Vol. XIV 
i8g7 Recent Literature. 243 
only be obtained by a knowledge of anatomy. Where Sundevall failed no 
one else is likely to succeed; for he was a man gifted with intelligence of 
a rare order, a man of cultivation and learning, one who had devoted his 
whole life to science, who had travelled much, studied much and reflected 
much, a man whose acquaintance with the literature of his subject 
probably exceeded that of any of his contemporaries, and a man whose 
linguistic attainments rendered him the envy of his many friends. Yet 
what should have been the crowning work of his long life is one that all 
who respected him, and that comprehends all who knew him, must regret, 
though apart from his systematic treatment his handiwork is admirable.” 
Most of Professor Newton’s criticism in this part of his work is con- 
structive — that is to say, it is concerned with the building up of the good, 
not the pulling down of what he considers bad; for bad work or bad 
workers hardly appear here, unless it be to be brushed aside in a word. 
Yet it is perhaps but fair to place in juxtaposition with the above an 
example of unmitigated severity (p. gg): 
‘By every well-informed ornithologist the History of British Birds of 
Mr. Morris has long been known to possess no authority; but about Mr. 
Seebohm’s volumes with the same title there is much difference of opinion, 
some holding them in high esteem. The greater part of their text, when 
itis correct, will be found on examination to be a paraphrase of what others 
had already written, for even the information given on the author’s 
personal experience, which was doubtless considerable, extends little or no 
further. But all this is kept studiously out of sight, and the whole is so 
skilfully dressed as to make the stalest observations seem novel —a merit, 
I am assured, in some eyes. Of downright errors and wild conjectures 
there are enough, and they are confidently asserted with the misuse of 
language and absence of reasoning power that mark all the author’s writ- 
ings, though the air of scientific treatment assumed throughout has 
deluded many an unwary reader.” 
There is of course no balm in Gilead for.a wound like that; though in 
another place (p. 734 of Alphabet, note), where Professor Newton castigates 
poor Seebohm with less acerbity for his fantastic sciolism in the taxon- 
omy of Lémicole the saving clause comes: ‘‘ Yet the many beautiful 
figures given by Mr. Seebohm will always make his work acceptable to 
ornithologists of all schools, despite his numerous vagaries.” 
It were needless to add, after what has preceded, that Professor 
Newton is fully committed to morphological taxonomy on evolutionary 
principles. We should hardly think any different view could be taken by 
a competent scientist of the present day. The assumed distinction 
between external and internal characters is absurd; they are parts of one 
structural integer, and if the insides of a bird prove more valuable for 
classificatory purposes than its outside, it is simply because there are 
more of the former than there is of the latter available for examination 
and interpretation. Most of the authors above listed will immediately be 
seen to have been anatomists; and we note with pleasure Professor 
