418 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



given. Throughout the second part the 

 same order prevails as obtains in the first, 

 and the treatment of problems concerning 

 simple circuits embracing self-induction and 

 resistance is extended to the like, as involve 

 combination circuits and their phenomena. 

 Then such problems are treated as include 

 simple and combination circuits having ca- 

 pacity and resistance, but void of self-induc- 

 tion. Also, such circuits as contain capacity, 

 resistance, and self-induction, together with 

 combined and parallel circuits. 



The present is a second edition of the 

 work, on which much care has been bestowed 

 with the view of eliminating errors that un- 

 avoidably crept into the first issue. To- 

 ward the close of the first part some intensely 

 interesting and instructive paragraphs occur 

 on wave propagation in closed circuits, show- 

 ing the vanishing attitude of positive and 

 negative waves and the resulting effect, the 

 potential zero at middle point in the cable, 

 and proving that the expression for potential 

 may be simplified if the cable's length 

 should happen to be a multiple of wave 

 lengths. The structure of the volume is ad- 

 mirably suited to students, as any problem 

 needed may be readily found. 



ART IN THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE 

 STUDY OF COMPARATIVE ESTHETICS. By 

 GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND, L. H. D. 

 New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 

 266. Price, $1.75. 



THE essential idea, if not the sole aim of 

 this volume, is the application of the term 

 representative to all art forms, whether of 

 word or deed ; the representativeness to in- 

 clude more than the limitations hitherto 

 placed upon it by certain English art critics, 

 and such as make a further distinction be- 

 tween what they term presentative and rep- 

 resentative art. Indeed, the author's effort 

 is entirely legitimate, and scores an advance 

 upon the many imitative if not conventional 

 so-called art criticisms extant. It is inva- 

 riably refreshing to encounter any original 

 subtlety of sense attaching to a new or aug- 

 menting an old idea, and in Prof. Raymond's 

 book the true art of judging " Art in The- 

 ory" is not lacking. As the author inti- 

 mates, works of art are the products which 

 reveal the methods of the artist, whether he 

 desires to represent a thought or a thing 



to produce effects of any kind whatsoever. 

 A courageous and justifiable departure on 

 the part of Prof. Raymond is, where he 

 breaks away from the historico-critical meth- 

 od of regarding art and its influence as an 

 aesthetic factor. Duly crediting historic crit- 

 icism, however, for its inestimable services 

 in all other departments, he goes on to show 

 that as the arts are affected by laws of devel- 

 opment, more especially the higher arts, 

 these latter are very often distinctly not ex- 

 pressive of the spirit of the age. Precisely, 

 and for the unfortunate reason that conven- 

 tionalism controls them. The historian claims 

 what is not true when he alleges that all art 

 is deserving of study. To the artist as an 

 artist it is not. That art which has attained 

 a high level of excellence is of interest to 

 him, and very often to him alone. Hence, 

 the great artists' methods are not infrequent- 

 ly misinterpreted in their day. The aesthetic 

 power that distinguished the work of an 

 Aristotle, a Confucius, an Angelo, or Shake- 

 speare had not its immediate influence for 

 the now manifest reason that they were 

 moved as much, at least, by the spirit in- 

 terpreting within them as by the conven- 

 tionalities that made demands from without. 

 Whether we contemplate one or more of 

 the twenty brilliant chapters within this vol- 

 ume, involving either the significance of 

 form in art, classicism and romanticism, the 

 art-impulse, taste, theories concerning beau- 

 ty, or any one of the many features so preg- 

 nant with suggestion we feel assured that 

 readers will acknowledge their introduction 

 to an author not bound by mental servitude. 



AN EXAMINATION OF WEISMANNISM. By G. 

 J. ROMANES, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. Chi- 

 cago: The Open Court Publishing Co. 

 Pp. 221. Price, $1. 



THE object of this volume is tersely stated 

 in the author's words to separate the grain 

 of good science from the chaff of bad specu- 

 lation. This winnowing process, when closely 

 followed, proves to be highly interesting. Dr. 

 Romanes gauges his separator to meet Weis- 

 mann's great doctrines of the perpetual con- 

 tinuity and unalterable stability of germ- 

 plasm, and when at last, with relentless logic, 

 he has sifted out every extraneous specula- 

 tion, and holds these theories in his grasp to 

 demolish them, the wise and wary Weismann 



