Publisher's Synopsis
The original book, "Die Geschichte und die Wurzel des Stazes von der Erhaltung der Arbeit," was first published in 1872, is one of Mach's earliest and most stimulating writings, and contains the germs of much of his later work. Moreover, it contains a reprint of Mach's article of I868 on the definition of mass, which is, perhaps, his most important contribution to mechanics; and the discussion of the logical root of the principle of the conservation of energy is fuller than that in any of his later publications. Several notes, explanatory, critical, or bibliographical, have been added by the translator, and the whole book has been revised by the author.
