|UNE, 1913. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



231 



such anomalies as the inclusion of ditroite in the diorite group 

 (page 144) ; the treatment of kentallenite and borolanite 

 under that very accommodating term " dolerite " (page 156) ; 

 and the use of such a term as " nepheline andesite," which is 

 almost a contradiction in terms if the ordinary definition of 

 andesite is to stand. If there is one rock that can be said 

 never to contain nepheline that rock is andesite ; and it does 

 not mend matters when we find that by " nepheline andesite " 

 the author means ' phonolite." Hence, so far as the classifica- 

 tion of igneous rocks is concerned, this book cannot be 

 recommended to the student, who, since he has to identify 

 his rocks by their 

 mineralogical content, 

 and is rarely able to 

 determine their silica 

 percentage, would be led 

 into hopeless confusion. 

 The chapter on the 

 origin and variations of 

 the igneous rocks is 

 interesting and provoca- 

 tive of thought, although 

 very speculative. The 

 sedimentary and meta- 

 morphic rocks are also 

 treated in a thoughtful 

 and useful manner. 

 Indeed the rest of the 

 book is so good that it is 

 a pity the author does 

 not see fit to bring his 

 views on the classifica- 

 tion of igneous rocks 

 more into accordance 

 with the experience of 

 the great majority of 

 petrologists. 



G. W. T. 



MICROSCOPY. 



The Beginner's Guide 

 to the Microscope. — By 

 Chas. E. Heath. 119 

 pages. 46 illustrations. 



7-in. X 5-in. 



(Percival Marshall. Price 



1/- net.) 



The microscope is now 

 used in connection with 

 so many different matters 

 and the advantages of 

 the training which it gives 

 to hand, eye, and brain 



are so widely recognised that a book such as the present one, 

 which tells in simple language what the microscope is, and 

 how it can be used, is worthy of the most cordial welcome. 

 We think that in this beginner's guide the author has just 

 happily chosen those points of the greatest value and 

 he has not gone into such detail as to bore those for 

 whom he writes. His advice, too, is sound ; as, for instance, 

 when he urges the beginner who wishes to get a good 

 microscope to buy no instrument nor objective that does not 

 bear the name of a recognised maker, 



By the courtesy o/ 



Figure 237 



Wapiti-red- Deer Cross, bred at Surrenden Park, showing red deer 

 type of head, from " Deer Breeding for Fine Heads. 



W. M. W. 



PHILOSOPHY. 



The History of Magic, including a clear and precise 

 Exposition of its Procedure, its Rites and its Mysteries. 

 — By Eliphas Levi (Ai.phonse Louis Constant). 

 Translated, with a Preface and Notes, by Arthur Edward 

 Waite. 536 pages. 20 plates. 8|-in. X5Mn. 



(William Rider & Son. Price, cloth, 15/- net; 

 vellum, 21/- net.) 



A great poet : ' : has said: " Everything possible to be believed 

 is an image of truth." Certainly the belief in the efficacy of 

 magical practices would not have persisted for so long had 

 not these practices been productive of results. No doubt the 

 phenomena thus produced must be classed as " subjective," 

 and the question of Magic is one for psychology rather than 

 physics. The literature dealing with the history of Magic 

 from this point of view is, however, very slight : until the 

 publication of this translation (by which all students are laid 

 under a debt of gratitude to Mr. Waite) there was nothing of 

 much importance in the English language other than Mr. 



Howitt's translation of 

 Joseph Ennemoser's 

 work. 



One requires to know 

 something of Alphonse 

 Louis Constant to apprec- 

 iate his works aright. 

 He was lacking in the 

 precision and accuracy of 

 the scientific man ; his 

 reading, though wide, was 

 careless, and he rarely, if 

 ever, verified his quota- 

 tions ; he was apt to see 

 his own theories every- 

 where, and it was seldom 

 that he could resist the 

 desire to elaborate tra- 

 dition and legend. But, 

 in spite of their many 

 defects, his books exhibit 

 a brilliancy of imagina- 

 tion and a charm of 

 expression which render 

 them of real value. 

 Indeed, Constant was by 

 no means lacking in 

 philosophical insight, and 

 was certainly well versed 

 in his subject. 



Magic, in Constant's 

 terminology, was origin- 

 ally the absolute science 

 of equilibrium. It 

 degenerated, however, 

 until it became, as it 

 were, a disease of the 

 imagination. Indeed, 

 during the period of the 

 witchcraft persecutions 

 it became almost an 

 epidemic, and the evil was 

 accentuated by the fact 

 that it was supposed that an exorcised, " devil " could not 

 speak untruthfully, so that innocent persons were accused 

 and convicted of the most horrible and impossible crimes on 

 the evidence of persons suffering from nervous and mental 

 disease. Nevertheless, according to the author, the doctrines 

 of Magic embody profound philosophical truths, though in a 

 distorted form. I am inclined to agree with this view; though 

 I doubt whether Constant's assumption of a universal medium 

 (which he fantastically calls "the astral light"), upon which 

 the imagination can act either for good or evil, will appeal to 

 modern psychologists. 



Constant owed much to the Kabalah, i.e., the books which 

 claim to contain the secret philosophical traditions of Judaism. 

 It is interesting to note that the cosmology of the Kabalah is 

 definitely heliocentric, and I am inclined to think the books 

 are worthy of more study than is devoted to them. From this 

 source Constant derived his central doctrine of equilibrium, 

 though he interpreted it in his own sense and applied it to 

 every department of thought. 



Mr. Waite's careful and scholarly notes, in which he 

 corrects some of Constant's misstatements and throws 



Rowland ll'a 



William Blake. 



