290 



NATURE 



[January 30, 1908 



These cells are rendered particularly vulnerable to 

 phagocytes by the action of poisons manufactured by 

 the bacteria of the large intestine, and Prof. Metchni- 

 koff suggests that this 'might to a large extent be 

 prevented by taking skimmed milk which has been 

 boiled and rapidly cooled, and on which pure cultures 

 of the Bulgarian bacillus have been sown. This pro- 

 duces a pleasant, sour, curdled milk containing about 

 10 grams of lactic acid per litre, the lactic acid of 

 which prevents intestinal putrefaction. 



The author is dependent mainly upon two kinds 

 of evidence, experimental and numerical, and 

 therefore his difficulties are chiefly two. Many 

 experiments which might bear upon the prolongation 

 of life must necessarily be observed for many vears. 

 For example, he devotes much space to the uselessness 

 of the large intestine ; so far as his facts go there 

 is nothing to be said against them — indeed, from them 

 and others we are probably justified in thinking 

 poorly of the large intestine — but before we can cer- 

 tainly know much about this numbers of human 

 beings who have been deprived of their large intestine 

 will have to be observed for many years. 



As the question is the prolongation of life, the 

 numerical evidence as to how long certain animals and 

 plants live is of the greatest importance, but the author 

 has to depend largely upon hearsay. Very few of his 

 statements are evidence in the technical sense of the 

 word. We are more likely to be correct in our know- 

 ledge of very old human beings than very old animals, 

 but e.ven with regard to human beings the evidence 

 of extreme old age — say over loo years — often breaks 

 down when carefully examined. Those in doubt on 

 this point should read T. E. Young " On Centen- 

 arians." Sometimes the age is accepted because it is 

 on the tombstone, but, as Johnson says, " In lapidary 

 inscriptions a man is not upon oath." Prof. Metch- 

 nikoff is inclined to accept the commonlv stated age 

 of Parr, but there is no real evidence as to his age at 

 death. Still, when we remember the extreme diffi- 

 culty of getting suitable facts to support his views it 

 must be admitted that the author has shown marvel- 

 lous skill in the presentation of his case. No one can 

 put down the book without feeling that it makes us 

 think, will well repay careful critical reading, and 

 induces gratitude to Dr. Chalmers Mitchell for his 

 translation and excellent introduction. 



PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS. 



Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. New Series, 



Vol. vii., 1906-7. Pp. iv + 244. (London: 



Williams and Norgate, 1907.) Price 10s. 6d. net. 



'"pHIS volume contains the papers read before the 



-L society during the twenty-eighth session, 1906-7. 



The papers are eight in number, with titles and 



authors as follows: — (i) Nicholas de Ultricuria, a 



Mediaeval Hume, by Hastings Rashdall; (2) on the 



nature of truth, by the Hon. Bertrand Russell; (3) on 



causal explanation, by T. Percy Nunn ; (4) logic and 



identity in difference, by Miss E. E. Constance Jones ; 



(S) Humism an^ humanism, by F. C. S. Schiller; (6) 



NO. 1996. VOL. 77] 



fact, idea, and emotion, by Shadworth H. Hodgson ; 

 (7) intuition, by A. T. Shearman; (8) philosophy and 

 education, by Benjamin Dumville. 



Both in the subjects chosen and in the standpoints 

 adopted for their discussion, the series is quite repre- 

 sentative of modern English philosophy. In the first 

 paper, by the late president of the society, we find that 

 element of historical appreciation, one might almost 

 call it antiquarianism, without which English philo- 

 sophy would be reft of half its distinctive charm. 

 The second is virtually a criticism of Joachim's recent 



Essay on Truth." The monistic theorv cham- 

 pioned in that book, viz. that " only the whole truth 

 is wholly true," is shown to rest upon an assumed 

 " axiom of internal relations," which may be formu- 

 lated as follows : — " Every relation is grounded in the 

 natures of the related terms." The arguments in its 

 favour are shown to be fallacious, and the way is thus 

 cleared for a return to the dualistic theorv that facts 

 arc completely independent of our knowledge of them 

 — that experiencing does not make a difference to the 

 facts. Finally, two theories, each admitting the pos- 

 sibility of a plurality of truths, are mapped out as 

 tenable, between which the author prefers not to 

 decide. The third paper is a very thorough and lucid 

 treatment of the methods of explanation adopted in the 

 various sciences, and should be found useful by those 

 interested in the more concrete side of epistemology. 

 Miss Constance Jones's paper is good, but too tech- 

 nical in nature to receive further mention here. In 

 his paper. Dr. Schiller devotes many jjages to the 

 orientation of the pragmatic philosophy, defending it 

 especially against the charge of kinship with the 

 empirical scepticism of Hume. Particularly good is 

 his exposition of Hume's theory of " activity," a 

 portion of Hume's system unduly slurred over by the 

 historian of philosophy. To his own panegyric of 

 voluntarism the best antidote is to be found in the 

 following paper (No. 6), by Dr. Shadworth Hodgson. 

 This paper is excellent. However untenable one may 

 feel some of his conclusions to be, one cannot but 

 admire the clearness of conception and the feeling for 

 reality which Dr. Hodgson displays. The analysis is 

 carried out under the influence of the fundamental 

 antithesis of " real conditions " and " conditionates." 

 It is attempted to show that consciousness is a con- 

 ditionate of which the real conditioning is to be looked 

 for in something which is not consciousness. " This 

 ' something ' is known to us as matter and motions of 

 matter"; therefore, says Dr. Hodgson, it is not a 

 thing-in-itself. His argument takes no account of 

 the alternative possibility that the reality of which 

 matter is the phenomenon is itself mental, and 

 that the efficiency of matter is really mental 

 efficiency. 



Mr. Shearman's paper is an attempt to map out 

 the position of intuition in philosophy, and is ex- 

 tremely suggestive. In the last paper of the series 

 we meet the well-needed reminder that philosophy is 

 still indispensable in any theory of education. 

 Philosophy alone is fitted to preside over the ideak 

 which all educational systems must recognise. 



W. B. 



