LITERARY NOTICES. 



495 



fluid, the eternity of visible matter winch the 

 vortex theory requires, disappears. Such a 

 visible universe would be as essentially 

 ephemeral as a smoke-ring so tliat we may 

 accept it as possible, if not probable, that 

 the visible universe may pass away that it 

 may bury its dead out of its sight. In its 

 present state we have three forms of devel- 

 opment Chemical, or Stuff-Development, 

 (Jlobe- Development, and Life-Development. 

 It is a question whether the ultimate atoms 

 of chemists are really ultimate ; whether 

 some agent, like great heat, for instance, 

 could not split them up into various groups 

 of some primal substance like hydrogen. 

 We see the prospect of a similar simplicity 

 in the development of worlds on the theory 

 of Kant and Laplace, which makes the sys- 

 tems of the universe the result of the grad- 

 ual condensation of nebulous masses. In 

 the end, all the masses of the universe must 

 fall together in the beginning there can 

 have been no masses, every thing being 

 nebulous and discrete, even if ordinary 

 matter be indestructible. The last state 

 and the lirst state of the visible universe 

 are thus separated from each other by a 

 finite duration. A like simplicity may be 

 reached in the development of life. Dar- 

 win has made it at least possible that all 

 life may issue from some primordial life- 

 germ. The complete refutation of the doc- 

 trine of abiogenesis the practical proof 

 that life issues only from life leaves us 

 still bound to account for that germ. There 

 is no doubt that species develop varieties 

 which may ultimately become distinct spe- 

 cies, although there is little indication that 

 the varieties of what was once one species 

 are ever separated like species originally 

 difi'erent, by a barrier of mutual infertility. 

 A sufficient length of time might enable us 

 to overcome this barrier. In all our devel- 

 opments the substance-development, the 

 globe-development, the life-development 

 we are thus brought, in the end, to a some- 

 thing which we are not yet able to compre- 

 hend, 



" Turning from matter to the phenomena 

 which affect it, we notice one singular set 

 of phenomena in which things insignificant 

 and obscure give rise to great lines of events. 

 A whole mass of water, the temperature of 

 which has been reduced below the freezing- 

 point, suddenly crystallizes on the slightest 

 starting motion ; a whole series of tremen- 

 dous meteorological phenomena, such as 

 hurricanes in the Indian Ocean, happen 

 because certain positions of Mercury and 

 Venus affect the sun's atmosphere, causing 



spots in his, and the condition of the sun 

 affects the earth. Like the complicated 

 series of effects which follow the pulling of 

 the trigger of a gun, the effects are utterly 

 disproportionate to their causes. Man is a 

 machine of this unstable kind some trivial 

 change affecting the matter of the brain is 

 all that is needed to set him in motion. 

 May not other beings be capable of touch- 

 ing what we may call the hair-triggers of 

 the universe ? Whatever these agencies are, 

 angels or ministering spirits, they certainly 

 do not belong to the present visible uni- 

 verse. The writers examine the sacred 

 records to confirm their speculations." 



Proceedikgs of the American Associa- 

 tion FOR THE Advancement of Science. 

 Twenty-third Meeting, held at Hartford, 

 Conn., August, 1874.' Salem, 1875. 



This is the annual volume of the Amer- 

 ican Association, and represents the results 

 of the Hartford meeting in 1874. It opens 

 with the address of the retiring president, 

 Prof. J. Lovering, of Harvard College. 



This is concerned with what is called 

 " the great problem of the day," viz., " How 

 to subject all physical phenomena to dy- 

 namical laws," and gives an abstract of 

 the various theoretical views on " action at 

 a distance," which, although brilliant, is not 

 fully satisfying. 



The practical moral enforced by the ad- 

 dress seems to be one designed for Amer- 

 ican physicists ; the moral is that, "unless 

 our physicists are content to lag behind 

 and gather up the crumbs which fall from 

 the rich laboratories and studies of Europe, 

 they must unite to delicate manipulation 

 the power of mathematical analysis." 



It is quite true that the mathematics 

 are sadly neglected among us, and of this 

 we have a striking confirmation in this very 

 volume : the only mathematical paper in 

 the whole book is one which demands forty- 

 seven lines for itself, and this is a new 

 demonstration of one of the theorems of 

 Euclid. It is indeed true that our physi- 

 cists, our scientific men generally, and above 

 al! our students, need to recognize, far more 

 than they now do, the value of analysis as 

 a means of research. 



We must not forget, however, what in 

 fact is pointed out in this very address, 

 that the basis for mathematical analysis 

 applied to physics must come from labo- 



