LITERARY NOTICES. 



419 



ity, at all resembling those existing on the earth 

 should exist on other planets or in other solar 

 systems. It is conceivable that very low forms 

 of vegetable life may exist on other planets and 

 may have been by some means transported to 

 the earth ; the idea is conceivable, though high- 

 ly improbable. But it is quite impossible that 

 that infinitely complex series of circumstances 

 which on the earth has conspired to produce 

 from the lowest living forms a crustacean, for 

 example, should have occurred elsewhere ; still 

 less is it possible that a bird or a mammal should 

 exist elsewhere ; still more impossible, again, 

 that there should be elsewhere a monkey or a 

 man. 



With regard to any future scientific expedi- 

 tions, it would, however, be well to bear in mind 

 that the deep sea, its physical features and its 

 fauna, will remain for an indefinite period in the 

 condition in which they now exist and as they 

 have existed for ages past, with little or no 

 change, to be investigated at leisure at any future 

 time. On the surface of the earth, however, ani- 

 mals and plants and races of men are perishing 

 rapidly day by day, and will soon be, like the 

 dodo, things of the past. The history of these 

 things once gone can never be recovered, but 

 must remain for ever a gap in the knowledge of 

 mankind. 



The loss will be most deeply felt in the prov- 

 ince of anthropology, a science which is of high- 

 er importance to us than any other, as treating 

 of the developmental history of our own species. 

 The languages of Polynesia are being rapidly 

 destroyed or mutilated, and the opportunity of 

 obtaining accurate information concerning these 

 and the native habits of culture will soon have 

 passed away. 



Problems of Life and Mind. By George 

 Henry Lewes. Third Series, Problem 

 the First. The Study of Psychology, 

 its Object, Scope, and Method. Boston : 

 Houghton, Osgood & Co. Pp.189. Price, 

 $2. 



This work was left unfinished by the 

 author at his death last year, and it has been 

 edited and prepared for the press, as is un- 

 derstood, by Mrs. Lewes, who prefixes to the 

 volume this brief note : " The following 

 problem is published separately, in obedience 

 to an implied wish of the author, and has 

 been printed from his manuscript with no 

 other alterations than such as it is felt cer- 

 tain that he would have sanctioned. Anoth- 

 er volume will appear in the autumn." 



Like all of Mr. Lewes's philosophical 

 writings, this book is worthy the attention of 

 those interested in the subjects he discusses, 

 for he had an acute and fertile mind, way- 

 ward if not independent, and by no means 

 wanting in originality. But he was too ver- 



satile for preeminence. A man can not be 

 great in all things, nor really great in any- 

 thing if he dabbles in everything. Mr. 

 Lewes was novelist, dramatist, linguist, crit- 

 ic, editor, physiologist, historian of philoso- 

 phy, and psychologist. Much of his work 

 was poor, much middling, and some of it 

 excellent, but he left no impression upon any 

 one subject such as he might have made by 

 concentrating his powers upon it with an 

 exclusive devotion. He was a brilliant talker, 

 and an admirable story-teller ; was sought 

 by society, and was fond of of it, all his 

 striking and varied acquisitions coming 

 readily into play in cultivated social circles. 

 In the latter portions of his life he was more 

 secluded, and gave himself more closely to 

 a restricted line of serious study which re- 

 sulted in the publication of his maturest work, 

 " The Problems of Life and Mind," of which 

 the present volume is the last issued. He 

 will probably be longest known by his " His- 

 tory of Philosophy," but in the present 

 transition state of biological and psycholog- 

 ical theory these latter works will be found 

 well worth consulting. The volume now is- 

 sued is expository and controversial with 

 regard to varions important psychological 

 questions, but propounds little that is new, 

 the author being content to reargue more 

 fully various positions that he has heretofore 

 assumed. It has undoubtedly been im- 

 proved in style by passing through the edi- 

 torial hands of Mrs. Lewes. 



Chemical Examinations of Sewer-Air. By 

 Professor William Ripley Nichols. Bos- 

 ton: Rockwell & Churchill print. 1879, 

 Pp. 20. 



Dr. Nichols is careful to employ the 

 term " sewer-air " instead of " sewer-gas," 

 inasmuch as the latter phrase gives rise to 

 the erroneous idea that in sewers there ex- 

 ists a distinct gaseous substance possessed 

 of marked distinguishing characteristics ; 

 whereas the fact is, that the gas or air of sew- 

 ers is a continually varying mixture of the 

 gases which makeup the atmosphere, blend- 

 ed with a relatively small proportion of cer- 

 tain other gases formed by the decomposi- 

 tion of the sewage, together with aqueous 

 vapor and vapor of organic compounds. 

 The noxious substances in sewer-air would 

 appear to be either minute solid particles 

 or else particles of vapor, and not gaseous. 



