LITERARY NOTICES. 



5 6 3 



bibliography of the origin of iron ores, which 

 occupies seventy-five pages. The volume 

 contains also lists of mining companies and 

 of leases of mineral lands, the mining laws 

 of Minnesota, a glossary of mining and geo- 

 logical terms, etc. There are several col- 

 ored plates showing microscopic sections of 

 minerals, and other plates showing plans of 

 mines, the general appearance of certain 

 rocks, and the mining machinery made by 

 various manufacturers, and there are several 

 folded maps. 



Mechanism and Personality. By Francis 

 A. Shoup, D. D. Boston : Ginn & Co. 

 Pp. 343. Price, $1.30. 



By his sub-title the author describes this 

 work as " an outline of philosophy in the 

 light of the latest scientific research." Phi- 

 losophy has not been so much affected by any 

 movement in all the centuries of its history 

 as it has by the activity of scientific thought 

 in the last two or three generations, and this 

 book is designed to inform the general read- 

 er as to what modification metaphysics has 

 undergone in consequence of the scientific 

 upheaval. " It is quite natural," says Dr. 

 Shoup, " that they who are once taken with 

 the experimental method should think they 

 have no time, and show so plainly that they 

 have no patience with the old hair-splitting, 

 foggy metaphysic. And yet it will hardly 

 do to cast contempt upon the old thinkers. 

 The seductive path of positive science leads 

 off into regions of speculative thought at 

 numberless points ; and if Science does not 

 already know that she is caught in the toils 

 of Metaphysics, it is only because she does 

 not yet fully recognize her contact with the 

 ultimate." In the early part of the volume 

 Dr. Shoup sketches the latest results of phys- 

 iological research upon the human mechan- 

 ism in its relation to the psychic powers. 

 He then devotes a chapter to the chasm 

 between mechanism and consciousness, in 

 which he states that the so-called scientific 

 opinion that matter is the cause of mind is 

 really unscientific and is not held by the lead- 

 ing men of science. He quotes against ma- 

 terialism Tyndall, Huxley, Spencer, Mauds- 

 ley, Du Bois-Reymond, and Pasteur all 

 explicitly. Passing to the consideration of 

 personality in its psychical aspect, Dr. Shoup 



treats each of the mental faculties in suc- 

 cession, closing with a discussion of ethical 

 feeling, and a consideration of the infinite 

 personality. The author states that the 

 metaphysics of his work is in the main the 

 Lotzian phase of Kant. The style of the 

 book is attractive, and the author evidently 

 has the too uncommon ability to appreciate 

 the work of both metaphysicians and scien- 

 tists. 



The Report of the Slate Mineralogist of 

 California, William Irelan, Jr., for 1890, is 

 a large octavo volume, which contains, be- 

 sides the general report of the mineralogist, 

 a large number of special reports on the 

 several counties of the State, prepared by 

 assistants in the field, and other special 

 papers. Among the latter papers are an 

 account of the asphaltum mine of Ventura 

 Asphalt Company, by E. W. Hilgard ; Lead 

 Smelting, with figures of apparatus, by F. 

 C. von Petersdorff ; Location of Mines, by 

 R. P. Hammond, Jr. ; Quicksilver Mining, 

 by J. B. Randol ; Mining of Gold Ores in 

 California, by J. H. Hammond ; Pico Canon 

 Oil-fields, by Edward North; and Aurifer- 

 ous Beach-sands, by Dr. H. De Groot. The 

 volume is illustrated by diagrams and pho- 

 tographic views, and is accompanied by six 

 folded geological maps. 



The Annals of the New York Acade- 

 my of Sciences for November, 1890, being 

 Numbers 9 to 12 of Vol. V, contain some 

 two hundred pages, which are wholly devoted 

 to Coleopterological Notices, second part, 

 by Thomas L. Casey. A plate accompanies 

 the text. The Transactions of the Academy 

 for October, 1890, comprise the proceedings 

 at four meetings, and abstracts of papers by 

 Dr. John I. Northrop on The Geology of 

 the Bahamas, by Dr. H. T. Vulte on the 

 analysis of grains and cereals, and by Dr. 

 H. Carrington Bolton on musical sand in 

 the Hawaiian Islands and in California. 



Volume XII of the Transactions of the 

 Kansas Academy of Science covers the twen- 

 ty-second and twenty-third annual meetings 

 of the Academy. The volume contains a 

 large number of papers, most of them brief, 

 dealing with a wide variety of scientific top- 

 ics. Among the most important are two by 

 Prof. F. H. Snow, describing his very success- 

 ful operations in disseminating contagious 



