420 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ways were ; when the accidental features of 

 Hobbes's ethico-political ideas due to time 

 and circumstances and personal tempera- 

 ments are discounted, it is not difficult to 

 understand how it should have been philo- 

 sophical results of the school of Bentham 

 that first gave them effective currency " ; 

 and, finally, it should be said that, " with 

 enemies and friends alike, Hobbes's power 

 has been due not least to the rare excel- 

 lence of his literary style." 



Appalachia. March, 18S6. Pp. 10S. Price, 

 60 cents. Register of the Appala- 

 chian Mountain Club, for 1886. Bos- 

 ton: Appalachian Mountain Club. W. 

 B. Clarke and Carruth. Pp. 40. 



The Appalachian Mountain Club was 

 organized in January, 1876, and reorgan- 

 ized and chartered in April, 1878. Its ob- 

 jects, as specified in the By-Laws, are to 

 explore the mountains of New England and 

 the adjacent regions, both for scientific and 

 artistic purposes ; and, in general, to culti- 

 vate an interest in geographical studies. 

 Its list of members has gradually grown, 

 and now includes six hundred and ninety- 

 three names of members of all classes. It 

 is in relations of correspondence and ex- 

 change of publications with seventeen 

 American societies and surveys, and fifteen 

 Alpine clubs, and fifteen geographical so- 

 cieties abroad, besides single exchanges. 

 Its periodical, " Appalachia," is usually pub- 

 lished twice a year, four numbers consti- 

 tuting a volume. From the official reports, 

 published in " Appalachia," it appears that 

 the club held thirteen meetings during 1884 

 nine regular, two special, and two field 

 meetings the average attendance upon 

 which was more than one hundred. The 

 topographical department of the club is 

 engaged upon a manuscript map of the 

 White Mountains, on a scale of j^Juoi 

 from data already collected by members. 

 Besides official reports, and reports of the 

 meetings of the club, which themselves 

 embody some papers of interest, the present 

 number of "Appalachia" contains special 

 papers on " The Tripyramid Slides of 1885 " ; 

 " Earthquakes in New England " ; "A Day 

 in Flume Mountain and a Night in the Wil- 

 derness " ; " Middlesex Fells " ; " Accurate 

 Mountain Heights " ; and " Mountain Me- 

 teorology." 



Bulletin of the United States Fish Com- 

 mission. Vol. V, for 1885. Washing- 

 ton : Government Printing-Office. Pp. 

 494. 



While the present volume of the " Bul- 

 letin " does not contain any long and elab- 

 orate monographs on some special branch 

 of fish-culture like those which have given 

 unusual value to some of the previous vol- 

 umes, it is filled with numerous brief arti- 

 cles and extracts from correspondence, re- 

 porting progress, or embodying informa- 

 tion of practical value. Under the heading 

 of "A Foreigner's Opinion of American Fish- 

 Culture," Sir Lyon Playfair is quoted as say- 

 ing : " There is an essential difference be- 

 tween the mode of proceeding of the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States and that of 

 our own country in relation to fisheries. 

 We have had commissions without end, on 

 some of which I have served. Vast bodies 

 of contradictory evidence have been ob- 

 tained from fishermen, who, I agree with 

 Huxley, know less about fish than the com- 

 munity. Our commissions have led to little 

 useful result. The American commissioners 

 act in a different way. They put questions 

 directly to Nature and not to fishermen. 

 They possess scientific methods, and not 

 those of ' rule of thumb.' They make sci- 

 entific investigations into the habits, food, 

 geographical distribution of fishes, and into 

 the temperature of the seas and rivers in 

 which they live or spawn. Practical aims 

 and experiments are always kept in view." 



The Order of Creation ; The Conflict be- 

 tween Genesis and Geology. New 

 York: The "Truth-Seeker" Company. 

 Pp. 178. Price, 75 cents. 



This publication contains the articles by 

 Mr. Gladstone and Professor Huxley which 

 have already appeared in the " Monthly," 

 together with Professor Max Miiller's and M. 

 Reville's replies to those parts of Mr. Glad- 

 stone's observations which bear upon what 

 they have respectively said on the subject 

 in controversy or upon theories to which 

 they adhere ; together with a reply by Mrs. 

 E. Lynn Linton to a phrase used by Mr. 

 Gladstone to convey his regret that some 

 writers appear to him to rejoice at the 

 thought that they have got rid of the belief 

 in God. 



