LITERAR Y N TJCS. 



501 



science," "sham science," and "science 

 falsely so called ; " but truly does the 

 Kev. Joseph Cook's " Biology " answer 

 to their ideal of a genuine thing ? And 

 must we not conclude, from the way 

 they praise it, that our orthodox friends 

 are rather hard pressed for champion- 

 ship ? 



OPENING OF THE MUSEUM. 



It is not often that we get so much 

 momentous thought in so narrow a 

 compass as was furnished by Professors 

 Eliot and Marsh, in their addresses at 

 the recent opening of the American 

 Museum of Natural History in this city. 

 President Eliot, of Harvard, summed 

 up in a few weighty words the grandest 

 characteristic of modern science, and 

 pointed out two of its most profound 

 and far-reaching results. The comple- 

 tion of a new Museum of Natural His- 

 tory seemed the fitting occasion to rec- 

 ognize that science has given a kind of 

 new birth to the human mind a new 

 method and spirit of thought in essen- 

 tial contrast with the old dogmatic dis- 

 pensation. This grand result, not yet 

 very widely recognized, and where 

 recognized not yet very courageously 

 avowed, nevertheless many times out- 

 weighs in import all the material con- 

 quests of scientific research. The doc- 

 trine of heredity, in its comprehensive 

 application to man and social institu- 

 tions, and the doctrine of continuity in 

 Nature, and the slow unfolding of 

 higher and better conditions, are cred- 

 ited with an exalted place among the 

 later achievements of the scientific 

 mind. We cannot forbear expressing 

 our gratification at so unqualified an 

 indorsement from such a distinguished 

 source, and on such a conspicuous occa- 

 sion, of ideas which The Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly has earnestly sought to 

 diffuse ever since it was started. 



Prof. Marsh made a telling appeal 

 for the encouragement of original scien- 

 tific work. He called attention to the 

 danger that such museums are liable 



to degenerate into mere shows, and 

 pointed out that their higher service is 

 to facilitate, encourage, and keep alive, 

 that spirit of investigation by which 

 alone knowledge is developed and per- 

 fected. His suggestions were pertinent 

 and timely, and it is to be hoped they 

 will be heeded, and that due provision 

 will be made for students who wish 

 to engage in the promotion of original 

 work. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Elements of Geologv : A Text-Book for 

 Colleges and for the General Reader. 

 By Joseph Le Conte, Professor of Ge- 

 ology in the University of California. 

 903 Illustrations. New York: D. Ap- 

 pleton & Co. Pp. 588. Price, $4. 



Sir John Herschel has somewhere re- 

 marked that, in the vastness and sublimity 

 of its leading ideas, geology is the rival of 

 astronomy ; for, as the latter has to deal 

 with immeasurable space, the former opens 

 the conception of immeasurable time. There 

 is a splendor about the science of celestial 

 phenomena that is, of course, unrivaled ; 

 but there is a deep fascination about the 

 history of the development of our planet 

 that comes from the immensity of the pe- 

 riods involved, the stupendous scale of the 

 changes that have taken place, and the 

 practical results derived from our knowl- 

 edge of the constitution of the earth's crust. 



These noble elements of the science must 

 ever give geology a powerful claim upon the 

 attention of cultivated people, and they have 

 gained for it, and will secure to it, a leading 

 place in all our higher courses of study. 

 But scientific education is yet in its infancy, 

 and its incorporation with the traditional 

 culture has thus far been very much a mat- 

 ter of accident, caprice, or indifference. Ge- 

 ology has perhaps suffered more than any 

 other science from the unsettled state of 

 the relations between scientific and literary 

 culture. Not that the subject has been 

 neglected, but it has been treated without 

 judicious and adequate preparation. We 

 have had admirable elaborate works for the 

 information of professional geologists and 

 the training of students who design to be- 

 come geologists ; and we have had excellent 



