178 



NATURE 



[^«/j/ 4,1872 



Mobility of Matter." Here we confess we felt nonplussed, 

 and as the rest of the work (pp. 321-523) seems, on 

 a hasty glance, to be of the same sort, vaiied only 

 by occasional extravagant eulogy of some philosophers 

 and denunciation of others, we leave it unnoticed, 

 except as regards one particular which will afterwards 

 be referred to. 



We now come to the richest part of the volume, the 

 preface and introduction, written (as we are told) later than 

 the rest, and therefore when the author had managed 

 thoroughly to divest himself of all the usual amenities, as 

 well as of regard for at least the scientific character of 

 certain living philosophers. 



From the introduction we paraphrase as follows (the 

 passage follows some fierce remarks about Dr. Tyndall) : — 



" I can assert that, when I read the addresses of -Sir 

 W. Thomson and Prof. Tait to the British Association, 

 and when on my return to Leipzig I found on my tabic 

 among the scientific novelties the German edition of their 

 ' Natural Philosophy,' edited by Helmholtz and Wertheim 

 (including particularly section 385), then, indeed, the 

 appearance of my work seemed to be a Nalurprocess ; 

 something necessary in the chain of scientific develop- 

 ment, of which even I myself scarce knew how it had 

 arisen, and what was my share in it. In fact, the desire 

 to bring to light in this book what is more or less strut;- 

 gling to appear in German science, what is bringing out 

 a hollow sound now from one string, anon from another ; 

 this desire, 1 say, has been with me to the latest scratch 

 of my pen. I therefore doubt not that, simultaneously 

 with mine, other heads have been working at the same 

 problem, and perhaps in unconscious coincidence have 

 arrived at the same solution. May then such facts ever 

 more forcibly impress us with the conviction that the 

 claims of personal services belong much more to the 

 Age and to the Race than to the individual, and that no 

 ever so clear conscious selection of means can be com- 

 pared with that wonderful harmony with which Nature 

 seeks to farther, and at the same time more surely to 

 reach, her to us unknown ends." 



To understand the bearing of the above passage, whicli 

 is simply a literal assertion of 



IJeutschknd, Deutschland iiber Alles, 

 Ueber Alles in der Weir, 



the reader must refer to the preface, where he will find 

 (along with much metaphysics) a war-dance over the 

 mangled scientific reputation of Sir W. Thomson. The 

 celebrated "moss-grown fragments from the ruins of 

 another world" was a joke taken in earnest by many 

 even in this country; so we can hardly blame Prof ZoUncr 

 for faUing into the trap ; but why " bewachsene " instead 

 of " bemooste " in translating the passage for thy country- 

 men, O ZtiUner? Prof Zdllner's remarks upon British 

 philosophers as a class must be given in his own words :— 

 " Allein die Speculation ist in der gegenwartigen Ent- 

 wickelungsphase der Naturwissenschaft ein so tief 

 empfundcnes Bcdiirfniss, dass selbst hein eut fast nur noch 

 indiictiv thiitiges Volk, wie die Englander, der Versuchung 

 nicht widerstehen kann, sogar fiber inathematisch- 

 •bhysikaUschcn Hypoihcsen zu speculiren." 



Then we have the old question about the discovery of 

 Spectrum Analysis, Stokes and Balfour Stewart now 

 coming in along with Thomson for their share of the 

 ^rek de coups. So severely accurate a judge as Zdllncr 

 should, however, have known that Stewart has pointed 



out that Kirchhoff mistook his meaning when he 

 charged him with error as to the expression for internal 

 radiation in terms of the refractive index. A sentence 

 from Prof Tait's address to Section A, last August, is 

 used as a sort of weapon against British scientific men. 

 Prof ZoUner here quotes the part that suits him, leaving 

 out altogether the portion (immediately following) which 

 turns the charge entirely the other way. 



Another indefensible style of controversy wc must 

 allude to as exhibited by our author. In the above 

 extract from his introduction it will be noticed that he 

 specially alludes to Section 385 of Thomson's and Tait's 

 book. In the preface we find the following condemnation 

 of it, which is calculated to ensure notoriety. " I venture 

 deliberately to assert that in the whole of German physical 

 literature there cannot be found one single text-book which, 

 in the short space of only thirty lines, contains such a 

 plentitude of absolute nonsense." It is true there is a 

 jokelet in this (now) celebrated section, something about 

 catching a luminous corpuscle and examining it — it forms 

 the text for a good many severe remarks ; but Prof. 

 ZoUner goes further, and accuses the authors of the 

 work of discourtesy to Weber, which certainly no one 

 who understands the original or the German translation 

 (which we have taken the trouble to consult) will find in 

 either. 



Whether Thomson and Tait, with Helmholtz and 

 Clerk-Maxwell on their side, or Weber with the assistance 

 of Neumann (and Zcillner), shall ultimately be fuund 

 correct on a purely scientific question, it is not our pic sent 

 business to inquire ; what we do object to is the sensational 

 imputation of discourtesy, if not of something worse, 

 especially when the object of this imagined insult is a 

 venerable philosopher who will undoubtedly leave a 

 permanent mark on the history of his time. 



It would next be our task to show how heartily Helm- 

 holtz is pitched into for having sanctioned by his name 

 the Geman translation of the work in question, and for 

 his worthy recognition of Sir W. Thomson's scientific 

 discoveries ; but enough — Deutschland iiber Alles, and 

 down with every Deutscher who sees aught to admire 

 or to respect beyond the limits of Germany \ 



CONCRETE ARITHMETIC 



Concrete Arithmetic; an Introduction to the Elements of 

 the Abstract Science of Number. For young Children. 

 By Temple Augustus Orme. (Groombridge and Sons, 

 1S72.) 



' O IR, according to the custom of this town, he is of 

 v3 age when he knows how to count up to twelve 

 pence ; and he shall answer in a writ of right when he is 

 of that age." * The work before us will not only enable a 

 pupil to do this, but further gives an excellent account of 

 the first six processes enumerated in the old poem t : — 



Septem sunt partes, non plures, istius artis ; 

 Addere, subtrahere, duplareque dimidiare 

 Sextaque dividere est, sed quinta est multiplicare 

 Radicem extrahere pars septima dicitur esse. 



* Year-book of Edward I , a.d. 1292. Salop Iter., edited by Honvood, 



p. 2iO. 



t -The De Algorismo quoted from Halliwell's " Rara Mathematica/* by 

 De Morgan, "Arithmetical Books," p. 15. 



