LITERARY NOTICES, 



703 



doubt quite long enough, our enterprising 

 spiritualistic friends have decided that it 

 must be solved. And as speculation seems 

 to have failed to settle it satisfactorily, they 

 are bound to do it in the clearest and coai- 

 pletest possible manner by experiment, so 

 that the conclusion shall have the same 

 validity that is conceded to strict scientific 

 investigations. It would seem that Profes- 

 sor ZoUner had got tired of being shut into 

 the common field of natural law as a thea- 

 tre of research, and was determined to break 

 out and get into a larger and more promis- 

 ing field. Hence he properly terms his new 

 results " Transcendental Physics," that is, 

 physics beyond the sphere of the senses. 

 We doubt if the time has quite come for 

 so ambitious an adventure. Old-fashioned 

 physics is still in its infancy, though its 

 growth is vigorous, its accomplishments 

 already vast, and its legitimate promises 

 boundless. After thousands of years of 

 groping to find the true method' of arriv- 

 ing at the truth of nature, that method has 

 at last been found and abundantly verified 

 as opening the right path of future inquiry. 

 Yet the method has been really but just 

 mastered, and we think it would be wise if 

 our physicists could content themselves to 

 pursue it humbly and faithfully for say 

 the next thousand years. Nor does Profes- 

 sor Zollner's experience encourage us in the 

 least to qualify this recommendation ; for 

 it looks as if he had not yet served half his 

 apprenticeship to the existing and well-at- 

 tested method. The proneness to indulge 

 in wayward fancies, in groundless conjec- 

 tures, in imaginary explanations and insane 

 speculations, has always been the great ob- 

 stacle to sober and cautious science, and 

 we think it is the great oflSce of science 

 to discipline and subdue this tendency. But 

 Professor Zollner has hardly yet learned the 

 rudiments of his scientific lesson. Nature, 

 as disclosed to the common intellect of man, 

 is not sufficient for him. He scorns its limi- 

 tations, and is bound to know what is out- 

 side. So at the very opening of his book 

 he imakes a grand transcendental somer- 

 sault, and comes down Heaven save us ! 

 in the fourth dimension of space. Zollner 

 is free, but we poor worms of the dust can 

 not follow him. We have all we can pos- 

 sibly do in three dimensions of space, and 



it will be a considerable period before this 

 is exhausted. Let those who are inclined 

 buy the " Transcendental Physics," and fol- 

 low its author if they can. Yankee enter- 

 prise is proverbial, and there will no doubt 

 be many who hold to the inspiring motto of 

 the daring Sam Patch, that " some things 

 can be done as well as others." 



Consumption, and how to Prevent it. By 

 Thomas J. Mays, M. D. New York : 

 G. P. Putnam's Sons. 18Y9. Pp. 89. 

 Price, $1. 



This little monograph is aimed at the 

 prevention of the most destructive of all 

 diseases. It offers an explanation of the 

 nature of consumption, and then takes up 

 the various hygienic agencies which are po- 

 tent to protect the system from its invasion. 

 The author epitomizes his book as follows : 

 " In summing up the considerations in the 

 preceding pages, I think it appears conclu- 

 sive that consumption, or the tendency to 

 it which exists in many individuals, is essen- 

 tially a premature dissipation of the force 

 and matter of the body, and that improper 

 food, bad air, deprivation of sunlight, poor 

 clothing, want of physical exercise, disease, 

 imperfect digestion, all accelerate this pro- 

 cess of waste. Therefore, in all our efforts 

 at prevention, the path of duty lies straight 

 before us, and consists in conserving these 

 two elements of the body by laying a good 

 foundation in infancy, by preserving the or- 

 gans of digestion, by eating an abundance 

 of rich and nutritious food, such as fat, but- 

 ter, meat, milk, eggs, etc., by breathing pure 

 air, by living on dry soil, by wearing warm 

 and comfortable clothing, by taking plenty 

 of physical exercise, and by avoiding disease 

 and injurious occupation." 



British Thought and Thinkers : Introduc- 

 TOKY Studies, Critical, Biographical, 

 and Philosophical. By George S. 

 Morris, A. M., Lecturer on Philosophy 

 in the Johns Hopkins University. Chi- 

 cago: S. C. Griggs & Co. Pp. 388. 

 Price, Sl.Yo. 



This volume is founded on some lec- 

 tures lately delivered before a mixed audi- 

 ence of ladies and gentlemen at the Johns 

 Hopkins University, Baltimore. It professes 

 to be introductory rather than exhaustive 

 an invitation to reflective and systematic 



