REVIEWS 583 



" The relation of a person," he writes, " to his surrounding world with which 

 he is in contact, through perception and volition is not a mere external relation, 

 since his surrounding world is ideologically determined in relation to his organic 

 life. It is a mere illogical illusion to regard the world we perceive as independent 

 of its relations to us in perception and volition. The visible world around us is 

 a world moulded by our own personality, and there is no other world. In scientific 

 work we can abstract from, or disregard, the psychological aspect of things, but in 

 so far as we do so we are dealing with abstractions. The relations of personality, 

 mere organism, and matter are relations of increasing abstraction from reality. 



"Just as the individual organism can only be understood as participating in a 

 wider life, so the individual person exists only in participating in a wider personal 

 existence. He can only realise his true personality in losing his personality as 

 a mere individual. Personality is the great central fact of the universe. This 

 world, with'all that lies within it, is a spiritual world." R. F. O. 



The Realm of Nature: An Outline of Physiography. By Hugh Robert Mill, 

 D.Sc, LL.D. [Pp. xii, 404, with Illustrations.] (London : John Murray. 

 2nd Edition, 1913. Price 5-r. net.) 

 This is a second and revised edition of a well-known book, which was originally 

 published in 1891 and which has been previously reprinted six times. We need 

 not be surprised at its popularity, because it really gives concisely a very excellent 

 review of much of our present knowledge of Nature. It is advisable to print the 

 following complete list of the headings of the chapters in order to indicate the 

 scope of the work. These are : The Study of Nature ; The Substance of Nature ; 

 Energy, the Power of Nature ; The Earth a Spinning Ball ; The Earth a Planet ; 

 The Solar System and Universe ; The Atmosphere ; Atmospheric Phenomena ; 

 Climates of the World ; Weather and Storms ; The Hydrosphere ; The Bed of the 

 Oceans ; The Crust of the Earth ; Action of Water on the Land ; The Record of 

 the Rocks ; The Continental Area ; Life and Living Creatures ; Man in Nature. 

 The large number of maps and illustrations are a great additional attraction ; and 

 the whole book, cheap as it is, is one which can well be read, not only by young 

 people, but by scientific men who wish to know about things outside the small 

 tracts to which science condemns them too often to confine their labour. An 

 additional chapter upon what is now known regarding the causation of the 

 infectious diseases would have been useful, but it may have been felt that this 

 was somewhat outside the range of physiography. The whole book gives us what 

 is really indeed a bird's-eye view of natural knowledge ; and the student can 

 afterwards explore what regions he pleases in more detail. 



The Oceaa. A General Account of the Science of the Sea. By Sir John 



Murray, K.C.B., F.R.S., LL.D., D.Sc, Ph.D. [Pp. 256 with 12 



Plates.] (London : Williams & Norgate. Price is. net.) 



The British public ought to be the best educated people in the world, because 



they can obtain information from the most highly qualified experts on almost any 



subject for the sum of one shilling. This little book by Sir John Murray raises 



the question whether higher education is not most economically given by works 



of this nature. It is really an admirable summary of the subject. Beginning 



with some historical notes and a brief account ot the various methods and 



instruments used for deep-sea research, it proceeds to consider the depth of the 



ocean, its waters, salinity, gases and temperature, compressibility, pressure, colour, 



viscosity, penetration of light, tides, waves and seiches. The oceanic currents are 



lucidly described, and the remainder of the book deals with life in the ocean and 



marine deposits, etc. There is a glossary, a bibliography, and an excellent index ; 



and also some useful maps and figures. The book is very carefully written and 



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