208 



NAT UKJ-: 



[August 12, 1922 



We have dwelt perhaps with undue weight on the 

 question of fundami ritals, because this seems to us a 

 matter which should be put right. But the present 

 work, supplemented by a proper treatment of those 

 fundament lis, cei tainly constitutes an excellent course 

 in the general theory of thermodynamics. 



Dialectic. 

 Studies in the Hegelian Dialectic. By Dr. John McT. 

 E. McTaggart. Second edition. Pp. xvi + 255. 

 (Cambridge : At the University Press, 1922.) 15s. net. 



IT is curious that a book which professed only to 

 be a study of Hegel, and deals with criticisms 

 of the Hegelian method and principle current more 

 than thirty yeat ago, should he reprinted to-dav 

 and present the same freshness and vigour to the 

 reader now as it did then. This is the feeling with 

 which one who read Dr. McTaggart's book on its first 

 appearance now lays it down, having read it again 

 from beginning to end. ft contains the best exposition 

 11I tin dialectic, and the best defence of the dialectic, 

 and the best criticism of it by any living writer. The 

 conclusion Dr. McTaggart reaches would be accepted 

 probably even by the most convinced Hegelians, 

 namely, the conclusion that the logic is of permanent 

 value and the dialectic sound, hut that the metaphysic 

 is unsatisfactory and cannot be final. His own view 

 would seem to be that the ultimate reality is a unity 

 of personalities, but that this unity is not itself a 

 personality. Most of this book was originally presented 

 in papers read and discussed at the Aristotelian Society 

 in the early 'nineties and published in Mind, for at that 

 time the Society did not publish Proceedings, ft is a 

 living work to-day because, more than at any previous 

 time, the problem of the methodology of science is in 

 the forefront. Mathematical discoveries, which have 

 caused a revolution in our mode of conceiving the 

 physical universe, and the discoveries of the new 

 psychology, which have profoundly changed our mode 

 of conceiving the mind, have necessitated a reconsidera- 

 tion of what is implied in the experimental method. 

 \\ 1 have found a need for dialectic, for the logic of 

 philosophy. The stone which was set at nought by 

 the scientific builders of the nineteenth century is 

 become the head of the corner. 



In the thirty years which have elapsed since Dr. 

 VIi I 1 art's book was written there have been some 

 notable attempts in philosophy to reform and advance 

 the Hegelian dialectic. It would be interesting to 

 knou Dr. McTaggart's attitude towards them. In 

 sect inn 120 he seems almost to anticipate Croce's 

 criticism of Hegel as failing to differentiate between 

 "opposite and " distincts." Also one would like 

 NO. 2754, VOL. I IO] 



to know how far he considers that Gentile, in the 

 theory he has worked out of the identity of philosophy 

 with its history, has met his objection to the place 

 assigned by Hegel to philosophy in the supreme triad 

 of absolute mind. Dr. McTaggart's own recent work, 

 " The Nature of Existence," gives the impression that 

 In has himself moved away from the position of these 

 early studies and has fallen under the spell of the 

 opposite method to that of the dialectic, the method 

 which is known as logistic and has its home in his 

 college. It may be, however, that he is illustrating 

 in his own mental development the dialectical advance 

 through negation. In any case we can say that this 

 republication of his early work is of the greatesl \alue 

 tu those who are endeavouring to follow the const rui live 

 work in which he is now engagi d, 



II. WlLDON C.-vRR. 



:; 



The Methods of Ecological Investigation 



Geobotanische Untersuchungsmethoden. Von Prof. Dr, 

 Eduard Riibel. Pp. xii + 290. (Berlin : Gebriid 

 Borntraeger, 1922.) 16s. Sd. 



IT is now seventeen years since the first appearance 

 of Prof. Clement's work on " Research Methods 

 in Ecology," written at a time when this branch of 

 knowledge was still in its infancy and its methods for 

 the most part yet to be devised. Since 1905, however, 

 considerable advances have been made, particulars 

 in the two directions of intensive study of the habitat 

 factors and the extensive study of the plant community. 



The growth of the subject is indicated by the 

 establishment, both in this country and in America, 

 of specialised journals devoted to this field alone, and 

 this growth has naturally been accompanied by the 

 development of a definite technique for the study of 

 plant societies. We therefore welcome the work before 

 us, in which Prof. Riibel has aimed at giving us a survey 

 of the present position of ecological methodology on 

 the botanical side. 



Broadly the subject matter falls into two sections 

 corresponding to the two main lines of progress already 

 mentioned. Of these the consideration of the factors 

 of the habitat, climatic, edaphic, biotic and orographic, 

 with the methods of their measurement, occupies nearly 

 half the text. 



The climatic section contains a useful account of 

 several American types of atmometer, methods of 

 measuring light intensity under water, etc. The 

 section treating of edaphic factors is regrettably short, 

 especially having regard to the extensive development 

 in this direction. For example, details might usefully 

 have been furnished of the freezing-point depression 

 methods of estimating the concentration of soil solutions 



