502 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



dation of a philosophy nobler and deeper 

 than all the human counterfeits ot these lat- 

 ter days." 



Winds of Doctrine : being an Examination 

 of the Modern Theories of Automatism 

 and Evolution. By Charles Elam, M. D. 

 London: Smith, Elder & Co. Pp. 163. 



This is a work of a similar stripe to 

 that just noticed. The contents of the vol- 

 ume first appeared in the Contemporary Re- 

 view, in three articles, and coming from a 

 medical man, the presumption should be 

 that it is a scientific discussion, but it is 

 rather a piece of violent rhetorical denun- 

 ciation. The author contributes nothing to 

 the scientific illumination of the subject, 

 and takes his cue from some of the outgiv- 

 ings of Prof. Mivart in his recent criticisms 

 of Darwinism. But while Mr. Mivart, like 

 most of the eminent biologists of the time, 

 admits evolution as a great historic fact of 

 Nature, however deficient may as yet be its 

 explanation, Dr. Elam scouts it in every 

 form and degree as a pure figment of the 

 imagination, and an idle absurdity. His 

 virtual position is, that the naturalists are 

 under an hallucination, and that Darwin, 

 Huxley, Tyndall, and Spencer especially, 

 to whom he gives his main attention, are 

 little better than fools so far as this subject 

 is concerned. Like Prof. Birks, Dr. Elam 

 writes in the interest of popular traditions 

 and for miscellaneous readers, and has no 

 scruple about his course so he can make 

 out a specious case. He quotes Huxley 

 copiously, but prefers to use his cautious 

 statements, made twelve or fifteen years 

 ago, rather than his later utterances which 

 represent the progress that has been made 

 within that time. With equal unfairness 

 he goes back to Spencer's " Social Statics," 

 published twenty-six years ago, and quotes 

 opinions which Mr. Spencer has stated that 

 he now holds only with important qualifica- 

 tions, instead of judging him by the work 

 upon the same general subject that he is 

 now elaborating. 



The spirit here evinced is that of the 

 advocate and partisan, rather than of the 

 candid and earnest inquirer after truth. 



There are difficulties with evolution, 

 many, and various, and formidable ; and 

 none better understand this, or more freely 

 acknowledge it, than those who have studied 



the subject most profoundly. There are not 

 only inherent difficulties in the discussion 

 from imperfect knowledge, but there are 

 extrinsic difficulties in bringing before the 

 general mind the nature and force of its 

 proofs, and from its conflict with long-es- 

 tablished and widely-cherished beliefs. It 

 is therefore a perfectly easy thing to make 

 objections to the doctrine which many will 

 think annihilating. It is an easy thing to 

 accumulate and ring rhetorical changes on 

 old objections, and with a little license of 

 misrepresentation, and a fresh battery of 

 depreciatory adjectives, to make out a kill- 

 ing case in the estimation of those whose 

 minds are made up beforehand, and who 

 know little of the real issues of the subject. 

 If, on any plain and simple question, aris- 

 ing out of an open transaction between two 

 neighbors who have become involved in 

 law, the hireling attorneys can so confuse 

 and confound all common-sense that a jury 

 is as likely to give a wrong verdict as a 

 right one, what may we not expect when a 

 great, complex, wide-reaching, and newly- 

 presented scientific question becomes a 

 matter of controversy before ill-instructed 

 people, with loud and angry protestations 

 that it involves the very existence of moral- 

 ity, religion, and God? The skillful coun- 

 selor, who cares only to produce an impres- 

 sion, has obviously a great advantage here. 

 But while the pert and supercilious critic 

 is carrying all before him, and proving to 

 those who knew it all before that evolu- 

 tion is a baseless fancy, a mere transient 

 gust of wild and absurd speculation, the 

 disciplined, sober-minded, and thoroughly- 

 instructed naturalists, guided by the light 

 it affords, are penetrating deeper into the 

 secrets of phenomena, making further dis- 

 coveries, and rapidly extending the bounds 

 of our knowledge of Nature, 



Inventional Geometry. A Series of Prob- 

 lems intended to familiarize the Pupil 

 with Geometrical Conceptions, and to 

 exercise his Inventive Faculty. By 

 William George Spencer. With a 

 Prefatory Note by Herbert Spencer. 

 New York : D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 100. 

 Price, 50 cents. 



This is a small and a modest book, but 

 a very important one for all who have a 

 concern about the quality and character of 

 education. It is not a book that will work 



