NA TURE 



{May 7, 1874 



the subject and object. When explaining how men came 

 to lose faith in the reality of the objective, he points out 

 that by dwelling on the fact that the same subject pro- 

 duces various sensations at different times, they at last 

 "reversed their primary and instinctive judgment, and 

 instead of saying ' qualities belong to objects,' they now 

 said, ' It is we who invest objects with the qualities of our 

 feelings.'" This he seems to regard as giving an undue 

 predominance to the " subjective aspect." We venture to 

 think that it would be more in accordance with the esta- 

 blished use of language to describe the error referred to as 

 a failure to observe that the sensations varied, not only 

 with changes in the object, but also with changes 

 in the material organism called our body, — which 

 never was the "Tff" of the philosophers who hold 

 that it is ive who invest objects with the qualities of our 

 feelings. Looked at from this point of view, the whole 

 truth within our reach is simply this, that with the same 

 external object and the same bodily condition, the same 

 state of consciousness will invariably arise. The pecu- 

 liarity of Mr. Lewes's position, if we understand it, is that 

 he means by the Self the living body, the " sentient 

 organism " as we know if, and by the Not-self the external 

 surrounding as knotvii to lis ; for his reasoned realism 

 forbids him to seek after any deeper reality of things, — 

 the absolute is what we see and hear. So far are we, as it 

 appears to us, from knowing how the action of external 

 forces on the living organism results in feeling, that we 

 cannot make the very least approach to a conception of 

 such a thing. Recognising that each feeling is related to 

 certain vibrations set up in the nervous structure by the 

 action of external agents, which vibrations Mr. Lewes 

 describes as expressed by the feeling, this, as faras we 

 can see, brings us no nearer to a conception of any sense 

 in which "the feeling is what it expresses " — is the vibra- 

 tions. Mr. Lewes will have to say much more than he has 

 yet said, before we shall be able to see with him that 

 stimuli plus mechanism can ever yield an explanation of 

 sensation. 



We regret that our space will not permit us to notice 

 any other of the many important topics touched on in this 

 volume. The whole demands, and will fully repay, a 

 careful reading from every student of these matters. Only 

 the first of Mr. Lewes's problems — the Limitations of 

 Knowledge— is worked out at full length, the chapter on 

 Necessary Truths being perhaps the most interesting. 

 In the last chapter Mr. Lewes considers the place of 

 sentiment in philosophy. What he has to show is that 

 Sentiment, or Emotion, is one important source of know- 

 ledge. But what he says is more likely to impress his 

 readers with its power of obscuring vision and obstructing 

 research. Douglas A. Spalding 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

 Report of the Rugby School Natural History Society for 



the year 1873. (Rugby : W. BiUington, 1874.) 

 This Report is on the whole very satisfactory, and the 

 tone of the preface exceedingly hopeful. At no time in 

 its past history of seven years, the retiring president tells 

 us, does the Society seem to him to have contained more 

 promising workmen. It appears that it has been resolved 

 to construct a geological model of the Rugby district, and 

 for this maiimtm opus many volunteers from the Society 



have offered their assistance. The appended reports of 

 the various sections are on the whole satisfactory, showing 

 that real work is being done. One of the most valuable 

 features in the Report for 1873 is the number of papers 

 which have been read by the young members themselves, 

 there being seven printed here in greater or less fulness, 

 and a number of others mentioned as having been read 

 at the regular meetings of the Society. One of the most 

 interesting of the published papers is one by Mr. H. N. 

 Hutchinson On Home-made Electrical Apparatus, showing 

 that the author possesses very considerable originality 

 and ingenuity. The apparatus described was made by 

 his brother and himself five years ago, and includes some 

 of the most essential parts of an electrical equipment, the 

 cost o! the whole not being more than a few shillings. 

 He thus tells us how the cylinder of an electrical machine 

 may be manufactured. " Choose a tall glass jar, such as 

 you see in confectioners' shop-windows. Next get two 

 wooden caps turned to fit on to the ends of the cylinder, 

 about an inch deep, with projecting pivots. The caps are 

 next to be cemented on to the ends of the cylinder. The 

 cement is composed of resin, beeswax, red ochre, and a 

 little plaster of Paris, and must be heated over a slow fire. 

 The open end of the cylinder must be first covered over 

 with a piece of silk to prevent bits falling in." The con- 

 ductor was made of deal wood turned to the proper shape 

 and covered very smoothly \vith tinfoil ; the Leyden jars 

 were made from ordinarj' plum jars. We recommend the 

 paper with its accompanying sketches to those who can- 

 not afford to buy an electrical apparatus. W. B. Lowe 

 describes some carefully made experiments On Cohesion 

 of Water at Various Temperatures ; and other papers by 

 pupils, evincing considerable power of observation, are — 

 On an Excursion of Mr. Wilson's Geological Class to 

 Mount Sorrel, by C. M. Kerr ; On a Botanical Expedition 

 to Princethorpe, by H. W. Trott ; On a Geological Expe- 

 dition to Atherstone and Nuneaton, by E. Mann ; On an 

 Entomological Expedition to Frankton Wood, by H. A. 

 Bull ; and On the Chameleon, by J. S. Beuttler, giving 

 an account of the author's own observations on two speci- 

 mens belonging to himself Besides these there are 

 several other papers by masters and outsiders ; one of the 

 latter is a very instructive paper by Mr. R. H. Scott, 

 F.R.S., On the Weather. The Report also contains four 

 plates by pupil members of the Society. 



Tlie Surface Zones of the Globe. A Handbook to accom- 

 pany a Physical Chart. By Keith Johnston, F.R.G.S. 

 With two Maps and six Illustrations. (W. and A. K. 

 Johnston, 1874.) 

 This little volume will form an interesting and valuable 

 addition to our educational manuals, either as a lesson- 

 book for pupils or as a handbook for teachers. The 

 author divides the surface of the globe into seven great 

 zones, and shows that, without considering the particular 

 species of plants, or the more minute details of the forms 

 of natural life which occur in these belts, and which may 

 differ in one continent from another, there is a resem- 

 blance in character throughout the whole extent of each 

 zone, whether of forest, or pasture, or desert, which can- 

 not be mistaken. Mr. Johnston names these zones as 

 follows: — I. The Equatorial Forest Region; 2. The 

 Equatorial Pasture Lands ; 3. The Deserts ; 4. The 

 TeiTiperate Pasture Lands ; 5. The Temperate Forests ; 

 6. The Barren Tundra Regions ; 7. The Icy Polar Re- 

 gions. He describes in detail the characteristic appear- 

 ance and productions of each region, and in doing so 

 manages to convey a considerable amount of useful in- 

 formation. The manual is intended to accompany a 

 large chart of the world on which these suiface zones are 

 distinguished, and a minute copy of which forms one of 

 the diagrams of the work. Another very curious and 

 interesting diagram is intended to show the surface zones 

 I on the supposition of a change of 90' in the position of 



