570 



NA TURE 



[October 15, 1896 



" At present a duplicate Criminal Record is being kept, 

 /.(•. a record based on anthropometric measurements />/;/j- 

 thumb-marks, and also separately a record based solely 

 on the impressions of the ten digits. A system of classi- 

 f)ing the latter is being worked out, and if after being 

 subjected to severe tests it is found to yield sufficient 

 power of differentiation to enable search to be unerringly 

 made, it seems probable that measurements will gradually 

 be abandoned as data for fixing identity, dependence 

 7eing placed exclusively upon finger impressions." 



It seems, therefore, that the following phrase of M. 

 ,'Bertillon requires modification: "We may safely say, 

 then, of this new edition, that it is final in its main out- 

 lines and in most of its details, and that any future 

 edition, if such there should be, will differ from it very 

 little." A perfect system is one that attains its end with 

 the minimum of effort, and that certainly cannot be 

 affirmed of the French system. In my own opinion, the 

 present English system (which includes full-face and 

 profile photographs) much more nearly fulfils that 

 definition. Francis Galton. 



SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY. 

 A History of the Warfare of Science loilli Theology in 

 Cliristendom. By Andrew Dickson White, LL.D., &c., 

 late President and Professor of History at Cornell 

 University. 2 vols. Pp. x\iv -I- 416, xiv -I- 474. 

 (London: Macmillan and Co., i8g6.) 



TWENTY years ago Dr. White published a little 

 volume, entitled the " Warfare of Science," to which 

 the late Prof. Tyndall contributed a brief preface. Out of 

 that volume has grown the present book, which, though 

 very much more learned, has lost something of the fresh- 

 ness that characterised its predecessor. We should like to 

 have said that the one had made the other needless, but, 

 as ecclesiastical dignitaries still accept men like Dr. Kinns 

 for authorities in science and champions of orthodoxy, we 

 fear that Giant Pope — using the title in a wider sense 

 than Bunyan did — is hardly dead yet. This book is 

 melancholy reading, for it tells, again and again, of the 

 miserable mistakes that have been made by good men 

 with the very best intentions. Here and there, perhaps. 

 Dr. White a little magnifies these mistakes and overlooks 

 extenuating circumstances ; is, perhaps, a little too ready 

 to accept witnesses on his own side, as when he assumes 

 it proved that man existed on the Pacific slope of America 

 in the Pliocene age. The acute theologian also might 

 sometimes have his chances of breaking the windows in the 

 house of the man of science, for the latter occasionally 

 talks wildly when he trespasses on the other's province. 

 But we must sorrowfully admit, that Churchmen and Non- 

 conformists alike — the most extreme Protestants as well 

 as the most ardent Romanists — have distinguished them- 

 selves too often by their unwise and ignorant opposition 

 to scientific facts and scientific progress. The former 

 adversaries have not been less illiberal than the latter ; 

 indeed, of late years they have perhaps been more so. 

 They have not persecuted soactively, simply because they 

 have not so often had the power ; as to the will, the less 

 said the better. 



Dr. White discusses the various branches of his sub- 

 ject in separate chapters. The first, entitled " From 

 Creation to Evolution," is not the least interesting, though 

 NO. 1407, VOL. 54] 



we think that in these words he needlessly gives a point 

 to an assailant ; for to a theist evolution might appear 

 only a mode of creation. But special creation is ob- 

 viously meant, so that we may pass on. This chapter 

 gives a very interesting summary of opinion, ancient and 

 modern, ending with the story of the storm raised by 

 the publication of Darwin's "Origin of .Species." Here, 

 as in several other places. Dr. White's book is of great 

 though indirect value, because of its plain speaking. The 

 spirit of saint worship Imgers in most religious bodies. 

 It is deemed almost profane to admit that good and 

 well-meaning men could make great mistakes, and thus 

 produce serious mischief; could use absurd arguments, 

 utter intemperate language, and do unjust actions. 

 But Dr. White is no believer in this policy. Bishop 

 Wilberforce of Oxford, even Pusey and Liddon, with 

 firebrands like Dean Burgon and -Archdeacon Denison, 

 are dealt with in a spirit of refreshing candour ; and 

 even Mr. Gladstone occasionally comes in for not un- 

 kindly criticism, though his courtesy to theological 

 antagonists receives its due meed of praise. 



Then the author passes on to geography, with the 

 absurd figments of Cosmas Indicopleustes and that 

 deadly heresy of the existence of the antipodes ; to as- 

 tronomy, with the denunciation of the heliocentric theory 

 of the planetary system, and the story of Galileo. Next 

 we come to the battles ov'er geology, the antiquity of 

 man, anthropology, and the discoveries in Egyptian and 

 Chaldiean history. Magic and demonology, with the 

 development of chemistry and physics, follow next, 

 together with the spread of scientific views on medicine 

 and hygiene. Here theologians are charged with having 

 opposed inoculation, vaccination, and the use of an;es- 

 thetics. As regards the second, they might now retort 

 that its present opponents, as a body, are not specially dis- 

 tinguished either for orthodoxy or for religious zeal. Next 

 come chapters on lunacy and demoniacal possession, a 

 subject more difficult than appears on the surface, and 

 concerning which, w-e may be sure, the last w-ord has 

 not yet been said. After chapters on the origin of 

 language and the Dead Sea legends, the book concludes 

 with a sketch of the development of modern ideas as to 

 the function of inspiration and the duty of criticism. 



Dr. White's book is a very exhaustive survey of this un- 

 reasonable conflict, which we may hope is coming to an 

 end, and will be valuable as a work of reference. It should 

 be carefully studied by all tutors in theological colleges, 

 who would do well to give the substance of it in lectures 

 to students preparing for the ministry, lest perchance 

 they make the same mistakes as did their forefathers. 



T. G. B. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



A Manual of Botany. By J. Reynolds Green, Sc.D., 

 F.R.S., F.Z.S., Professor of Botany to the Pharma- 

 ceutical Society of Great Britain. \'ol. ii. Classification 

 and Physiology. (London : J. and .K. Churchill, 1896.) 

 The second volume of Prof Green's " Manual of Botany ' 

 concludes a work, the usefulness of which will be re- 

 cognised by students and teachers alike. The present 

 part is devoted to the treatment of taxonomy and physio- 

 logy, and opens with an account of the general principles 

 of classification, and of the leading systems which have 

 severally left their mark on the progress of the science. 



