LITERARY NOTICES. 



843 



nomic Science and Statistics, favored 

 the abandonment of attempts to estab- 

 lish a legal tender by legislation, and 

 the leaving of the question to settle 

 itself. The Battle with Fire was the 

 subject of an address by Vice-President 

 Norton's before the Chemical Section, 

 which embodied an account of the con- 

 tributions which chemistry has made to 

 the art of extinguishing fires and of 

 preventing them, and contained many 

 practical hints. In the other sections, 

 Vice-President Samuel Calvin described 

 the Niobrara stage of the Upper Cre- 

 taceous; Prof. W. A. Rogers spoke of 

 obscure heat as an agent in producing 

 expansion and contraction of metals ; 

 and Prof. L. M. Underwood discussed 

 the evolution of the Hepaticce. While 

 a large proportion of the papers read in 

 the sections were technical and limited 

 in their bearing, a considerable number 

 were also of great general interest. 



The meetings of the affiliated socie- 

 ties attracted nearly as much interest 

 as those of the association itself, and 

 papers were read in them which were, 

 to say the least, equal in merit and im- 

 portance to the average of those which 

 were read in the association. We regard 

 these societies as still in th experiment- 

 al stage ; and it appears to be yet to be 

 determined whether their influence as a 

 whole will be beneficial or the contrary 

 to the general body. 



Amendments to the Constitution 

 were proposed for consideration next 

 year, to admit libraries and societies to 

 representation in the association through 

 one of their officers, and to add a Sec- 

 tion of Sociology. 



The members of the association en- 

 joyed the full measure of the social ex- 

 changes and festivities which attend the 

 body wherever it goes. Excursions 

 were made to many points of scientific 

 interest. There were some features to 

 be criticised about the meeting. The 

 relatively small attendance at the very 

 interesting lectures of M. Du Chaillu 

 and Prof. Cope was hardly creditable 



to the citizens of Brooklyn, in whose 

 honor they were especially given. A 

 deficiency of provisions for the comfort 

 of the attendants of the meetings, par- 

 ticularly in the matter of directions for 

 finding the way, was complained of; 

 and imperfections in the arrangements 

 of some of the excursions revealed a 

 want of adequate central control. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OP 

 HERBERT SPENCER. By WILLIAM HENRY 

 HUDSON. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 

 Pp. 234. 



THIS book is largely an outgrowth of 

 lectures delivered from time to time on Mr. 

 Spencer's Philosophy. The book itself was 

 undertaken to meet what seemed a healthy 

 popular demand. Mr. Hudson had observed 

 with some surprise the widespread diffusion 

 of interest in the subject of evolution. His 

 lectures were heard by attentive and appre- 

 ciative audiences, and cultivated men and 

 women, especially the younger ones, ex- 

 pressed the desire to know more of the new 

 thought and of its bearing upon the practical 

 problems and issues of the day. He could 

 not refer all inquirers to Mr. Spencer's 

 works ; for, clear and forcible as is the pre- 

 sentation in them all, they are too volumi- 

 nous and the style of their writing is too 

 condensed for any but persons having abun- 

 dant time and strong powers of concentration 

 to master them in bulk. Therefore the au- 

 thor has undertaken to furnish this intro- 

 duction as a sort of guide or handbook to 

 the complete works, by the aid of which 

 readers may gain a kind of bird's-eye view 

 of the system as a whole, or, if they are dis- 

 posed and able to examine it more in detail, 

 may be assisted in their course through its 

 different regions. In this he has succeeded 

 admirably, and his book is marked through- 

 out by a clearness of statement which will 

 enable any one of average intelligence to 

 follow the author through even the most 

 abstruse parts of the discussion. The ex- 

 amination of Mr. Spencer's work is preceded 

 by a biographical sketch of the philosopher 

 the most satisfactory and probably the 

 only full one that has been presented. In it 



