June 2, 1899. J 



SCIENCE. 



"83 



through quantity (enumeration and measure) 

 ami causal connection (stages in this latter 

 conception being pointed out), to the completed 

 form of individuality (which is that of unified 

 system). 



The chapter on The Nature of Inference re- 

 quires no special comment, except that the 

 solution otTered of the old paradox : How can 

 the mind pass from the known to the unknown? 

 — to the eflect that there is no such passage, 

 there being ' 'always a certain amount of identity 

 between the two ends of the process " [p. 326] 

 — is hardly searching. Should not questions of 

 this sort, if taken hold of at all, be handled 

 with a certain tlioroughuess, even where it is 

 inexpert novices that one has to reckon for? 

 The concluding chapter, likewise, on Rational 

 and Empirical Theories, calls for no discussion, 

 its spirit beining manifest from what has been 

 already related, and its upshot, in the rejection 

 of either attitude in abstraction, sound, notwith- 

 standing that the rationalism described is rather 

 that of Descartes than the profounder doctrine 

 of Kant. 



Of this Part as a whole, this much only need 

 be said. So far as it really proceeds, it is ex- 

 cellent and, doubtless, gives the entire book a 

 value immeasurably beyond that of the dry, 

 shallow, old-fashioned manual. And yet a ques- 

 tioning does arise, just how far the practically 

 total avoidance of direct issue with the more 

 fundamental difficulties concerning thought — 

 the refusal to dip even lightly into the deeper 

 waters of philosophy — is an advantage even for 

 beginners, beginners of the sort who are ready 

 to read such a book as this at all ? For may it 

 not be doubted if a bright student can fail — 

 and is it not to be hoped that he shall not fail 

 — to be perplexed by a groping perception of 

 problems, a mere definite pointing out of which, 

 or a mere hint towards whose solution, would 

 have been of the greatest help to him, but which 

 here are quite ignored ? Surely our fear should 

 be, not of bringing our pupils, when need is, 

 into the labyrinths of metaphysic, but of our- 

 selves not proving clear-sighted guides therein. 

 However, in this point it maybe that our judg- 

 ments must turn on individual notions of how 

 completely logic can and ought to be cut ofT 

 from metaphysics. 



Evidently in this work Professor Creighton 

 has not given us the 'definitive' text-book— if 

 there be any sense in the shallow favorite 

 phrase. His book does not closely approximate 

 its design. What he has produced is this, a 

 book with a good many good things in it. 

 These i-equire a stricter organization ; in parts, 

 some supplementation ; in other parts (per- 

 haps), a pushing deeper back into philosophy ; 

 and, in one section, a considerable correcting. 

 Yet with all these drawbacks — granted a 

 teacher capable of coping with them — Professor 

 Creighton's book is not unsuited, as an ■ intro- 

 duction, to become a very useful one ; rather 

 it undoubtedly is, as pointing in a wholly de- 

 sirable direction, one of the very best on tlie 

 market. 



George Kebec. 



SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS AND ARTICLES. 



The Journal of Geology, February-March,. 

 1899. The first paper is by Henry S. Washing- 

 ton, and is the third installment of the series 

 relating to ' Tlie Petrographical Province of 

 Essex County, Mass.,' pp. 105-122. Dr. Wash- 

 ington treats of the rocks occurring in dikes, 

 viz : Aplite, quartz-syenite-porphyry, paisanite, 

 solvsbergite and tinguaite. The series is to be 

 continued. B. Shimek, ' The Distribution of 

 Loess Fossils,' pp. 122-141. The author em- 

 phasizes certain important points in the charac- 

 ter and distribution of the fossil shells found in 

 the loess, basing his conclusions on facts ob- 

 served in connection with existing land shells. 

 His observations confirm the iEolian origin of 

 the Western loess. H. W. Turner, ' Granitic 

 Eocks of the Sierra Nevada,' pp. 141-163. 

 This is an important addition to our knowledge 

 of the general petrography of the granitoid 

 rocks of the Sierras. Types embracing true 

 granites, grano-diorites, quartz-monzonites, 

 soda-aplites, quartz -diorite-aplites and pegma- 

 tites we described with many analysis. Under 

 the studies for students the development and 

 geological relations of the mammalia are out- 

 lined by E. C. Case. Editorials and a valuable 

 summary of ' Current Pre-Cambian Literature,' 

 by C. K. Leith, close the number. The latter 

 contributions are particularly to be commended,. 



