Historical Source of the Teaching Materials of the 'Cohesion of Solid Body', and Historical Review of them

Abstract

The teaching materials of the 'cohesion of solid body' were very popular materials in Japanese scientific introduction in first half of the Meiji era. But, those materials have been disappeared in many scientific textbooks, after 'the golden age of Stewart physics in Japan 'on the 1890's. And those never have been again appeared in Japanese primary and secondary school textbooks, even though microscopical treatise in physical phenomena has been respected under the influence of 'Innovation of scientific education' after the Ⅱnd World War. Through this study on the source and history of those materials to reconsider those as introductory materials or corpuscular view of atomism, the following facts became evident: (1.) Experiments of the cohesion of solid body which popularized in early Meiji era. were'Garasu Nenchakuban'(adhesion of two plates of glass) and adhesion of two slabs of marble. Though those experiments were not perfectly proper for the purposes of those textbook writers, those were prepared to show sensibly the molecular attractive force. (2.) Those materials were introduced by the translating western text books on modern science in early Meiji era. But before the Meiji Restoration (1868), the scolars of Dutch studies had been already introduced those experiments which involves the 'Cohesion of two Balls of Leads', and those have been become current topics for 'kyuri' (experimental and natural philosophy in Japan). (3.) Those who first did experimented and publicized on the 'cohesion of two balls of leads' were Fr. Triewald and J. T. Desaguliers. They studied the atomic constitution of matter as discussed in Newton's Opticks, and endeavoured to show sensibly and experimentally 'attraction of cohesion' in the 18th century. The author proposed that the experiments of the 'cohesion of two balls of leads' are now valid for the primor of Atomism, beeing based on the discussion above-mentioned and presentation of the original papers of the 'On Cohesion of Leads'.