SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



419 



who would exalt the noble qualities displayed 

 by the hero of the story, and laud his suc- 

 cessful achievement. The autobiographical 

 sketch, which was nevei- completed, occupies 

 thirty -two pages of the volume, and is given 

 as Dr. Croll left it, upon the advice of ' Pro- 

 fessor Masson, that " it is so characteristic 

 that it would be best to preserve it entire, 

 as it would be a pity to lose anything of the 

 simple and pleasant peculiarities of the auto- 

 biographical original." To this has been 

 added the more detailed account of CroU's 

 life and scientific work, making up the rest 

 of the book. Mr. Irons has been assisted in 

 his work by many of the distinguished scien- 

 tific men of Great Britain, who have fur- 

 nished Dr. CroU's correspondence with them, 

 criticisms, suggestions, etc. To the biog- 

 raphy are added obituary notices by Lord 

 Kelvin, Nature, and J. Home, of the Geo- 

 logical Survey of Scotland ; a letter from 

 Prof. R. W. McFarland, formerly of Ohio 

 State University, on CroU's relations with 

 America and its geologists ; and a list of Dr. 

 CroU's publications. 



In Mr. Ramsey's Philosophy of Phe- 

 nomena * all phenomena are classified as 

 physical and metaphysical (matter phe- 

 nomena and life phenomena). The cosmic 

 forces of gravity, heat, and life are recog- 

 nized as chief factors of all phenomena. The 

 author's method is to present his views — 

 which are usually very peremptory — in max- 

 ims or detached sentences ; and we have not 

 been able to perceive that the book as a 

 whole leads up to anything in particular. 

 His observations cover most of the branches 

 of knowledge, and embrace general state- 

 ments of reviews or opinions on the several 

 points, with his own verdicts. He seems to 

 apprehend that he will arouse animosity ; but 

 the world is more likely to respect the inde- 

 pendent thinker who is not afraid to utter 

 his views in plain language, and will simply 

 take the liberty of differing from him where 

 it does not agree. 



M. Felix Le Dantcc, whose publisher 

 styles him " a young zoologist of great prom- 

 ise for the future," confesses to having no 

 new facts to present in his book on Indi- 



* Philosophy of Phenomena. By George M. 

 Ramsey. Boston : Banner of Lit^lit Publishing 

 Company. Pp. :i08. 



vidual Evolution and Heredity* The im- 

 portant feature of his present study is to him 

 the method, which he believes is different 

 from that employed by any other author who 

 has written upon the subject. His object is 

 to account for the inheritance of acquired 

 characteristics, and this he endeavors to do 

 by purely deductive methods. He believes 

 that the sole difference between living bodies 

 or plastids and crude substances lies in the 

 presence or absence of the property of assim- 

 ilation. This property, then, should be the 

 basis of all biological study, and all that is 

 general in biology should be deducible from 

 it. Heredity is therefore a form and the 

 work of assimilation — assimilation of the 

 traits of ancestors transmitted to posterity 

 and perpetuated through them. 



" One approaches Hegel for the first 

 time," says the author of The Sea-et of 

 Hegel^\ "as one might approach some en- 

 chanted palace of Arabian story. New pow- 

 ers, imagination is assured (were but the 

 entrance gained), await one there — secrets 

 — as it were the ring of Solomon and the 

 passkeys of the universe. But very truly, 

 if thus magical is the promise, no less 

 magical is the difficulty ; and one wanders 

 round the book — as Aboulfaouris round the 

 palace — irrifo, without success, but not with- 

 out a sufficiency of vexation. Book — palace 

 — is absolutely inaccessible, for the known can 

 show no bridge to it ; or, if accessible, then 

 it is absolutely impregnable, for it begins 

 not, it enters not. What seems the doorway 

 receives but to reject, and every attempt at 

 a window is baffled by a fall. This is the 

 universal experience." We are not disposed 

 to question the appositeness of the figure as 

 illustrating Hegel's style of thought. What 

 now is the student to do when he finds the 

 expositor whom he hopes to use as the pass- 

 key to this strange palace falling into the 

 same way of inaccessibiUty and impenetra- 

 bility as his master ? Dr. Stirling's chapters 

 on Hegel consist for the most part of certain 

 members of a series of notes " which, as it 



* Evolution individuelle et heredite ; Theorie 

 de la Variation qualitative. By F. Le Dantec. 

 Paris : Felix Alcan 



t The Secret of Hegel. Being the Hegelian 

 System in Orioin, Principle, Form, and Matter. 

 By James Hutchison Stirling. I\ew York: G. P. 

 Putnam's Sons. Pp. 751. 



