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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



it shall turn their backs upon the scien- 

 tific world, and address themselves to a 

 class so uninstructed in scientific mat- 

 ters that every thing requires to be 

 explained. That we have realized this 

 ideal is not claimed ; but, granting that 

 "the great object of educating the in- 

 telligent public in scientific matters is 

 very imperfectly fulfilled " by this pub- 

 lication, we have Prof. Newcomb's au- 

 thority that it was not fulfilled at all 

 by any previous periodical in this coun- 

 try. Our enterprise had no precedent, 

 and, such were its. obvious difficulties, 

 that, at starting, it was generally sup- 

 posed it would be a failure. We are 

 quite aware of its shortcomings, and, 

 thanking Prof. Newcomb for the rec- 

 ognition of its improvement, we hope 

 tbat it will continue to grow better. 

 But, as our pages attest, it has not 

 been unmindful of the advances of in- 

 quiry, though it has given prominence 

 to those extensions and widenings of 

 scientific thought in which we believe 

 the public has a growing interest ; for 

 the advance of science does not merely 

 consist in new physical and chemical 

 experiments, new mathematical solu- 

 tions, or astronomical discoveries ; it 

 consists quite as much in scientific 

 modes of thinking applied to subjects 

 not hitherto dealt with by such meth- 

 ods. The great difficulty is, that the 

 instruments, processes, problems, and 

 general subject-matter, of advanced in- 

 vestigation are so completely removed 

 from general experience ; and the pub- 

 lic interest, we think, can never be 

 seriously enlisted in scientific inquiries 

 until they take account of phenomena, 

 facts, and questions, that fall within the 

 range of familiar observation and com- 

 mon thought. That the public is to-day 

 far more interested in the relations of 

 science to religion than they are in sci- 

 ence itself, is because one term of the 

 relation is so thoroughly familiar to the 

 general mind. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



The Physiology of Man : Designed to 

 represent the Existing State of Physio- 

 logical Science, as applied to the Func- 

 tions of the Human Body. By Austin 

 Flint, Jr., M. D. In Five Volumes. 

 Volume V. Special Senses ; Genera- 

 tion. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 

 517 pages. Price, $4.50. 



The fifth and concluding volume of Dr. 

 Flint's comprehensive work on physiology 

 is now published, and we congratulate the 

 author upon the completion of his task and 

 the success of its execution. We gave a 

 brief account of the general object of the 

 work, in noticing a previous volume, and 

 have only now to say that the concluding 

 book of the series not only sustains, but sur- 

 passes, the high character won by its prede- 

 cessors, while the whole work the product 

 of eleven years' labor is an honor to its 

 author and a credit to the science of the 

 country. 



The literary merit of these volumes, we 

 think, deserves especial recognition ; that 

 is, their style is admirably adapted to its 

 purpose of conveying clear impressions to 

 the reader with a minimum of effort on his 

 part. To the general reader, there is neces- 

 sarily a certain amount of hindrance from 

 the use of the unfamiliar terms of the sci- 

 ence; but, in no first-class work upon the 

 subject, that we remember, is there so little 

 embarrassment on this score as in that of 

 Dr. Flint. In his style he has attained the 

 excellence of a lucid simplicity, one of the 

 perfections of art which is the more re- 

 markable, as, being a laborious experimental 

 physiologist, busy firstly and mainly with 

 his science, he cannot have had much time 

 to spare for literary discipline. It is a gen- 

 eral fault with our scientists, that they too 

 much neglect literary cultivation, and break 

 down in the arts of statement ; Dr. Flint is 

 not open to this criticism. Hence, while 

 his work will have an increasing value for 

 physiological students, it has also peculiar 

 claims on non-professional readers who may 

 care to consult an elaborate treatise upon 

 the subject. 



In regard to the original character of 

 the work, and its claims as a whole fairly 

 to represent the present state of the science, 

 the author says, in his preface : 



