TO W. GARNETT, Esq                         

Glenlair, 9th July 1877,

I think it a pity that the old historical word Dynamics should, for mere considerations of time, be split up into   Kinematics, Kinetics, and Statics. With respect to the divisions of the subject, I think they fall thus:—

 1. Early attempts at founding the science, ancient Kinematics (mechanical description of curves, etc.) generally   correct.

     Ancient Statics.— Archimedes.

 Modern Dynamics.—Galileo, first founder. Descartes, good up to Kinematics and Statics, failed in Kinetics. 

                                           Promoters—
                              WREN, WALLIS, HUYGHENS, HOOKE.

     Laws of collision established, and motion in a circle.

                                           NEWTON.

Three laws of motion. Form suggested by the laws of Descartes. Meaning established by Newton's own copious   and complete examples of using them.

     Second statement of Newton's third Law.

     My notions on the three laws are in "Matter and Motion."

                                        NEWTONIANS.

                    Cambridge School.            Popularisers.               Scotch School  

                     Roger Cotes.                       D. Gregory.                 Colin Maclaurin.
                     Robert Smith, etc.                Desaguliers.                 James Gregory.
                     Attwood.                             Mme. du Chatelet        J. Playfair.
                     Whewell.                             and Voltaire.                Ivory.
 

     Leibnitz and the Vis Viva Controversy.

     Methods of dealing with connected systems.

     Example of correct methods by Newton and others before D'Alembert.

     D'Alembert's enunciation.—Its historical importance.

     Euler. The Bernoullis, etc. Laplace, the flower of this stage of development.

     Lagrange and Virtual Velocity.

This is the germ of the method of energy which was fully developed in mathematical form in the Mecanique    Analytique, but very little appreciated outside the inner circle of mathematicians till the physical theory of energy   became generally known.

     Mathematical development of higher dynamics. (See Cayley's Brit. Ass. Report, 1857 and 1862? specially    Hamilton and Jacobi.     Effect of T and T' since 1867. 

     Kirchoff''s notions in beginning of Vorlesungen (not equal to Lagrange, but worth noticing).

     I also think that Clausius' equation and definition of "Virial" is important.

     The dynamics of other varieties of space than our own requires very brief notice indeed.—Yours truly,

                                                                        J. CLERK MAXWELL.