February 14, 1918] 



NATURE 



46, 



forth in the book before us, is that the conceptions 

 • of the sciences are in themselves no more than 

 inadequate ideal constructions of what can only 

 l)e described finally as spiritual reality. 



In a short notice it is impossible to g"ive any 

 detailed account of the whole book, but some re- 

 ference may be made to the fourth chapter, en- 

 titled "The Liberating- Influence of Biolog-y. " 

 The author is in full agreement with those biolo- 

 gists who now claim that biology must be regarded 

 as a science with a distinctive working hypothe- 

 sis which separates it from the physical sciences. 

 The basis of this claim is simply that it is not 

 possible to describe and interpret the distinctive 

 facts of biology in terms of the working- hypothe- 

 sis of physics and chemistry : the conception of 

 life itself must be employed as a fundamental 

 working hypothesis. In referring to this claim he 

 is careful to dissociate himself from what is ordin- 

 arily understood as vitalism, and to show that the 

 claim goes much farther than that of the vitalists, 

 \yho occupy what seems to him an untenable posi- 

 tion. While he agrees, . for instance, with 

 Driesch's criticisms of the mechanistic account of 

 life, he points to radical weakness in Driesch's 

 own vitalistic position. The "liberating" in- 

 fluence of biology results from the fact that the 

 new biology treats as mere working hypotheses of 

 limited application what had come to "be regarded 

 as absolute truths established by physical and 

 chemical investigation. He points out that a simi- 

 lar liberating influence has resulted from recent 

 ■ discoveries as to the nature of atoms. There is 

 thus no reason now for concluding that in ulti- 

 mate analysis the phenomena of Nature, including 

 human activity, must be reducible to an interplay 

 of material particles, in accordance with the meta- 

 physical theory which he designates as "natural- 

 Ism." The way is left open to interpretations 

 on a higher plane, and each of the sciences is left 

 free to use its own special working hypotheses. 



Perhaps most scientific readers will be inclined to 

 think that the author under-estimates the strength 

 of the position of what he calls the "old guard " 

 of mechanistic biologists; but, however this may 

 be, his treatment of the whole subject, and refer- 

 ences to Darwin, Huxley, Bergson, Driesch, and 

 other writers, will be found to be of much interest. 



The book may be recommended confidently to 

 all those who wish to understand modern philoso- 

 phical idealism and the grounds for its uncom- 

 promising- rejection of "naturalism." 



T. S. H. 



OVR BOOKSHELF. 



llifrhways and Byways in Wiltshire. By E. 



Hutton. With illustrations bv Nellie Erichsen. 



Pp. xvii + 463. (London: Macmillan and Co., 



Ltd., 1917.) Price 65. net. 

 This book, vvith its charmintj- illustrations from 

 pen-drawings, is more nearly a guide to the 

 ecclesiastical and monastic architecture of the 

 Middle Ages in Wiltshire than any other yet pub- 

 lished. It is not, it is true, in the form of a guide- 

 XO. 2520, VOL, 100] 



book, but is arranged more or less as a description 

 of a series of walks, taken by the author from 

 different centres, beginning with Salisbury • and 

 South Wiltshire, which is treated of far more fully 

 than the northern portion of the county. 



The author has, indeed, an eye for natural 

 scenery and dwells thereon at length on occasions ; 

 but his real interest lies in medieval architecture 

 and in Church life previous to the Reformation, 

 which for him is the end of all things uood in Wilt- 

 shire or in England. .Vs for Puritans, Protestants, 

 Anglicans, they are, with scanty exceptions, 

 anathema to him. George Herbert, Richard 

 Hooker, and the " W^hite King " are, it is true, 

 amongst the exceptions, but for everybody even 

 remotely connected with the destruction of the 

 monasteries, for Seymours, and Thynnes, and 

 Hungerfords, and especially Bayntons, he can find 

 no words to fit their baseness. The only greater 

 criminals are the modern restorers of churches. 

 Of the restored statues in the West Front of Salis- 

 bury Cathedral he remarks : " Is it not monstrous 

 that ig^norance and imbecility should be allowed 

 to disport themselves on such a work as this?" 

 Yet, for all his violent preferences, he writes well 

 and very readably, and for those whose interests 

 lie in the same direction as his own there is a vast 

 deal of architectural information, very largely 

 taken, as he acknowledges, from the pages of the 

 Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine. But it is a 

 pity that the proofs were not more carefully read 

 by the author. There are many misspellings and 

 misprints, some of which make nonsense of the 

 passages in which they occur. The index is good. 



The Vegetqhle Garden. By Ed. J. S. Lay. (The 

 Pupils' Class-book Series.) Pp. 144. (Lon- 

 don: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1917.) Price 

 15. 6d. 

 Elementary education is indebted to Mr". Lay for 

 a number of school books on various subjects in- 

 tended to train children to do more and think more 

 for themselves. Were school gardening made a 

 subject of scientific study as well as of manual 

 instruction, it would teach children to think as 

 well as to work. Unfortunately, this is not always 

 the case, and, even in the counties where most is 

 done to encourage observation and experiment, 

 many gardening teachers find it difficult to get 

 away from rule of thumb. If only to help such, 

 Mr. Lay's book is to be welcomed. Intended for 

 class reading to accompany outdoor work, it not 

 only describes the operations, crops, insect pests, 

 etc., of the garden, but also puts, in an interesting 

 way, the problems that have to be faced, and leads 

 the children to make simple experiments through 

 the results of which many of the problems can be 

 tackled intelligently. As a class reader it is the 

 most useful gardening book that has yet appeared 

 in this country, and its use should greatly enhance 

 the value of school gardening as a means of real 

 education. It comes at an opportune time, for in 

 connection with the food production campaign 

 I school gardens are being multiplied, so that a host 

 of new teachers will be grateful for its guidance. 



