sound shows how that broad plan works in detail. Flutes and organ pipes raise problems about vibration, pitch, and the different harmonics produced by open and closed tubes. Whewell follows contributions by Newton, Lagrange, and Bernoulli, comparing their assumptions and explanations. Readers interested in the history of scientific reasoning can see how familiar musical effects prompted difficult mechanical questions, and how competing theories sought to account for the same observations.