420 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



weights, measures, and temperature, in the 

 decimal and the old system. It has been 

 brought up to the latest established results 

 in its department, and can not fail to be a 

 valuable possession to every one whose busi- 

 ness it is to prepare, prescribe, or dispense 

 medicines. 



The Possibility of not Dying : a Specu- 

 lation. Bv Hyland C. Kirk. New 

 York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 112. 

 Price, 75 cents. 



The author of this speculation says : 

 " The proposition ' all men are mortal ' is 

 an unsound assumption unsound because 

 not based on actual knowledge. Men sub- 

 jected to certain conditions are mortal. This 

 is a true proposition. That men subjected 

 to certain other conditions may be immor- 

 tal, we can not deny. As knowledge is, our 

 subject involves merely a matter of uncer- 

 tainty, unless data can be procured such as 

 shall afford means of determining the truth." 

 The author then goes back, as usual, to 

 Columbus and Galileo, to show that both in 

 the realms of discovery and invention sup- 

 positions generally regarded as absurd have 

 proved to be correct. And as the doctrine 

 of the sphericity of the earth was once held 

 to be absurd, but is now proved to be true, 

 he maintains that the theory of physical im- 

 mortality, though now regarded as absurd, 

 may yet be found true. 



Moreover, it is a great time now for 

 progress of all sorts, and after the telegraph 

 and phonograph and telephone, who shall 

 assume to say what may come next ? The 

 secret of earthly immortality has been 

 dreamed about a great deal, and patentable 

 arts of prolonging life indefinitely are no 

 novelty. Paracelsus announced that he had 

 found the elixir of life by which men might 

 be enabled to live forever, but, as he died 

 himself in middle age, the announcement 

 seems to have been premature, the inven- 

 tion, like that of perpetual motion, having 

 been probably not quite perfected. Mr. Kirk 

 offers no contrivance by which death may 

 be escaped, but he is full of ingenious rea- 

 sonings to show the theoretic possibility 

 that, by a system of right living, earthly life 

 could be made to last forever. 



Mr. Kirk argues that the end he proposes 

 is desirable, which is far from certain. The 

 question is very seriously mooted nowadays 



whether, even in its brevity, " life is worth 

 living" at all; but it is pretty clear, at any 

 rate, that it is only tolerable through its 

 brevity. The experiment of trying life for 

 a time is certainly interesting; but the most 

 beneficent part of the arrangement is, that 

 its eternal continuance can be escaped, at 

 least in this state of being. Mr. Kirk con- 

 siders the matter from the point of view of 

 evolution, wdiich, as it raises humanity to 

 a plane of higher possibilities, may find 

 everlasting life among them. But evolution 

 seems to be made possible only through 

 death by constantly getting rid of the less 

 perfect to make room for the more perfect. 

 Shortening life multiplies lives, so that while 

 the vital stream is continuous, in an im- 

 mortal progress, individuals are replaced in 

 the succession by better ones, and, if there 

 be the slightest advantage in living, it is 

 increased by the indefinite multiplication of 

 separate lives. If any one set could find a 

 way of holding on, would there not be an 

 end of evolution ? "We are much inclined 

 to think that it would be hard to conceive 

 anything more calamitous than to have Mr. 

 Kirk's reform practically carried out. Even 

 now the " Old Hunker " element in human 

 affairs defies everything but death, but what 

 kind of a world would this be if the Civil- 

 Service Commission could confer upon office- 

 holders an immortal tenure ? 



Bulletin or the United States Fish Com- 

 mission. Vol. I, for 1881. Washing- 

 ton: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 

 466, with Twenty-one Plates. 



To secure a more speedy dissemination 

 of the information collected by the Pish 

 Commission, it has been authorized to pub- 

 lish an annual " Bulletin," of the edition of 

 which a part is to be distributed signature 

 by signature (in the sheets as they are print- 

 ed), and the rest in bound volumes. The 

 present is the first of the series of volumes. 

 It contains a large number of papers of va- 

 ried importance on the different aspects of 

 fish-culture and fishing, with a table of con- 

 tents arranged alphabetically by authors, and 

 an admirable index. Among the papers of 

 more general interest are those on " Recent 

 Contributions to Pond Cultivation," " Treat- 

 ment of Fish-Eggs at Sea," " The Dry Trans- 

 mission of Fish-Eggs," "The Destruction of 



