3° 



HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



the brillant exponent. In its simplest manifestation 

 it influences the protoplasm of unicellular organisms ; 

 in its more complicated manifestations it decrees the 

 extermination of the South Sea Islanders, by the 

 alien civilisation, the diseases, and the rum of the 

 white man. It dwarfs the pines on the tundras of 

 Siberia till they finally dwindle into trailing weeds 

 four to five inches high ; it increases the size, or the 

 speed, or the marketable value, whatever it may be, 

 of iOur domestic animals ; it has changed tlie fierce 

 wolf and the cowardly jackal into the only animal 

 which has won, by its high mental and moral 

 qualities, the title of the friend of man.* It has been 

 proved that the action of the environment, and no 

 mysterious " vital force " preserves the liquid con- 

 dition of the blood in living veins, or causes its 

 coagulation. No function is too high or too low for 

 its all-pervading influence; just as the law of gravitation 

 acts upon the minutest speck of matter, as inflexibly 

 as it acts upon the solar system. 



I trust that in this necessarily imperfect sketch I 

 have at least shown how unjustifiable is the attempt 

 to associate the great name of Darwin with the un- 

 progressive school which arrogates to itself the right 

 of claiming to be his special disciples. To demon- 

 strate fully how baseless in ascertained fact is 

 Professor Weismann's theory of "germ-plasm " would 

 require a special article ; but I have endeavoured to 

 indicate a few of its weak points, and to show its 

 constant need of assumptions as bases of reasoning. 



NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 



•[RESEARCHES ON MICRO-ORGANISMS, 

 jTV by Dr. A. B. Griffiths (London : Bailliere, 

 Tindal, & Cox). Dr. Griffiths is well known as one 

 of the most painstaking and industrious of our 

 younger school. of scientists, and he has here pro- 

 duced a very useful manual of reference, which 

 includes an account of all the recent experiments on 

 the destruction of Microbes in various infectious 

 diseases, and is illustrated by fifty-two woodcuts, 

 Just at present Bacteriology is dominant, ten years 

 ago hardly a few scores of people knew what the 

 term meant. A general knowledge of the subject is 

 now incumbent on all medical men, apothecaries, and 

 journalists. Dr. Grifiiths, however, does not claim 

 his book to be a manual of Bacteriology, after the 

 manner of Dr. Crookshank. It is rather an expose 

 of the researches which throw light on the pathology 

 and therapeutics of certain infectious diseases. 

 Nevertheless, it throws a very large cast-net over the 

 whole field of the subject, including an outline of the 

 natural history of Microbes in general ; their 

 microscopical examination, classification, cultivation, 

 distribution in earth, air, and water ; the various 



* For the ancestry of the dog, see "The Mammalia," by 

 Oscar Schmidt. International Scientific Series. 



methods of micro-biological research, the nature of 

 various ferments ; production of Ptomaines ; speciaS 

 ferments ; the various substances secreted by 

 Microbes ; the action of heat on microbes and their 

 spores ; an account of the researches of Koch, Klein,. 

 Pasteur, Bert, Parsons, Duclaux, Forster, and others, 

 to which we are pleased to see the author has added 

 his own, which are not the least interesting. There 

 are also lengthy and varied chapters on Germicides 

 and antiparasitic therapeutics ; the General Biology 

 of the Microbes of Rabies, Yellow Fever, Pleuro- 

 pneumonia, Foot-and-mouth Disease, Cattle Plague, 

 Pyaimia, Septiccemia, Puerperal Fever, Syphilis- 

 tuberculosis, Anthrax, Swine Fever, &c. The last 

 chapter is an excellent summary of the recent 

 experiments on the destruction of microbes in infec- 

 tious diseases, in which, of course, those of Professor 

 Koch occupy a prominent position. Dr. Griffiths has 

 produced a useful as well as a thoroughly good 

 book. 



Astronomical Lessons, by J. E. Gore (London : 

 Sutton, Drowley, & Co.). We cordially recom- 

 mend this well got up little book, the work of a well- 

 known astronomer and astronomical writer, as one of 

 the best introductions to the study of the "noble 

 science " we have yet come across. It contains 

 twenty-two short chapters dealing with a large and 

 general range of astronomical knowledge, all of 

 course brought up to the most recent date. The 

 book is well illustrated. 



Applied Geography, by J. Scott Keltie (London : 

 George Philip & Son). This is altogether a novel 

 and acceptable departure from the too traditional 

 method of teaching geography. Much of its con- 

 tents have appeared as articles in leading magazines,, 

 lectures given before the Society of Arts, the College 

 of Preceptors, the Bankers' Institute, etc., and the- 

 book is illustrated by excellent illustrative maps^ 

 It contains five chapters headed as follows : — 

 "Preliminary Considerations," "Geography applied 

 to Commerce," "The Geography of Africa in its 

 Bearings on the Development of the Continent." 

 (two chapters on this all-important subject), "The 

 British Empire," and " Some Common Com- 

 modities." 



London of the Past, by J. Ashton Ainscoughi 

 (London : Elliot Stock). This is a small, delightfully 

 written and accurate history of the most wonderful' 

 and interesting city in the world. It is a straight- 

 forward narrative, neither encumbered with comment 

 nor laden with petty details. 



Elementary Treatise on Hydrodynamics and Sound, 

 by A. B. Bassett, F.R.S. (Cambridge : Deighton, 

 Bell cS: Co. ). The author's fame as a mathematician 

 is well known, and his previous works on these 

 special subjects have deservedly acquired for him the- 

 rank of an authority. It is a most useful work oa 

 mathematical physics, and includes much which will 

 prove valuable to mathematical electricians par- 



