LITERARY NOTICES. 



409 



the scientific men of our time. There 

 may have heen many tilings said in it 

 which people with a formulated faith 

 find objectionable; hut they are the 

 results of honest and earnest thought, 

 and the incidents of legitimate discus- 

 sion, and must, therefore, he tolerated. 

 Science can not work under the dicta- 

 tion of those interested to restrain it. 

 Are men who make the supreme pur- 

 pose of their lives the understanding of 

 nature, to stop research into the laws 

 of life, the genesis of species, the an- 

 tiquity of man, the functions of the 

 brain, the laws of social growth, or the 

 natural history of superstitions, be- 

 cause there are many who, without ever 

 studying these subjects, have views in 

 relation to them which they do not 

 wish disturbed ? It is impossible. The 

 great modern movement of the human 

 mind which we call science is a part of 

 evolving nature, and we have no lib- 

 erty to do anything but represent it as 

 faithfullv as we are able. 



anxo tjxcemext. 



The next volume of the " Interna- 

 tional Scientific Series," to be issued 

 early in January, will be a work of 

 such exceptional importance to various 

 classes of thinkers, that we deem it 

 proper to call especial attention to it 

 in this place. It will be entitled " The 

 Concepts and Theories of Modern 

 Physics," and is written by Judge J. 

 B. Stallo, of Cincinnati, author of a 

 work, published many years ago, on 

 u The Philosophy of Nature." 



The book is a critical inquiry into 

 the validity and sufficiency of what 

 may be called our present scientific 

 foundations. The author holds that the 

 generally accepted hypothesis of the 

 atomo-mechanical constitution of nat- 

 ure, and the various modern theories 

 that grow out of it, are deeply tainted 

 with metaphysical error; and his pur- 

 pose has been to draw the line between 

 legitimate science and illegitimate spec- 



ula) ion. There is now no subject that 

 more urgently needs to be cleared up 

 than this. 



The author says of his work : " Its 

 tendency is throughout to eliminate 

 from science its latent metaphysical ele- 

 ments, to foster and not to repress the 

 spirit of experimental investigation, 

 and to accredit instead of discrediting 

 the great endeavor of scientific re- 

 search to gain a sure foothold on solid 

 empirical ground, where the real data 

 of experience may be reduced with- 

 out ontological prepossessions. An at- 

 tentive perusal of these pages will make 

 it clear, I think, that this endeavor is 

 continually thwarted by the insidious 

 intrusion into the meditations of the 

 man of science of the old metaphysical 

 spirit. This fact having been estab- 

 lished, it was incumbent on me to as- 

 certain, if possible, its causes and, 

 within the narrow limits at my com- 

 mand, to develop its consequences. . . . 

 What is here presented is not, of 

 course, a new theory of the universe, 

 or a novel system of philosophy. I 

 have undertaken, not to solve all or 

 any of the problems of cognition, but 

 simply to show that some of them are 

 in need of being stated anew so as to 

 be rationalized, if not deepened." 



Judge Stallo is a master of the field 

 of modern physics, and the original 

 views of his book are presented with 

 great clearness and force. This volume 

 will be one of the very ablest of the 

 ' International Scientific Series." 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Artificial Anaesthesia and An.f.sthetus. 

 By Henry M. Lyman, A.M., M. D., Pro- 

 fessor <if Physiology and of Diseases of 

 the Nervous System in Rush Medical 

 College, Chicago, ere. New York : Will- 

 iam Wood & Co. 1881. 8vo. Pp. vii-338. 



" The most ancient record of the race," 

 says Professor Lyman, " introduces the hero 

 of the flood plunged in a deep and scanda- 

 lous sleep, under the influence of wine which 



