5/6 



NATURE 



{Oct. i6, i8;9 



carried out the former more in the spirit of Buckle and 

 Darwin, it would have added greatly to the interest of the 

 paper and to the coherency of the book. There is also a 

 fairly contemptuous article on "Psychic" force and its 

 manifestations, as described by those who believe in it. 

 His " Crumb for the Symposium" is certainly a dry one ; 

 his arguments throw no light on a very dark subject : but 

 he draws an agreeable contrast between ten disputants 

 on the subject of a future life meeting in the sixteenth 

 century, and adjourning to some ecclesiastical court pre- 

 paratory to a final settlement at Smithfield, with theirnow 

 forming a symposium for a fair discussion in The Niiie- 

 teenth Century. 



Scattered through the book are many eloquent passages 

 of scientific teaching. There is a striking description (p. 

 1 8) of the changes the surface of the earth has undergone, 

 which might have prompted Byron' s lines on the change- 

 lessness of the ocean. One cannot but expect good 

 teaching from a man who lays down the excellent rules 

 and takes the high standard of both learning and teaching 

 truth which Mr. Fiske does, in his affectionate notice of 

 Mr. Chauncey Wright, an eminent specimen of a class of 

 men who, though little thought of and almost unknown 

 individually, are yet the "good belly" which absorbs and 

 distributes all the fresh acquisitions of move active and 

 enterprising "members " of society. And the most valu- 

 able habit of mind in such persons is the kind of scepticism 

 recommended by Mr. Buckle, though Mr. Fiske hardly 

 seems to comprehend the feeling, which consists in dis- 

 trusting received opinions as final ; not in refusing to hold 

 any opinions at all, but in being ready to doubt as soon 

 as any good reason is offered. A theory, like a fire, is a 

 very good servant but a very bad master, and true scep- 

 ticism consists in wiUingness to give up a theory as soon 

 as facts are brought out with which it is inconsistent. 

 Mr. Fiske praises this high quality in Darwin (p. 34), but 

 in other passages in his book it would appear that he 

 urged a spirit of doubting old axioms only. He seems to 

 think it right to put full faith in a newly-formed opinion, 

 and to "repose" upon it (p. 175). One would have 

 thought that the severe criticisms in his larger work, on 

 Comte" s premature conclusions, would have led him to be 

 ICLiS confident in scientific " truths," and it is curious to 

 see the spirit that ruled Mr. Chauncey Wright praised by 

 a man who has confidently laid down a cosmic philosophy. 

 Still the harm is not in airing cosmic theories — there are 

 many valuable advantages in doing that — but in clinging 

 to them, as human weakness is only too apt to do when 

 they are no longer consistent with latest observations. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



A Ministry of Health, and other Addresses. B_\- B. W. 

 Richardson, M.D., F.R.S. (London: Chatto and 

 Windus, 1879.) 



This is a collection of addresses given by Dr. Richard- 

 son, mostly in his capacity of propagandist of sound 

 ideas as to individual and especially national health. 

 In the lecture which gives the title to the volume 

 he advocates the national urgency for a responsible 

 minister of health, not so much to obtain new sanitary 

 laws as to enforce the multitude of existing laws on the 

 subject, which, from the want of any central authority, 

 are at present a dead letter. Dr. Richardson's argu- 

 ments are forcible, and must be convincing to any 



unprejudiced mind, and we trust that ere long his recom- 

 mendations will be given practical effect to. The seco.id 

 paper is a sympathetic and extremely interesting sketch 

 of the life and work of William Harvey, the model phv- 

 sician, teacher, and public man of his time. The oti 

 lectures are : " A Homily Clerico-Medical," " Learni.i;, 

 and Health " (in which some valuable hints as to educa- 1 

 tional methods are given), " Vitality, Individual and ; 

 National," "The World of Physic," "Burial, Embalr.i- 

 ing, and Cremation," " Registration of Disease," "Kthei- 

 Drinking, and Extra-Alcoholic Intoxication." 



Frozen Asia; a Sketch of Modern Sil/eria, By C. II. 



Eden. (London: S.P.C.K.) .li oivv 



Mr. Eden has collected in this neat little volume a goo J 

 deal of valuable information concerning Siberia. The 

 information, however, is somewhat fragmentary in its 

 nature, and not well digested in parts, long quotations from 

 books and journals and daily papers being indulged in. Y.x. 

 Eden, in his account of recent explorations, confines hiir, self 

 to a few voyages (mainly Nordenskjold's) along the coast, 

 ignoring all that has been done in the interior. He, we 

 regret to see, makes use of that most vicious and mis- 

 leading term, " Turanian," and actually talks of certai: 

 quite unrelated peoples as belonging to a mythical " Tur,.- 

 nian Stock." The sooner the word is banished fror.i 

 ethnological terminology, the better for the progress 

 of the science. The book, so far as it goes, conta ns 

 much trustworthy information. 



fack's Education ; or, Hoii' he Learnt Fanning. By Frsf. 



H. Tanner, F.C.S. (London : Chapman and H.tll, 



1879.) 

 Prof. Tanner has put together, in the form of a really 

 readable story, a series of papers for the purpose of 

 showing the manner in which the science classes and the 

 Government Department of Art enable a youth to pre- 

 pare himself for the Government Scholarships, and h\ a 

 tolerably complete course of science instruction qualif;. 

 him for learning any industrial occupation with a 

 thoroughly intelligent mind. The instruction in science 

 given in colleges is re\-iewed from the standpoint of 

 practical requirement, and with special regard to such 

 a course of study being rendered most valuable as a pre- 

 paration for learning any commercial industry. The 

 story is both instructive and interesting, and we reccni- 

 mend it to all interested in " technical " education. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, cr 

 to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts. No 

 notice is taken of anonymous communications. 



[The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their Uttet s a: 

 short as possible. 7 tie pressure on his space is so great thct i: 

 is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even of cjrn ■ 

 munications containing interesting and novel facts\ 



Greenwich Meteorological Observations 



The notice of the recently published "Reduction of Green- 

 wich Meteorological Observations," Natiire, vol. xx. p. 525, 

 contains remarks which seem to show misconception in regard to 

 some points of the work. On these the Astronomer-Royal ha.s 

 requested me to offer suitable explanation. 



Some criticisms, p. 526, on the table of mean air-temperatures 

 deduced from eye-observations (Table 125), terminate with the 

 remark that the mean temperatures for Greenwich "remain still 

 to be calculated." But it appears to be overlooked that a 

 complete table of standard mean temperatures, daily and 

 monthly, deduced from the photographic records for the 

 twenty years, 1849 to l868 (from twenty-four readings on each 

 day), is to be found on p. 49 (Table 77). In forming the daily 

 means, values for the few days ou which no photographic value 

 was available were derived from tlie eye-observations ; the results 

 thus completely represent the period 1849 1 868, and will form 



