TO THE FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. In preparing this translation, I have taken the liberty of including footnotes in the main text or inserting them in small type at the appropriate places. I have also corrected minor misprints without special mention .. The Chapters and Sections of the original text have been called Parts and Chapters respectively, where the latter have been numbered consecutively. The subject index was not contained in the Russian original and the authors' index represents an extension of the original list of references. In this way the reader should be able to find quickly the pages on which anyone reference is discussed. The transliteration problem has been overcome by printing the names of Russian authors and journals also in Russian type. While preparing this translation in the first place for my own informa­ tion, the knowledge that it would also become accessible to a large circle of readers has made the effort doubly worthwhile. I feel sure that the reader will share with me in my admiration for the simplicity and lucidity of presentation.