The dynamics of bodies containing fluids is a subject of long-standing im portance in many technical applications. The stability of motion of such bodies, in particular, has been the subject of study by Soviet engineers and applied mathematicians who have brought their fuH powers of analysis to bear on the problem, and have succeeded in developing a very weH-founded body of theory. It is difficult to find a more striking example anywhere of the application of the classical methods of analytical mechanics, together with more modern concepts of stability analysis, in such a comprehensive and elegent form as that presented by Profs. Moiseyev and Rumyantsev. Therefore, it is highly significant that this recent monograph has been trans lated and made available to the English-speaking community. H. NORMAN ABRAMSON San Antonio July, 1967 v Foreword During the last 15-20 years, problems of dynamics of rigid bodies with fluid-filled cavities have increasingly attracted the attention of scientists."

The motions of liquids in moving containers constitute a broad class of problems of great practical importance in many technical fields. The influence of the dynamics of the liquid on the motions of the container itself is a most interesting and complex aspect of the general subject, whether one considers only the rigid-body motions of the container or its elastic motions as well. It is most fitting therefore that this translation of Professor Rapoport's book has been undertaken so promptly following its original publication, so as to make readily available this rather detailed account of the mathematical foundations underlying the treatment of such prob lems. Since most of this vast body of analysis has been developed over the past decade by scientists in the USSR, and has therefore been largerly unavailable to those unable to read Russian, this volume will undoubtedly be of great value to many of us. H."