EDITOR'S TABLE. 



843 



any troublesome logical process. Nobody 

 in this world, except perhaps some su- 

 perstitious gambler, ever " enthroned " 

 chance, and even he is imposed upon 

 by words. 



One is compelled to ask the question 

 whether the author is as inapt at philo- 

 sophical reasoning as his book indi- 

 cates, or whether he has simply put 

 aside his philosophy in order that he 

 may not affright the babes to whom it 

 is his evident purpose to minister. He 

 tells us that it is " a striking inversion of 

 ordinary probabilities " to suppose that 

 the environment can influence the de- 

 velopment of organisms; that inanimate 

 nature can " rule, determine, and ele- 

 vate that which lives and wills." Does 

 not the law of gravitation rule and de- 

 termine in a very great degree nearly 

 all the phenomena of human life ? Does 

 not diet determine the quality of the 

 blood, and the quality or condition of 

 the blood influence thought? Is not 

 civilization largely a matter of climate 

 and general physical conditions? The 

 world might have been much better 

 than it is, we are told, if it had pleased 

 God " to produce a superior race of be- 

 ings." This is Sir William Dawson's 

 dictum : we know nothing about such 

 matters; all we know is that no race 

 superior to man has been produced ; and 

 we are disposed to conclude that man, 

 as he is and has been, stands in definite 

 relation to the condition of things on this 

 planet. That a being of infinite power, 

 who might have done better, should have 

 been content with doing worse, is an 

 idea which we prefer to leave to the 

 contemplation of the author. Another 

 example of what may well be called 

 baby philosophy is where, speaking of 

 the idea that there may be among the 

 organs of the body a certain struggle 

 for existence and pre-eminence, our au- 

 thor declares it to be " revolting to com- 

 mon sense and hideous to right feeling." 

 What has a student of science to do with 

 any idea put forward as scientific except 

 to bring it, if possible, to the test of 



facts ? To us it is no more " revolting " 

 or "hideous" that there should be a 

 struggle for existence going on between 

 the different cells of our body than that 

 the movement of the earth in its orbit 

 should be the resultant of two antago- 

 nistic forces, or that our social system 

 should be the result of the competing 

 activities of its individual members. 

 " On this view,." says our author, " the 

 mechanism of an animal ceases even to 

 be a machine, and becomes a mere mass 

 of conflicting parts thrown together at 

 random, and depending for its continued 

 existence on a chance balance of exter- 

 nal forces." Does the solar system 

 cease to be a machine because it is con- 

 trolled by the rival laws of gravitation 

 and inertia — because the planets are 

 acted upon at once by a centripetal and 

 centrifugal force ? Does the social 

 organism cease to be a machine because 

 its balance is maintained by the self- 

 seeking and mutually -limiting activities 

 of its members ? To talk of u a chance 

 balance of external forces" is irrelevant 

 and meaningless. What we know is that 

 there is a balance, that it has endured 

 long enough for the development of an 

 infinite number of organic forms in 

 adaptation to it, and that there is no 

 apparent reason why it should not con- 

 tinue. That is all any one who is de- 

 termined not to transcend the facts can 

 say. We have not space to examine 

 the more detailed reasonings of the au- 

 thor of this book ; but its general phil- 

 osophic tone may be correctly judged 

 from what precedes. It is not a book 

 that will enhance the reputation of the 

 Canadian scientist. 



THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 



The meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation just held at Indianapolis may be 

 regarded as one of the best of recent 

 years. The attendance was up to a 

 good average in numbers and embraced 

 a good many distinguished names, both 

 among the older and newer generations 



