412 



NA TURE 



[March 6, 1902 



centre of gravity of the foot, in the forward, lateral and 

 vertical directions, during the period of a double stride, are 

 determined and diagrammatically represented in three 

 very carefully prepared plates. A. K. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Ucber ani^cwandte Matlumatik und Physil; in Hirer 

 Bedeutiini; Jiir den Untirricht an den huheren Sch ulen. 

 Nebst Erlauleruni; der /icziiglichen Go/tinger Universi- 

 tiilseinrichtungen. X'ortrage . . . gesanimelt von F. 

 Klein und E. Riecke. Pp. viii + 252. (Leipzig : 

 Teubner, 1900.) 



This miscellaneous collection falls into two parts. The 

 first consists of eight lectures delivered to teachers in 

 higher schools during a vacation course at Ciiittingen ; of 

 these the first is a sketch of the history of the Physical 

 Institute at C.ottingen and the instruction given there ; 

 the others deal with various technical branches of applied 

 science in which mathematics plays an important part. 

 The second and probably, to the English reader, the 

 more interesting part of the volume is a reprint of various 

 essays and addresses by Prof. F. Klein, in which he dis- 

 cusses the relation of universities to technical high schools 

 (technische Hochschule). Prof Klein is clearly of 

 opinion that in Germany these two classes of institutions 

 have become unduly isolated from each other, and should 

 aim at greater solidarity, working loyally for their common 

 welfare. 



As one who is interested in the work of both, as well 

 as in the good of the State, he deprecates the tendency 

 in the universities, on the one hand, to divorce the study 

 of mathematics from its practical applications, and in the 

 technical schools, on the other, to take too narrow a 

 view of mathematical science and regard it merely as 

 subsidiary and subordinate to the requirements of 

 practical engineering and the like. These tendencies 

 are not wholly unknown in England, and Prof Klein's 

 arguments and suggestions deserve the attention of our 

 mathematicians and teachers of applied science both in 

 the universities and elsewhere. M. 



Tlie Ethical Philosophy of Sidgwick. By F. H. Hay- 

 ward. Pp. xxiv -(- 275. (London: Swan Sonnen- 

 schein and Co., Ltd., 1901.) Price d,s.(id. 



.A. MOST useful though modest and unpretentious little 

 work. In the nine essays of which it is composed the 

 author summarises the main features of the doctrine of the 

 " Methods of Ethics," and discusses from the point of view 

 of an admiring but candid and discriminating reader the 

 principal difficulties of Sidgwick's position. On the ve.\ed 

 question whether Sidgwick is in his ethics fundamentally 

 an egoist or not, Mr. Hay ward decides, after a careful 

 examination, in the atTirmative, with good reason as the 

 writer of this notice thinks. A good feature of the book 

 is the very full and impartial statement of the contro- 

 versial arguments against Sidgwick urged by evolutionists 

 on the one side, and neo-Kantians on the other. The 

 care with which the changes in the successive editions of 

 the " Methods" have been noted and allowed for and 

 the thoughtful provision in the opening pages of a sum- 

 mary of Sidgwick's often prolix argument add to the value 

 of a book which all students of ethics will find useful and 

 suggestive. If the book should reach a second edition 

 perhaps the author will tell us more definitely how far 

 he regards the presence of apparently conflicting points 

 of view in the "Methods ''as due to excessive care in 

 formulating a delicately balanced and consistent theory, 

 and how far to the attempt to unite together elements 

 which are really irreconcilable. At present he seems to 

 hesitate in his verdict. As a scholar it is to be trusted 



he will purge future editions of such misspellings as 

 " Konigsbarg " and eWpyfia, and such ugly formations 

 as "perfectionistic" and "introspectionist." A. E. T. 



On Traces of an Indefinite Article in Assyrian. By 

 R. Campbell Thompson, M.A. I'p. 31. (London : 

 David Nutt, 1902.) Price 2.f. bd. 

 In this interesting pamphlet the author has attempted to 

 throw some light upon an obscure point of Assyrian 

 grammar, which for some years past has engaged the 

 attention of Semitic scholars, although no completely 

 satisfactory explanation has hitherto been given of it. 

 The point to be explained, and to which attention was 

 first called by Dr. Flemming, is the occasional occurrence 

 of Assyrian and Babylonian words in which the case- 

 endings have been dropped, although the words in 

 question are not in the construct state. The explanation 

 which is now generally accepted, and which was first put 

 forward by Prof. Jensen, assumes that the droppmg of 

 the case-endings was a result of the degeneration of the 

 language, a process which finds a parallel in modern 

 Arabic. Mr. Thompson, however, suggests that we 

 may see in the omission of the case-endings traces 

 of an absolute state in .Assyrian, similar to that in use 

 in Aramaic ; and, assuming this to be the case, it 

 follows that the noun with the case-endings possesses 

 the force of the emphatic state in .\ramaic, although 

 it appears to have no equivalent for the post-positive 

 article. -Mr. Thompson has arranged his examples 

 to illustrate the rules which hold good for the absolute 

 in Syriac ; but he does not run his theory to death, 

 and is fully conscious that the occurrence of variants 

 with the case-endings shows that " the noun need not 

 of necessity adhere to any fixed law." 



VVe cannot here go into detailed criticism of the 

 examples cited, but will only refer to one fact which 

 appears to us to favour the received explanation rather 

 than that here put forward. According to Mr. Thompson, 

 the omission of the case-endings is due to survival, and 

 not to degeneration. We should expect, therefore, to 

 find the examples of its occurrence cominoner in the 

 early texts than in those of the later periods ; as a 

 matter of fact, the reverse appears to be the case. In 

 the Old-Babylonian inscriptions, the case-endings (apart 

 from the use of the construct) are rarely omitted, while 

 the most striking examples of their omission occur 

 in Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian texts. We must con- 

 gratulate Mr. Thompson on the clearness and brevity with 

 which he has stated his case, and Assyriologists will find 

 the collection of e.xtracts he gives most useful for a study 

 of the question. 



Sir Thomas Browne's Notes and Letters on the Natural 

 History of Norfolk. Edited by T. Southwell. 

 Pp. xxvi-l-io2. (London: Jarrold and Sons, 1902.) 

 NoRi'Ol.K sportsmen and naturalists — and they are 

 many — will be sure to find much to interest them in a 

 work dealing with the fauna of their county as it was 

 in the middle of the seventeenth century, when, as the 

 author tells us, cranes were often seen in hard winters, 

 while bustards were comparatively abundant, although 

 never, perhaps, so common as is often supposed. Sir 

 Thomas Browne, it appears, was a Norwich physician 

 who in early life travelled much. .Although not to be 

 compared in point of interest with those of Gilbert 

 White, his letters and notes indicate a keen and shrewd 

 observer of natural history. A large part of the value of 

 the work is, however, due to the editor, who is well 

 known for the keen interest he takes in all that concerns 

 the natural history of the county. Not only has he 

 deciphered with rare skill and patience a vast amount 

 of crabbed MS., but he has contributed a series of 

 foot-notes containing much valuable and interesting 

 information. l^- L. 



NO. 1688, VOL. 65] 



