566 



NATURE 



{Oct. lo, 1889 



have received special assistance in the galleries, has 

 risen from 174 in 1S80 to 1687 in 1888. The number of 

 classes which have had the advantage of instruction illus- 

 trated by the apparatus which their teachers have been 

 allowed to handle and to demonstrate, has increased from 

 7 in 1880 to 81 last year. 



Every year 600 science teachers apply to be allowed to 

 attend the summer courses held in the Normal School of 

 Science. From these 200 are selected, and not only are 

 the lectures which they attend illustrated by means of 

 objects contained in the Museum, but they are able to 

 inspect typical collections of apparatus, ready set up 

 and arranged for the performance of the experiments 

 which they are recommended in the Directory of the 

 Science and Art Department to show to their classes. 



It appears, then, that the full use of the galleries is 

 not hampered by unnecessary restrictions. Permissicn to 

 handle the apparatus is a privilege which does not suggest 

 red-tape. Every effort is made to enable provincial 

 teachers to share the advantages which may be reaped 

 from the Museum, and it is casting no discredit upon the 

 admirable provincial colleges which are springing up in 

 our large towns to say that even a country like England 

 could not gather more than one such collection as that 

 which is being formed at South Kensington. Let us 

 hope that the Report of the Commission has made it cer- 

 tain that, to the benefit of both town and country, the 

 development of the collection will be promoted, and that 

 before long it will be properly housed. 



Although, however, the management of the Museum 

 seems to have been satisfactory in practice, the Com- 

 missioners again travel outside the exact terms of 

 reference to them, to express an opinion that the organiza- 

 tion of the staff in charge of it requires revision. One of 

 the Professors was specially examined on this point, and 

 his opinion appears to be closely in accordance with the 

 terms of the Report. 



At present the responsibility for the collections lies prim- 

 arily with the Lord President, and next to him with the 

 Vice-President and the Secretary to the Science and Art 

 Department. It is but one of the many proofs— which are 

 often overlooked or ignored— of the ability with which the 

 Department has been administered, that the Commis- 

 sioners find no fault with the present state or future aims 

 of the Museum. It is, however, impossible that collections 

 so varied should be controlled without the help of ex- 

 perts, and, as matters stand, this assistance is sought in 

 a more or less informal way from consultative Commit- 

 tees who have no real authority and no official responsi- 

 bility. The results attained in some sections have been, for 

 the most part, due to volunteers like Mr. Cowper, who 

 has acted on several Committees of advice, and done the 

 lion's share of the work, so that he "has been "—to 

 quote his own words — " famihar with every one of the 

 machines in the Department." The collections of scien- 

 tific instruments are supervised by the Professors of the 

 Normal School, whose advice is given subject to the 

 limitations just described. 



It would be premature to discuss the details of a scheme 

 by which these arrangements might with advantage be 

 superseded. A hearty admiration for the work which has 

 been accomplished and for the ability of the officers of the 

 Department under whose authority it has been carried out 



iSjthowever, compatible with a no less hearty assent to the 

 opinion of the Commissioners that "the system is de- 

 fective in principle, apart from the personal qualities of 

 those working under it," and that " the responsibility for 

 the formation and supervision of these collections should 

 certainly be of a more definite kind." 



DARWINISM. 



Darwinism. By Alfred Russel Wallace, LL.D., F.R.S. 

 (London: Macmillan and Co., 1889.) 



THE object of Mr. Wallace in writing the admirable 

 work which he has published with the title ot 

 " Darwinism " has been " to give such an account of the 

 theory of natural selection as may enable any intelligent 

 reader to obtain a clear conception of Darwin's work, 

 and to understand something of the power and range of 

 his great principle." No one has so strong a claim as 

 Mr. Wallace to be heard as an exponent of the theory of 

 the origin of species, of which he is— with Darwin— the 

 joint author. He has produced a thoroughly readable 

 book, condensing into an octavo volume much of the 

 speculation and description of important facts which are 

 contained in the numerous volumes published by Darwin 

 himself, and in the essays and occasional contributions of 

 subsequent writers. Besides this, Mr. Wallace's book 

 contains an exposition of highly important and interesting 

 views of his own on subsidiary matters, which have either 

 not been published previously or have appeared in a 

 scattered and more or less inaccessible form. Conse- 

 quently, the book is one which has interest not only for 

 the general reader, to whom it is primarily addressed, but 

 also for the more special student of natural history. The 

 latter will find in its pages an abundance of new facts 

 and arguments which, whether they prove convincing or 

 not, are of extreme value and full of interest. If we 

 attempt here to point out some of the shortcomings of 

 Mr. Wallace's treatise, it is not from any desire to 

 minimize its value and interest, but rather an acknowledg- 

 ment of the weight and significance of a work on so 

 important a subject by so specially competent an author. 

 Mr. Wallace's book necessarily suffers, in comparison 

 with the works of Darwin himself, by the limitation of 

 space. It is in consequence of this compression that we 

 miss in the new statement by Mr. Wallace that extra- 

 ordinary cogency or power of convincing which so dis- l 

 tinguished the writings of Darwin. With Darwin onej 

 becomes accustomed to see no speculation put forward, 1 1 

 no step of an argument advanced, unless there is an 

 overwhelming weight of testimony in its favour : facts arej^ 

 cited in astonishing abundance, and at the same time the|; 

 conviction establishes itself that the author has reserves! 

 of fact as rich as those of which he makes use, ar 

 further that he is so scrupulous and so modest that 

 will never ask his reader to accept a conclusion, howevj 

 trivial, without stating fairly the amount of evidence ffl 

 and against such conclusion. Mr. Wallace is prevented' 

 by the scope of his work from such treatment of his 

 subject. As a result, his conclusions often appear to be 

 (when they may not be so) based on very insufficient 

 evidence, and his statement meagre. " Darwinism" can 

 never take the place of the " Origin of Species,'' but maj 



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