278 



NATURE 



[November 7, 1912 



explainingf its function in scientific method, and 

 naturally giving- prominence to J. S. Mill, though 

 also quoting Whewell, Bain, Jevons, Alfred Sidg- 

 wick, and Welton. Book iii. consists of useful 

 examples oT scientific procedure, drawn from the 

 investigations of White of Selborne, A. R. 

 Wallace, Darwin, Harvey, Lord Avebury, and 

 others ; while book iv. deals with some elementary 

 principles of science-teaching, and has some very 

 sensible remarks on heuristic methods. The 

 section on Bacon is particularly good, and the 

 famous idols are lucidly explained. Indeed, the 

 whole book is a model of clearness. If it has a 

 fault, it is in the direction of excessive quotation ; 

 but this is difficult to avoid when an author is 

 exceptionally well read, and it has the compensa- 

 ting advantage of giving the young student a wide 

 range of actual "samples," some of which may 

 lure him to the study of the authors themselves. 



(2) This volume contains papers by Bertrand 

 Russell, Percy Nunn, Boyce Gibson, Dawes Hicks, 

 W. R. Sorley, James Ward, Bernard Bosanquet, 

 and others, on the relations of universals and 

 particulars, animism and the doctrine of energy, 

 the experience of power, the time difficulty in 

 realist theories of perception, and purpose and 

 mechanism. Perhaps the most interesting to the 

 man of science — particularly in view of Prof. 

 Schafer's British Association address and the 

 \ arious comments thereon — is the symposium on 

 purpose and mechanism. Prof. Sorley, instancing 

 a workman laying the bricks in house-building, 

 points out that the purposive process involves (i) 

 no creation or annihilation of matter, but only 

 rearrangement of masses ; (2) no creation or an- 

 nihilation of energy ; (3) no violation of the law 

 of causation ; but that it is by no means estab- 

 lished that the laws of mechanics are valid also 

 for purposive action; e.g., the laws of motion 

 do not explain the bricklayer. It is "ideal guid- 

 ance " — guidance by the idea of the house or its 

 parts, existing in the bricklayer's mind — that deter- 

 mines the place of each brick. Purposive action 

 implies certain things which are inconsistent with 

 fundamental principles of mechanics. " Energy is 

 liberated, that is, passes from the potential to the 

 kinetic form, as the result of a purpose, or mental 

 idea, and the same purpose may control the direc- 

 tion of the movement. ... If purposive action 

 is a reality, then mechanism is an abstract or 

 limited system, and cannot give an adequate 

 account of the real process of things." 



Mr. A. D. Lindsay, criticising, remarks that we 

 cannot introduce a non-mechanical into a 

 mechanical system, however much we may insist 

 that it is only a little one ; but, at the same time, 

 \\e can maintain that the mechanical explanation 

 NO. 2245, VOL. 90] 



will apply to every part of the human organism, 

 while still holdins" that this is not a full account 

 of the matter. The discussion was continued by 

 Dr. Bosanquet and Prof. James Ward. 



(3) A paper by the late Dr. Ameghino describes 

 fossil remains of two human beings found on the 

 Atlantic coast, 60 kilometres north of Necochea. 

 The skeletons were small, almost pigmy, say 

 about I '40 metres, and of small build as to 

 strength; skulls small, and decidedly dolicho- 

 cephalic : frontal part small, face prognathous. 

 Other articles discuss intellectualism and pragmat- 

 ism, the psycholog}' of criminals, and multiple 

 personality. J. A. H. 



GENERAL AND ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 

 (i) Earth Features and their Meaning. An Intro- 

 duction to Geology for the Student and the 

 General Reader. By Prof. W. H. Hobbs. Pp. 

 xxxix -1-506. (New York: The Macmillan Co.; 

 London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price 

 12.?. 6d. net. 



(2) ^1 Geological Excursion Handbook for ike 

 Bristol District. By Prof. S. H. Reynolds. 

 With an Introduction by Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 

 F.R.S. Pp.224. (Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, 

 Ltd. ; London : Simpkin, Marshall and Co., Ltd., 

 1912.) Price T,s. 6d. net. 



(3) An Introduction to British Clays, Shales, and 

 Sands. By A. B. Searle. Pp. xi + 451. (Lon- 

 don: C. Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price 

 75. 6d. net. 



(4) Graphical Solution of Fatdt I'roblems. By 

 C. F. Tolman, jun. Pp. 43. (San Francisco : 

 Mining and Scientific Press ; London : Mining 

 Magazine, 191 1.) Price 4s. 6d. net. 



(5) Observations on the West of England Mining 

 Region. Being an Account of the Mineral 

 Deposits and Economic Geology of the Region, 

 and forming Vol. xiv. of the Transactions of 

 the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall. By 

 J. H. Collins. Pp. xxiv -1-683+ 18 plates. 

 (Plymouth: Wm. Brendon and Son, Ltd., 1912.) 



(6) Types of Ore Deposits. Edited by H. Foster 

 Bain. Pp. 378. (San Francisco : Mining and 

 Scientific Press ; London : Mining Magazine, 

 igii.) Price 85. 6d. net. 



(i) "QROF"- HOBBS describes his new volume 

 L as "a series of readings," the substance 

 of a course of lectures in expanded form. The 

 title concisely expresses the character and scope 

 of the work. The author discusses the figure of 

 the earth, and lays stress upon the tetrahedral 

 hypothesis. He touches lightly on rocks and their 

 mode of formation ; deals with earth movements, 

 volcanic action, weathering, and the activities of 



