"In the announcement of Ostwald's Klassiker der Exakten Wissenschaften [Classics of the Exact Sciences] is the following significant statement: "While, by the present methods of teaching, a knowledge of science in its present state of advancement is imparted very successfully, eminent and far-sighted men have repeatedly been obliged to point out a defect which too often attaches to the present scientific education of our youth. It is the absence of the historical sense and the want of knowledge of the great researches upon which the edifice of science rests." It is hoped that the survey of the progress of physics here presented may assist in remedying this defect so clearly pointed out by Professor Ostwald."