LITERARY NOTICES. 



places the population is maintained or in- 

 creased by immigration, or by the children 

 of recent immigrants. The fidelity of these 

 to the duties of marriage is largely due not 

 to the reason but to useful superstition. In- 

 tellectual inquiry invites infidelity. Skepti- 

 cism has no soul, nor has it breeding power. 

 Man must have a belief to be in earnest. The 

 skeptics disappear, the superstitious survive, 

 but progress can not live without intellectual 

 activity. This is incompatible with the in- 

 fallibility demanded for the integrity of su- 

 perstition. So long as there is progress there 

 must be intellectual independence. Here, 

 then, is the dilemma skepticism and steril- 

 ity, or superstition and stagnation ; progress 

 to extermination, or perpetuation of life with- 

 out improvement. This problem, and others 

 kindred to it, are those for which I have 

 sought a solution." Finally, the main motive 

 of the work is declared to be the necessity 

 of reproduction in man to enter any demon- 

 strable future. The subjects of Sex, Mar- 

 riage, Husband Choice, Wife Choice, The 

 Child, Hints to the Husband, A Word to the 

 Wife, and Religion, are discussed. 



THE THEORY OF HEAT. By THOMAS PRESTON. 

 New York: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 719. 



THE author's object in preparing this vol- 

 ume has been to treat the science of heat in 

 a comprehensive manner, so as to produce a 

 tolerably complete account of the whole sub- 

 ject in its experimental as well as in its theo- 

 retical aspect. He has consequently enjoyed 

 a freedom in his choice of subject-matter and 

 mode of exposition which would not have 

 been possible in a work designed to meet the 

 requirements of some particular class of per- 

 sons preparing for examinations or engaged 

 in practical pursuits. The nobler aspect of 

 science as an instrument of education and 

 culture is kept in mind throughout, and the 

 principle is enforced that an acquaintance 

 with a number of facts does not constitute a 

 scientific education, and there is no royal 

 road to learning other than that by which 

 it is pursued for its own sake. The most 

 fruitful method of exposition, it is observed, 

 is not necessarily that by which a given num- 

 ber of facts may be recorded in the shortest 

 space, but rather that by which they may be 

 most easily assimilated by the mind and most 

 comprehensively grasped in their general 



bearings and mutual relations; and this is 

 the method which is most calculated to ad- 

 vance knowledge and raise the intellectual 

 character of the individual. The historical 

 method of treatment is preferred, as admit- 

 ting the most constant comparison of theory 

 with the results of experiment and the closest 

 scrutiny at every step of the development. 

 With this is combined a due amount of detail 

 in description and explanation to secure in- 

 struction and such suggestion and criticism as 

 may excite intellectual life and independent 

 thought on the part of the student. The 

 classical experiments are given in detail, and 

 in addition such other investigations are no- 

 ticed as will give the student a general idea 

 of the work that has been done in each de- 

 partment up to the present time. In the in- 

 troductory chapter, or " preliminary sketch," 

 some remarks are given on the general effects 

 of heat and on the meaning of the terms 

 used in the subject, the theories of heat are 

 reviewed, and the subjects of matter and en- 

 ergy and the theories concerning them are 

 discussed. In the subsequent chapters, ther- 

 mometry, dilatation, calorimetry, ' change of 

 state, radiation and absorption, conduction, 

 and thermodynamics are considered. Such 

 subjects as the steam engine and the theory 

 of solutions are omitted, as having obtained 

 separate treatment in special works. The 

 kinetic theory of gases has been entered into 

 so far as to meet the immediate requirements 

 of the subject in hand ; and the suggestion 

 is made that it, with some other subjects 

 usually dealt with in treatises on heat, are 

 deserving of treatment in a separate volume. 



SCIENCE AND CHRISTIAN TRADITION. By 

 THOMAS H. HUXLEY. Collected Essays, 

 Vol. V. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 

 Pp. 419. Price, $1.25. 



THIS volume contains ten of Prof. Hux- 

 ley's vigorous magazine articles, first pub- 

 lished in the years 1887 to 1891, to which is 

 prefixed the Prologue to his volume entitled 

 Controverted Questions. Among these essays 

 are his series of three on agnosticism, and 

 his two on the Gadarene swine miracle in 

 controversy with Mr. Gladstone, while the 

 others deal mainly with other miracles of 

 the New Testament. In the essay on The 

 Value of Witness to the Miraculous, Prof. 

 Huxley scrutinizes certain mediaeval miracles 



