So /Reviews (ind Book Xo/ici's. 



traininj^ is lo this extent a scientific training" : but it is remark- 

 able how readily a habit of thougfht that has been acquired for 

 some definite purpose is dropped except when employed for that 

 particular purpose. In the scientific training proper, however, 

 the faculty is persistently and consciously exercised, and if really 

 gained, it cannot fail to permeate the whole mind. The con- 

 scious striving after accuracy in all things, small and great, is 

 the essence of the method and the proof that it has been 

 acquired. 



But at the beginning of the address I sheared off from one 

 tack lest it should lead us to excessive self-complacency, and 

 1 now find myself drifting along another that is certainly 

 not tending towards humility of spirit ; so it is evidently time 

 that we dropped anchor. I am fully aware that I have asked 

 you to accompany me over a trite course — a mere Dover-to- 

 Calais sort of voyage — that has offered no new incident or 

 outlook. But it is useful sometimes on occasions like this to 

 follow the old route with a fresh pilot, if for no other reason 

 tiian to see whether his soundings agree with those of his 

 predecessors. 



If, with a purport which is serious enough, I have taken 

 unwarranted advantage of the opportunity that my office affords, 

 in bringing forward matters of personal opinion rather than of 

 fact, it must be my plea that there is a standpoint from which 

 opinion itself is a fact that deserves consideration. Nor have 1 

 forgotten in addressing you that w bile the statement of scientific 

 fact may justly demand acquiescence, the statement of scientific 

 opinion can, at the most, ask only for consideration. 



The Clyde Mystery: A Study in Forgeries and Folklore. 1\\ 

 Andrew Lang, dlasgow: James MacLeliose & Sons. 141 p.p., 4/6. 



Ill this little book an effort is made to prove that the various extra- 

 ordinary objects found in the Clyde area, and pronounced as forgeries by 

 Dr. Mvinro, niay be really genuine— though unique- or, at any rate, the 

 author would like to show, after carefully considering all the evidence, that 

 the matter is ' not proven." The book is cleverly written, and no ettbrl has 

 been sjjared to bring in every possible argument in favour of the relies being 

 genuine. But we do not think tin- author has advanced the matter n-.ueh. 

 Amongst the objects found were some carvings on ' American I^lue-l'oints ! " 

 the aniicjuily of which even Mr. Lang cannot substantiate. As to the 

 genuiniiuss'of the Clyde relics, the author's own words on p. 125 perhaps 

 ijest define his position :— ' Whether they were done by earl_\- wags, or by a 

 modern and rather erudite forger, I know not of course ; I only think that 

 the cjuestion is open; is not settled by Dr. Munro ! ' There are no fewer 

 than 34 ' chapters" in the book, which is explained by the fact that a page 

 or a jjage and a half is sullicient for a chapter. 



Naturalist, 



