SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 415 



hostile to religion in theistic evolution, finding its germs even in the writ- 

 ings of St. Augustine and St. Thomas, while he shows that leai^ned doctors 

 of the Church have defined creation in a way which readily admits the 

 operation of the evolutionary i^rocess. Taking up spontaneous generation 

 again, he declares that helief in the possibility of this action — provided that 

 force and matter he always regarded as under Divine guidance — is contraiy 

 to neither faith nor philosophy. It is allowable also to believe that man's 

 body was dei-ived from an ancestry of the lower animals, though his soul 

 must be held as '' in the case of each individual, directly and immediately 

 created by God himself.'" Prof. Zahm expresses himself everywhere clearly, 

 temperately, and in a readable manner. This is not his first publication on 

 the relations of science and religion, but it is likely to be his last, as he has 

 been called since it appeared to honorable duties at Rome, which probably 

 will not leave him opportunity for further work in this field. 



Although giving quite a full and coherent account of his scientific 

 work, the Hfe, of Romanes * derives its chief value from the insight it 

 gives into the private life and religious expei'iences of its subject. For a 

 book written by his wife and completed just a year after his death this is 

 entirely natural and commendable, and being thus largely a memorial 

 tribute of affection it does not challenge the ordinary criticism of the re- 

 viewer. The fu'st twenty-five years of Mr. Romanes's life are disposed of 

 in eight pages. Then comes an account of his writing the essay which 

 won the Burney Pi-ize of 1873. The record of his life-work in biological 

 investigations begins with researches on the nervous system of the Medusoe ; 

 and continues with his work on pangenesis, animal intelligence, physio- 

 logical selection, inheritance of acquired characters, and various excursions 

 on minor matters. The information given on these subjects is contained 

 mainly in the correspondence which Romanes carried on with Charles 

 Darwin, Francis Darwin, Thiselton-Dyer, E. B. Poulton, E. Schaefer, and 

 others, for his wife has endeavored " to let him, especially in matters sci- 

 entific, speak for himself." In this respect she is somewhat hampered by 

 the fact that he " lived in almost daily intercourse for parts of many years 

 with more than one of his most intimate friends. Hence there are no 

 letters to several people with whom he was in the habit of discussing sci- 

 entific, philosojihic, and theological questions." There are also many 

 letters relating to his personal aflPairs, his journeys for recreation or pleas- 

 ure, and his diversions, of which music, writing poetry, and shooting were 

 the chief. There is an evident solicitude on the part of Mrs. Romanes to 

 show that her husband died in the Christian faith. Early in the volume 

 she describes his period of agnosticism as an '' eclipse of faith," and toward 

 the end she devotes much space to his correspondence and his expressions 

 of favorable views on religious matters. No attempt has been made to 

 weigh the value of his contributions to science. The volume is illustrated 

 with a frontispiece portrait and views of two houses in'which Mr. Romanes 

 resided. 



* The Life and Letters of George John Romanes. Written and edited by his Wife. Pp. 360, 8vo. 

 London, New York, and Bombay : Longmans, Green & Co. Price, $4. 



