June 21, 1900] 



NATURE 



173 



Spencer. The result is a form of vitalism. The move- 

 ment which is to be found in the inorganic world is 

 not merely continuous with, but synonymous with life 

 and consciousness. Matter is not only the revelation 

 of spirit, but body and spirit are one and the same. His 

 method, which consists simply in the assumption that 

 human spirit is an analogon of the world-principle, will 

 not bear this conclusion. And his superstructure is 

 r.ither in the air. 



In his view of evolution there is nothing novel. It is, 

 of course, teleological. Its real dynamic, as opposed to its 

 formal occasions, is the all-inclusive being as principle of 

 organisation. The working of this is elucidated quite 

 after the manner of Mr. Spencer, by what Herr Sack 

 oddly calls "antinomies" — viz. the antithesis of indivi- 

 duality and community, and the like. 



It is when he comes to deal with art, morals and 

 religion that Herr Sack is most at home. These are 

 man's adumbrations of the contents of the intellectual 

 intuition of the universal spirit : Art, like ethics, is a 

 social product. Ethics are treated in a manner on the 

 whole definitely Spencerian, even to the condemnation of 

 the social-democratic movement. In his discussion of 

 religion, Herr Sack is opposed to Mr. Spencer, and, while 

 owing a good deal to Prof Max Miiller, is original. Not in 

 dreams with their presentment of the dead, not in natural 

 phenomena like sunrise and sunset, not in anything so 

 symbolic as totemism, does the matter of religion arise. 

 They might confirm its sublimity ; they are most of them 

 too habitual and ordinary phenomena to create it. It is 

 rather what suggests the invisible, the beyond, the in- 

 finite, that originates religious feeling— the horizon, the 

 movement of the wind, the breath of life. Infinite space 

 and infinite movement, and the aniina mundi^ are the 

 elements of the religion of monism, and primitive religion 

 was monistic. Cult degrades it into polytheism, and an 

 interested priestcraft corrupts it ; but monism has never 

 been without a witness. 



A world of spirits, in the spiritualist's sense, is of 

 course incompatible with such a view. As is individual 

 immortality. In truth, personality other than relative 

 can belong only to the Allwesen, " in whom we live, and 

 move and have our being." 



In description, Herr Sack often shows a good deal of 

 power. His views in the field of Religionsforschung 

 doubtless express something of the truth, though not to 

 the exclusion of other explanations. Indeed, the horizon, 

 and the wind, and breathing are habitual too I Herr 

 Sack's monistic formula, if true, must be established on 

 other lines than his. lis only value here is that of any 

 unverified vaticination that has brought peace to some of 

 our fellow-men. H. W. B. 



First Stage Hygiene. By Robert A. Lyster, B.Sc.Lond. 



Pp. viii -H 199. (London : W. B. Clive, 1900.) 

 In general character this book resembles those already 

 available for students of elementary hygiene and public 

 health. It is intended more particularly for students 

 receiving lessons upon the lines of the syllabus of the 

 Department of Science and Art, now the Board of 

 Education, but it may also be used by other students. 

 The order of treatment differs from that usually adopted, 

 l)ut it may be doubted whether in some cases the change 

 is an improvement. A noteworthy point, however, is 

 that, so far as possible, the physiological facts required to 

 intelligently consider hygienic principles are dealt with as 

 they are required, instead of being described in a separate 

 section devoted to physiology. Another characteristic 

 of the book is that simple experiments illustrating the 

 points described are given at the ends of some of the 

 hapters. There is still room for a book containing not 

 uily lecture experiments, but a good course of laboratory 

 '. ork to be done by individual students of hygiene. 



NO. 1599, VOL. 62 1 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions eX' 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications, ^ 



Measurements in Schools, Collateral Heredity. 



I AM at present engaged on an investigation into the strength 

 of collateral heredity, i.e. the degree of resemblance for a variety 

 of mental and physical characters of pairs of brothers, pairs of 

 sisters, and pairs of brothers and sisters. In this matter I cannot 

 seek the aid of parents, for they are scarcely unbiased observers, 

 but I have to appeal for aid to those who teach in schools, and 

 have thus an independent and often extensive knowledge of 

 their pupils' characters. This is very frequently combined with 

 the scientific training and caution which renders the teacher's 

 aid of special value. As it is necessary to obtain measurements 

 and observations of both sexes, I have appealed to both men 

 and women teachers, and as it is also needful to combine the 

 sexes (in the brother-sister measurements) to thos2 working in 

 elementary schools, as well as in boys' public schools and in 

 girls' high schools. The result of my appeal has been to bring 

 me a great deal of most valuable aid. Several high schools 

 have been dealt with, fourof our chief public schools have been, 

 or are being measured, and a considerable variety of private, 

 elementary and other schools. But a single public school (even 

 of 500 to 700 boys) will often have only tea to twenty pairs of 

 brethren, not, perhaps, as many as in a village national school, 

 and I am most desirous of getting further help. The determin- 

 ation of the strength of collateral heredity is a problem of great 

 scientific importance, and it can only be achieved by co-operative 

 action. I have found so many teachers in all classes of schools 

 willing to give disinterested aid in the cau»e of science that I 

 venture to make a further appeal through Nature for mire 

 assistance. Besides observations of physical and mental 

 characters, which can be recorded without measurement, my 

 data papers ask for certain head-measurements, which can, 

 following the printed instructions, be taken quite easily. I 

 shall be most glad to send sample papers to any one willing to 

 assist, and if, after considering these, they find themselves able 

 to assist, say by filling in data papers for ten or more pairs of 

 brothers or sisters, I will at once despatch a head-spanner, of 

 which I have several at the present time, free. The head- 

 spanner should not be retained (unless under special circum- 

 stances) for more than a few weeks. Where the school is a 

 small one, one master has, as a rule, filled in the papers 

 entirely ; in larger schools, one of the science masters, or even 

 the medical ofificer, has done the head -measurements, and the 

 other data have been provided by house, form or consulting 

 masters. In the ultimate publication of the statistics all aid 

 will be duly acknowledged, but I make the appeal for help 

 simply on the ground that the investigation of heredity is to-day 

 one of the most important scientific problems, and that its 

 exact quantitative determination is well within the reach of 

 co-operative observation. Karl Pearson. 



University College, London. 



The Perseid Meteoric Shower. 



In the years from 1893 to 1899 inclusive, about 120 deter- 

 minations of the Perseid radiant were made. With the exception 

 of three or four positions, the dates of the observations ranged 

 from August l to 16, while the majority were for August 10 and 

 II only. 



It seems of little use to continue accumulating observations 

 of the radiant point on and near the date of its maximum. What 

 we essentially require are observations of the earlier stages of 

 the shower during the last half of July, and as the present year 

 offers a good prospect for obtaining them, I trust observers will 

 make a special effort in this direction. The moon will reach 

 her last quarter on July 19, and will prove a very slight hin- 

 drance to observation during the ensuing fortnight. When the 

 sky is clear it should be watched all night, the paths of such 

 meteors as are visible carefully recorded, and the results for each 

 date kept separate, so that the place of the Perseid radiant may 

 be traced in its diurnal motion of about i^ to the E.N.E. Some 

 really good determinations of the radiant in July would be 

 valuable, for very few have ever been made owing to the 



