The Net Advance of Physics:
History and Philosophy: Wm. Robertson Smith

• The Life of William Robertson Smith by John Sutherland Black and George Chrystal [London: Blacks, 1912]
• William Robertson Smith in Studies in Contemporary Biography by James Bryce [New York: Macmillan, 1903]

• WORKS:
  • Mr. Mill's Theory of Geometrical Reasoning Mathematically Tested by Wm. Robertson Smith [Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 6, 477 (1869)] Hostile critique of Mill's Logic from an intuitionist standpoint.
  • Hegel and the Metaphysics of the Fluxional Calculus by Wm. Robertson Smith [Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 25, , II 491 (1869)] "He who would exchange Newton's clear ideas for the vague pomposities of a Hegel exchanges gold for brass."
  • On the Flow of Electricity in Conducting Surfaces by Wm. Robertson Smith [Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 7, 79 (1870)] Attempts to determine lines of flow from sources and sinks placed on a conducting surface.
  • Note on Professor Bain's Theory of Euclid I.4 by Wm. Robertson Smith [Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 7, 176 (1870)] Attacks Bain's Mill-influenced work Logic.
  • Dr. Stirling, Hegel, and the Mathematicians by Wm. Robertson Smith [Fortnightly Review, (1873 April)] Stirling was a translator and defender of Hegel.

  • In addition to his mathematical papers, Robertson Smith wrote numerous theological works -- he is an important and controversial figure in the history of Scots Presbyterianism -- and was a leading Orientalist. His non-scientific writings may easily be found at Archive.org.

Return to History and Philosophy of Science Page

To contribute to this page, write Karen Rae Keck.