^"'sq?'^! Recent Literature. 243 



only be obtained bv a knowledge of anatomy. Where Sundevall failed no 

 one else is likely to succeed; for he was a man gifted with intelligence of 

 a rare order, a man of cultivation and learning, one who had devoted his 

 whole life to science, who had travelled much, studied much and reflected 

 much, a man whose acquaintance with the literature of his subject 

 probably exceeded that of any of his contemporaries, and a man whose 

 linguistic attainments rendered him the envy of his many friends. Yet 

 what should have been the crowning work of his long life is one that all 

 who respected him, and that comprehends all who knew him, must regret, 

 though apart from his systematic treatment his handiwork is admirable." 



Most of Professor Newton's criticism in this part of his work is con- 

 structive — that is to say, it is concerned with the building up of the good, 

 not the pulling down of what he considers bad; for bad work or bad 

 workers hardly appear here, unless it be to be brushed aside in a word. 

 Yet it is perhaps but fair to place in juxtaposition with the above an 

 example of unmitigated severity (p. 44) : 



" By every well-informed ornithologist the History of British Birds of 

 Mr. Morris has long been known to possess no authority; but about Mr. 

 Seebohm's volumes with the same title there is much difference of opinion, 

 some holding them in high esteem. The greater part of their text, when 

 it is correct, will be found on examination to be a paraphrase of what others 

 had already written, for even the information given on the author's 

 personal experience, which was doubtless considerable, extends little or no 

 further. But all this is kept studiously out of sight, and the whole is so 

 skilfully dressed as to make the stalest observations seem novel — a merit, 

 I am assured, in some eyes. Of downright errors and wild conjectures 

 there are enough, and they are confidently asserted with the misuse of 

 language and absence of reasoning power that mark all the author's writ- 

 ings, though the air of scientific treatment assumed throughout has 

 deluded many an unwary i-eader." 



There is of course no balm in Gilead for a wound like that; though in 

 another place (p. 734 of Alphabet, note), where Professor Newton castigates 

 poor Seebohm with less acerbity for his fantastic sciolism in the taxon- 

 omy of LimicoliE the saving clause comes: "Yet the many beautiful 

 figures given by Mr. Seebohm will always make his work acceptable to 

 ornithologists of all schools, despite his numerous vagaries." 



It were needless to add, after what has preceded, that Professor 

 Newton is fully committed to morphological taxonomy on evolutionary 

 principles. We should hardly think any different view could be taken by 

 a competent scientist of the present day. The assumed distinction 

 between external and internal characters is absurd , they are parts of one 

 structural integer, and if the insides of a bird prove more valuable for 

 classificatory purposes than its outside, it is simply because there are 

 more of the former than there is of the latter available for examination 

 and interpretation. Most of the authors above listed will immediately be 

 seen to have been anatomists; and we note with pleasure Professor 



