THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



JUNE, 1882. 

 SPECULATIVE SCIENCE. 



By J. B. STALLO. 



" Wenn ein Kopf und ein Buck zusammenstossen, und es hlingt hohl, muss es denn immer 

 das Buck yewesen sein ? " Lichtexberg, the Physicist. 



THE zbove title is prefixed to an article contributed by Professor 

 Simon Newcomb to the April number of the " International Re- 

 view." The avowed object of that article is to discredit a recent vol- 

 ume of the " International Scientific Series" (" The Concepts and 

 Theories of Modern Physics ") as a publication unworthy of the com- 

 pany in which it appears, and to denounce its author as a person 

 ignorant of the subject whereon he writes as a scientific, or rather 

 unscientific, " charlatan " and " pretender " belonging to the class of 

 " paradoxers " whom Professor De Morgan has immortalized in his 

 famous " Budget." I am fully aware that, as a rule, it is both unwise 

 and in questionable taste for an author to make direct reply to criti- 

 cism, however hostile, baseless, or absurd. The merits of a book must 

 find their vindication, at last, in its contents, and the chief function 

 of the critic is to bring them to the attention of the reader, the value 

 and spirit of the critical performance being of secondary importance. 

 But the case in hand appears to me to be an exceptional one. The 

 unmistakable intent of Professor Newcomb's " criticism " (and, if it 

 be left unchallenged, its probable effect) is to signalize the contents of 

 the book with which he deals as mere drivel, and unworthy of a mo- 

 ment's serious attention. And he writes for a magazine, the majority 

 of whose readers, however intelligent they may be, can hardly be ex- 

 pected to possess that familiarity with the matters under discussion 

 which is a necessary prerequisite to the formation of an independent 

 and trustworthy judgment. All they are likely to know and care is, 



YOL. XXI. 10 X 



