PREFACE

The reasons why a person with my sort of training should write this book are given in the body of it. For the control of matters there which lie outside my usual fields of study I am deeply obliged by help from several of my friends and colleagues, among them, and particularly, Floyd K. Richtmyer, Professor of Physics, who has been patient enough to read all the manuscript with critical attention. One way and another, I believe I have made effectual use of every one of his queries and comments, including those that touched upon the arrangement of certain of the earlier paragraphs. Helpful suggestions have come to me from other sources, too, and I hope the book is the better for my use of them. For any shortcomings that may remain no one is responsible but the author, who nevertheless is rejoiced to think that this work is the first book to be formally accepted by the Council of the Cornell University Press for publication.

PREFACE

From the time of its organization in 1889, the chief object of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific has been to stimulate interest in astronomy among the people of the Pacific region by giving to discoveries and advances made in that science the widest publicity through the medium of its Publications and, more directly, by means of public lectures. In harmony with this policy, plans were made early in the autumn of 1916 for a course of lectures to be given in San Francisco by members of the staff of the Lick Observatory, in the season of 1916-1917.

This textbook designed for advanced undergraduate students covers the foundations and principles in the field, and gives the necessary background for advanced courses. Beginning with a survey of some of the fundamentals of statistical mechanics, Collins builds up the physics of stellar structure step by step, showing where complexities arise due to the failure of assumptions.