January 5, 191 1] 



NATURE 



299 



ENERGETICS AND MODERN PROBLEMS. 

 Die F order ung des Tages. By Wilhelm Ostwald. 

 Pp. vi + 603. (Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsgesell- 

 schaft m. b. H., 1910.) 



IN Goethe's " Maximen und Reflexionen " there 

 occurs the passage: "Versuche deine Pflicht zu 

 un, und du weisst sogleich was an dir ist. Was 

 ^ber ist deine Pflicht? Die Forderung des Tages." 

 I he author of the present volume tells us that this 

 passage expresses the spirit in which he has from 

 ime to time, particularly during the last few years, 

 attempted the solution of problems quite outside the 

 -phere of his original scientific activity. These 

 roblems cropped up in the course of the day's work, 

 nd, so far as the author was personally concerned, 

 nperatively demanded a solution. The numerous 

 rticles and speeches here collected represent Prof. 

 Ostwald's views on the most varied questions, such 

 ,s personalit}-, immortality, the relation of art and 

 -cience, the theory of happiness, science and tech- 

 ology, duelling, international languages, and educa- 

 ional reform. These and many other topics are dis- 

 ussed in a highly stimulating manner, the originality 

 f the author's argument being equalled only by the 

 harm of his style and the wealth of illustration which 

 he has at his disposal. If one accepts the definition 

 of a professor as given by " Fliegende Blatter " — " der 

 Professor ist ein Mann welcher anderer Meinung ist " 

 — it may readily be granted that the author, with his 

 refreshing novelty of view, has fully earned the title. 



The point of view from which all problems are 

 regarded is the one natural to the apostle of energetics, 

 whose attitude towards the more general questions 

 of philosophy and psychology has already been out- 

 lined in these columns (Nature, 1902, vol. Ixv., p. 265). 

 As the years have passed, however, Prof. Ostwald has 

 been led to study the bearing of energetics on ques- 

 tions which touch more closeh^ the life of the modern 

 community, and are certainly of greater interest 

 to the ordinary student of science and scientific 

 method. 



If, with the author, we measure culture by the 

 extent to which the various sources of energy are 

 economically utilised for human purposes, then it is 

 natural to test the claims of every custom, every 

 social organisation, and every educational system by 

 the inquiry, How far does it contribute to the 

 economical utilisation of energy? It might be sup- 

 posed that the mental attitude of one who applies this 

 test to all human endeavour is hopelessly utilitarian. 

 But this is not true of Prof. Ostwald, who is con- 

 cerned to find a place in his scheme of things for the 

 higher and less immediately practical forms of man's 

 activity. In this connection the question of the utility 

 of works of art is of great interest. Prof. Ostwald, 

 it appears, makes a hobby of painting, and we may 

 be sure that he would at once forbid himself this 

 activity if he considered it to involve a waste of 

 energy. What, then, is a work of art, say a great 

 painting, from the point of view of energetics? 

 According to the present volume, the social value of 

 such a work of art depends on its catalytic action, on 

 its effect in making us better and happier beings, and 

 so contributing to the more efficient transformation 

 NO. 2149, VOL. 85] 



of energy in our daily tasks. This point of view is 

 greatly in adv^ance of the ultra-materialistic one from 

 which a great painting is merely so much canvas, so 

 much oil, and so much pigment, but it is doubtful 

 whether the comparison with catalysis is anything 

 more than a mere analogy. 



The prominence still given to the study of languages 

 in schools is condemned in no measured terms, and 

 the time devoted to Latin and Greek is described as 

 a sacrifice to a superstition. It is quite truly pointed 

 out that the learning of even a modern language, 

 with its innumerable exceptions to rules, tends to 

 destroy the child's natural sense of logic and to unfit 

 it for any future scientific work. From this position 

 it is but a step to the advocacy of an artificial inter- 

 national language, which shall be " synthesised " on a 

 thoroughly logical plan, and shall obviate the 

 necessity of learning foreign languages. It is the 

 economy of energy to be secured in this way that has 

 led Prof. Ostwald to take a prominent part in urging 

 the adoption of Ido, a simplified form of Esperanto. 



" Die Forderung des Tages " is pervaded by a genial 

 optimism, based on the belief that the future of the 

 race is in the hands of science alone. The optimism 

 is welcome, although one might be inclined to argue 

 about the grounds for it. It may be noted only in 

 passing that Prof. Ostwald's belief leads him to. the 

 curious conclusion that the chauffeur belongs to a 

 distinctly higher order of being than the "cabby." 



Throughout the book there are scattered many 

 delightful reminiscences of the author's experiences 

 at home and abroad. These only add to the interest 

 and charm of a volume which is well worth reading 

 whatever one may think of energetics. 



J. C. P. 



THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. 

 Industrial England in the Middle of the Eighteenth 

 Century. By Sir H. Trueman Wood. Pp. xii + 

 197. (London : J. Murray, 1910.) Price 5s. net. 



WE have in the volume before us an extremely 

 interesting sketch, expanded from an address 

 by the authcn- given at a meeting of the Society of 

 Arts, of the condition of British industries in the 

 eighteenth century. Perhaps no two periods in the 

 history of social evolution, which followed one another 

 closely, present greater contrast than the beginning 

 of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth 

 centuries. Indeed, so enormous was the change in- 

 volved that Sir Henry Wood considers it rather as an 

 •industrial revolution" than a stage in a process of 

 evolution. 



The invention of machinery, then the discovery of 

 power to work that machinery, entirely altered the 

 character of the industries of this country, and thus so 

 modified the lives of its inhabitants that it is no 

 wonder that social equilibrium is still far from being 

 attained. Before entering into a ver\' able discussion 

 of the state of the various branches of industry up to 

 the middle of the century, Sir Henry gives us a vivid 

 description of the social conditions then prevailing 

 with regard to the means of intercommunication, and 

 the knowledge of scientific applications for doing the 

 work of the industrial wcrld. 



