SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



419 



halogens. Passing to special preparations, 

 the author gives directions for thirteen reac- 

 tions in the aliphatic series, forty-two in the 

 aromatic, and one example each with a sub- 

 stance in the pyridine and quinoline series. 

 Directions for preparing a few inorganic re- 

 agents are also given. The attention of the 

 student is called to the significance of each 

 reaction described, so that his knowledge 

 shall be something more than empirical. 

 The volume is illustrated with eighty-two 

 cuts of apparatus. 



" I sometimes wonder whuther it's bein' 

 good thet makes some folks infidils, er 

 whuther it's bein' infidils thet makes some 

 folks so good," remarks one of the characters 

 in The Reason Wky^ and in the association of 

 these ideas strikes the keynote of the story. 

 In bis preface the author, Ernest E. Russell^ 

 says, " There was a time when such a story as 

 I have tried to write would have helped me," 

 and in an unquestionably genuine desire to 

 help others he makes his story a vehicle for 

 the reasons that lead many thoughtful men 

 and women to reject the Christian religion. 



These reasons are quite fully stated, chapters 

 and parts of chapters being devoted to the 

 inherent probability or improbability of the 

 Scriptures, the action of early councils of the 

 Church in forming the canon and the creeds, 

 the Arian " heresy," the Nestorian " heresy," 

 the return to Augustine in the Reforma- 

 tion, miracles, possession by evil spirits, and 

 kindred topics. Several minor matters are 

 touched upon in passing, such as the bene- 

 ficial influence of industry, the wreck of hap- 

 piness likely to follow the marriage of per- 

 sons having opposite religious beliefs when 

 one has the proselyting spirit, the rightful- 

 ness of doing to a human being what we re- 

 gard as an act of mercy to a brute, namely, 

 shortening the suffering that precedes death, 

 etc. The thread of story is sufficient to give 

 coherence to the book, while the characters, 

 who are country people of a generation ago 

 and educated young persons of rural origin, 

 are excellently portrayed. Thoughtful per- 

 sons who have drifted away from early re- 

 ligious teaching will enjoy and profit by Tlie 

 Reason Why. (The author, 13 Astor Place, 

 New York.) 



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