Excerpt from A Treatise on the Mathematical Theory of Elasticity, Vol. 2Theories of the behaviour of thin bodies, as of bodies in general, are of two kinds. Either they are founded on special hypotheses, or they start from the general equations of Elasticity. Before the time of N avier all writers on rods and plates naturally adopted the former method, after his time most valuable investigations will be found to proceed by way of the latter. His researches form the turning point in the history of special problems as in that of general theory. Nevertheless the persistence of the older theories after the discovery of the general equations had made more exact investigations possible, and even after they had been carried out, is one of the most noteworthy facts in the history of our subject'.We shall now trace brie¿y the development of the theory of thin rods and its applications, we shall then consider the theory of thin plates, and we shall conclude by noticing the theory of elastic stability.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.