Jan. 26, 1888] 



NATURE 



workers can make it of the fauna of which it treats its 

 honest tale is not only plainly but also briefly told ' In 

 other words, we are spared those poor attempts at 

 poetical prose and all the allied sins which seem so easily 

 to beset the field naturalist. This is another way of 

 saymg that the work has been undertaken and executed 

 in a purely scientific spirit. After a few introductory 

 chapters on the geography, topography, physical aspects, 

 &c., of the area, the authors proceed to give a systematic 

 catalogue of the entire vertebrate fauna, beginning with 

 the mammals and ending with the fish. In this catalogue 

 everything relating to distribution, habits, &c., which ?an 

 possibly be of any interest is likewise set forth in terse 

 phraseology. The whole catalogue covers between 200 and 

 300 octavo pages, and is everywhere indicative of pains- 

 taking labour. Several well-executed plates embellish the 

 volume, which throughout displays good taste as well as 

 sound judgment. We are, therefore, particularly glad 

 to read in their preface that the writers intend this to 

 constitute the first volume of a series, which, unlike 

 most local faunas, lays aside to a great extent political 

 boundaries, and is marked out by others, much more 

 natural, such as watersheds." We trust that this first 

 volume will meet with the recognition which it deserves • 

 and in any case congratulate the writers on having so 

 successfully accomplished so extensive and valuable a 

 piece of work. G T R 



Gospel Ethnology. By S. R. Pattison. (London- 



Religious Tract Society.) 

 The author observes that the many-sided investigations 

 of ethnologists do not seem to have included a study of 

 the way in which Christianity has been received by 

 different races. The problem suggested is undoubtedly 

 an interesting one, but the present volume does not do 

 much to solve it, being mainly made up of a series of 

 anecdotes which go to show that the Gospel, in the form 

 in which It is set forth by Protestant missionaries of the 

 Evangelical school, has found a response in the hearts of 

 individuals of almost every known race. It is reasonable 

 to infer from this that the particular type of Christianity 

 to \yhich Mr. Pattison confines his attention contains 

 motives that appeal to men in almost every stage of social 

 development and culture. But so far as one can judge 

 from the anecdotes, which are not chosen with a view to 

 facilitating scientific analysis, it seems probable that in 

 every case the really effective element in the missionary 

 teaching lay in the Gospel story itself, not in the dogmatic 

 construction built on it by missionaries of a particular 

 school. At any rate, it is plain that no discussion of the 

 problem which Mr. Pattison deals with can claim to be of 

 scientific value so long as it deals only with the reception 

 given to one form of Christian teaching. Nor is it enough 

 to know that individuals of almost every race are capable 

 of becoming sincere Christians of a particular school : 

 the ethnologist, from his point of view, is much less con- 

 cerned with individuals than with masses. A serious 

 inquiry into the fitness of Christianity to become the 

 religion o{ societies that have not come under the influence 

 of the civilization of the Roman Empire would be ex- 

 tremely useful, but such an inquiry cannot be made to 

 any purpose if one starts by identifying Christianity with 

 one of its local and particular types. 



There is not really any ethnology in the book before us. 

 There is, indeed, a chapter which professes to give a sur- 

 vey of the races of mankind, but it is so badly done that 

 the book, which is really, as has been said, a collection of 

 anecdotes, would have been better without it. There are 

 some good woodcuts of people of different races. 

 The British Journal, Photographic Almanac, and Photo- 

 grapher's Daily Compa/tion for 1888. Edited by J. 

 Traill Taylor. (London : H. Greenwood and Co., 1888.) 

 To all those who are engaged in the art of photography 

 either as amateurs or as professionals this work will be 



suchTlL"t'oS; ^"'^^'^ ""-'^^ °^^'"^^ information, 

 of fh. „ . o*^ developing, toning, &c., there are articles 

 of the most practical and theoretical nature-written bv 

 such men as Captain Abney, F.R.S., Rev S J Perry^ 

 KR.S., &c.-on subjects which are most interesting and 

 t£SLT.i^:Ji: ^'°" ^^'^ ^^^^ attained theTg^r 



All the various tables and formulae are here added 

 S'^lid-abfo'ad'.'" °'^" *e Photographic Socletta't 



Two pictorial illustrations are given, one being of the 

 famous yacht Thistle, printed by Messrs. MorgL and 

 Kidd on their argentic bromide paper (360 beinf able to 



Dy Mr. A. H. Clark ; the other be ng a callotvnp hv 

 Messrs Waterlow and Sons from a nefatle by T t' 



naught^boy."^'"" °" ^ ^^" ^^" P^^'"' '"''''^'^ " Y°" 



..,1T ^^.^ ?^^ u ^ y°""g photographers the Editor has 

 writ en twelve chapters to present in simple language a 

 few lessons m the practice of the art 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions 

 expressed by his correspondents. Neither can he under- 

 take to return, or to correspond with the writers of 

 rejected manuscripts. No notice is taken of anonymous 

 communications. 



[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their 

 letters as short as possible. The pressure on his space 

 is so great that it is impossible othenvise to insure the 

 appearance even of communications containing interesting 

 and novel facts. 



*' A Conspiracy of Silence." 

 When I read Prof. Judd's letter in your issue of last week, 

 I felt as if one of the Eocene volcanoes of the Isle of Mull, which 

 he has described so well, had broken out afresh and covered a 

 great extent of country with erupted matter, decidedly, by a 

 wonderful phenomenon, of the " acid series." 

 I have a very short reply to give : — 



First, it is not the fact that I have made any attack on 

 geologists. The fathers of British geology were among my 

 dearest and most intimate friends, and 1 have the highest respect 

 for many of the (comparative) specialists among whom, by the 

 division of labour, the science is now divided. Among the 

 most eminent of these I have always reckoned Prof Judd 

 himself. 



Secondly, it is not the fact that I have accused anyone of 

 conscious indifference to truth. I attacked the undue influence 

 ot authority in science, and in doing so I used the well-known 

 formula "conspiracy of silence," which, on the face of it, is a 

 metaphorical and rhetorical expression, but which has been used 

 in his latest writings by Prol. Huxley precisely in the same 

 sense, and has been applied by him to the most distinguished 

 scientific body in the world — the French Institute. 



Thirdly, it is not the fact that I have challenged discussion on 

 my September article upon "Coral Reefs." 1 have challenged 

 discussion upon the subject, and on the question of Darwin's 

 theory— of which my paper was a mere popular abstract, and 

 nothing more. 



Recent discoveries by the staff of the C//<j://^«^'rr— the observa- 

 tions of Prof. Semper— the papers of Mr. John Murray, and of 

 Mr. L. Agassiz — and lastly, the recent admirable observations 

 of Dr. Guppy, have, in their combination, afforded ample 

 ground and materials for a review of the whole question ; and 

 1 have a distinct opinion, which I repeat, that the influence 

 of Darwinian authority and prejudice is one of the causes which 

 has retarded, and is now retarding, any acknowledged solution 

 of the question. 



I have heard with extreme regret that Dr. Guppy, the most 

 recent witness to facts irreconcilable with Darwin's theory, has 

 felt compelled to resign his position as member of the London 

 Geological Society — for what reason I do not fully know, but 

 for some reason connected wiih his views on this subject. 



Inverary. 



Argyll. 



