The Zoologist— April, 1874. 3905 



Sutias 0f f elv 1Mb. 



The Naturalist in Nicaragua; a Narrative of a Residence at the 

 Gold Mines of Chontales ; Journeys in the Savannahs and 

 Forests; with Observations on Animals and Plants, in refe- 

 rence to the Theory of Evolution of Living Forms. By 

 Thomas Belt. Post 8vo, 404 pp. letter-press. ' With Map and 

 Tvventj-seven Illustrations. London : John Murray. 1874. 



" It was his faith,— perhaps is mine,— 

 That life in all its forms is one, 

 And that its secret conduits run 

 Unseen, but in unbroken line. 

 From the great fountain-head divine, 

 Through man and beast, through grain and grass." 



Tennyson.* 



I HAVE always held that a reviewer has a double duty to dis- 

 charge ; one moiety thereof is duty to his readers, the other moiety 

 IS duty to the author; these duties are often conflicting, and hence 

 It is difficult to discharge both with perfect impartiality. Seeing 

 this IS so, I prefer allowing the writer to hold immediate corat 

 municalion with the reader by means of copious extracts, thus 

 giving the latter an opportunity of judging for himself much better 

 than I can judge for him. The influence of a review is great or 

 small in exact accordance with the estimation in which the reader 

 holds the reviewer. Many superficial readers deny this; they 

 assert boldly, « I think nothing of the Euphuist," or « I never read 

 the Timon;" and yet we find, in ten minutes' conversation with 

 such an one, that the Euphuist or the Timon inspires all his ideas : 

 he unconsciously and unwittingly adopts all its teaching. Man 

 delights to be led; it saves trouble, but he uniformly disowns this 

 proclivity. 



Mr. Belt is an evolutionist; his present reviewer a factist : they 

 are not of necessity antagonistic, because the theory of evolution 

 like 'Sandford and Merton' and 'Robinson Crusoe,' is said to be 

 founded on fact." I am not about to discuss the hypothesis, but 

 when an author throws down the gauntlet so boldly and so in- 

 genuously as Mr. Belt has done, both on his title-page and in his 



* Quoted by Mr. Belt. 

 SECOND SERIES— VOL. IX. 



