Oct. 3, 1884.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



283 



formed, under the very eyes of science so to speak, we find 

 ;i mystery quite as overwhelming as the mystery tbat that 

 very process of foiniation is itself a development, or the 

 still more impressive mystery that evolution itself, as 

 science deals -with it, is a product of a higher process of 

 development. — Neiucastle Weekly Chronicle. 



eiiitorial (gos(£{ip. 



If any fresh illustration were needed of the gullibility of 

 the British puWic, it might well be found in an advei'tise- 

 ment which I have met with at once in the columns of the 

 London morning papers, those of the provincial press, and 

 even of, at least, oue scientific journal. Here it i.«, with 

 the address, of course, obliterated : — 



Violin for Bale, magnificent solo tone, suit lady or gentleman, 

 labelled Antoniua Stradvams Cremona, 1690, lock-np case and 

 i)ow, 25s. Sent on approval willingly. 



It would, though, be more correct to say one of the 

 addresses, as the disinterested po.ssessor of this treasure 

 seemingly changes his (or her) residence every week or ten 

 days, and latterly has even modified the name in the instru- 

 ment. Need I tell any one who ever heard of the old 

 Masters of Cremona that a real Stradvarius violin would 

 instantly be gladly snapped up by Mr. Hart, Mr. "Withers, 

 (ir any other dealer, at a hundred times the sum at which 

 this fiddle is ofl'ered. Nay, a genuine " Strad " would find 

 scores of delighted purchasers at £250. There must have 

 been a large number of these things sold, or it would not 

 have paid to repeat the advertisement. Meanwhile the 

 incipient violinist may remember that comparatively few 

 instruments altogether were made by the Amatis, Strad- 

 uaiius, or Guarnerius, and that, as I have just intimated, 

 were a genuine cne by either of the.se great artists to come 

 into the market, hundreds of pounds (instead of a score or 

 so of shillings) would scarcely buy it. 



A REVIEWER expressed an opinion on p. 243 that astro- 

 nomers ought to be able to procure Mr. J. E. Gore's capital 

 Catalogue of Variable Stars by purchase. I am glad to 

 learn, from Mr. Gore himself, that it is obtainable at 

 Williams & Norgate's for a very small sum. 



Dean Oaklet has been denouncing, none too strongly, 

 what has been well described as that "fool's argument," 

 betting. For the tone and temper of those who indulge in 

 this form of gambling is scarcely caricatured in the anec- 

 dote of the man who, after ofl'ering to take his oath to a 

 certain alleged fact, refused to wager half-a-crown that it 

 was true ! Here, though, my purpose is rather to invite 

 attention to the matter in its sociological aspect, and to 

 point out the gross injustice of the law which permits a lad 

 to cripple his patrimony and permanently straiten the 

 circumstances of a widowed mother or orphan sisters with 

 impunity, so long as his bets are made at Tattersall's, or in 

 "the Ring " on any racecourse, while his inferior in social 

 i-ank, who does identically the same thing " in any street, 

 road, highway, or other open and public place " may be 

 convicted and sent to gaol as " a rogue and a vagabond " 

 under 36 and 37 Yict, c. 83, s. 3. And yet we are often 

 gravely assured that there is not " one law for the rich and 

 ar.other for the poor." 



sight it looks like a mere grim joke, may possibly, and even 

 probably, be genuine : — 



A Lady, whose hnsband has lost his income through mortgages 

 on the estate and agricultural depression, is desired by him to 

 work, as he cannot any longer maintain her ; she has endured a 

 very rough and toiling life, and is ready for anything that turns 

 uppermost ; excellent health, good sailor and nurse ; highest 

 references. — Address, ic. 



There are doubtless a few dukes, mine-owners, and manu- 

 facturers to whom the res angusta domi represents little 

 but a phrase ; but the fact remains that the landed classes 

 were never so badly oft" as they are at this instant, and that 

 the domestic economy of many a stately mansion would 

 very considerably surprise the outside world could they 

 obtain the means of viewing it from within. 



Here is another contribution to sociological science, in 

 the shape of an advertisement, which, although at first 



BfbirtDSf* 



SOME BOOKS ON OUR TABLE. 



The Jlysleiy of the Universe our Common Faith. By 

 Joseph Wm. Retsolds, M.A. (London : Kegan Paul, 

 Trench, it Co., 1884.) — We think it not impossible that 

 Mr. Reynolds's book may prove convincing — to those who 

 were previously in agreement with its author. That, how- 

 ever, it will carry conviction to the mind, or in any sense 

 alter the opinion of a single reader whose sole end is to 

 examine the question it discusses in an absolutely impartial 

 and judicial spirit, we gravely doubt. It has all the 

 faults of the Duke of Argjll's book, which we reviewed on 

 p. 162 of our last volume, superadded to many others 

 specially pertaining to itself. Thiit its author mistakes 

 assertion for proof is a very euphemistic way of describing 

 the dogmatism which pervades the entire volume. Even 

 had the work been anonymous, it must unhesitatingly have 

 been ascribed to a clergyman, so obviously does it proceed 

 from the pen of a man who is accustomed to make cate- 

 gorical statements in absolute security from interruption or 

 contradiction. Pulpittin olet. We disclaim any intention 

 of employing the term in an offensive or discourteous 

 sense, but a more purely professional book has seldom 

 come under our notice. The difliculties which beset the 

 earnest student of science in connection with current theo- 

 logy do not arise (as our author over and over again 

 insinuates, even where he does not actually assert) from 

 moral obliquity, or innate wickedness and absolute disin- 

 clination to learn the truth ; but from a reasonable feeling 

 that evidence, and not assertion, must form the groundwork 

 of our belief. For however strenuously theologians may 

 deny the fact, it remains a fact that belief is not voluntary. 

 A man can only really believe a thing as it seems to him. 

 If the salvation of the writer of these lines depended upon 

 his believing that the pen with which they are committed 

 to paper was an oy.-^ter, he must be damned, no power on 

 earth could save him. We may juggle and quibble with 

 words as we please, but we cannot evade this result of one 

 of the most elementary facts in human psychology. The 

 philosophical doubter of the infallibility of orthodox inter- 

 pretation requires that his sober arguments shall be met in 

 a similar spirit, and a>ks for logical demonstration, and not 

 the turgid rhetoric to which he is treated in the work 

 before us. Foi-, sooth to say, it is sermonising throughout. 

 Page after page of bombast, thickly interlarded with poetry 

 (a good deal of it "altered" or "slightly altered") usurps the 

 place of that dialectical treatment for which we are entitled 

 to look in a book like the present one. Its author would 

 seem to have read, and to some extent marked (albeit he 

 has by no means either learned or inwardly digested), several 



