March 29, 1918] 



SCIENCE 



317 



by collecting information on the sources and 

 accessibility of his material, (c) by providing 

 him with facilities to work up his material. 



In spite of Dr. Singer's absence on military 

 duty, the work has been carried on with con- 

 spicuous success. Ten special students have 

 already used the room: Kamsay Wright has 

 made a study of a Persian medical MS. ; Wal- 

 ter Libby of Pittsburgh, during the session of 

 1915-16, collected material for his well-known 

 book on the history of science; E. T. With- 

 ington is investigating the Greek medical 

 texts for a new edition of Liddell and Scott's 

 dictionary. Miss Mildred Westland has helped 

 Singer with the Italian medical MSS. Reuben 

 Levy has worked at the Arabic medical MSS. 

 of Maimonides. Mrs. Jenkinson is engaged 

 on a study of early medicine and magic. J. 

 L. E. Dreyer has used the room in connection 

 \vith the preparation of the "Opera Omnia" 

 of Tycho Brahe. Miss Joan Evans is engaged 

 upon a research on medieval lapidaries. Mrs. 

 Singer has begun a study of the English med- 

 ical MSS., w'ith a view to a complete catalogue. 



This is a splendid beginning — the right be- 

 ginning — and one can not bestow too much 

 praise on Dr. and Mrs. Singer for their en- 

 thusiastic and contagious activity. 



This volume of essays is issued as a ballon 

 d'essai, but we earnestly hope that a well- 

 deserved successs will encourage its editor to 

 publish periodically a similar one. That this 

 first one has been issued at all. and " got up " 

 with such admirable scholarship and taste in 

 the fourth year of the war, is a credit to Ox- 

 ford. 



One half of the book is Singer's own work. 

 He has contributed two very important stud- 

 ies. One on the scientific views of Saint Hil- 

 degard. The author traces the sources of her 

 knowledge, by no means an easy task, one 

 whose accomplishment implies a great fam- 

 iliarity with medieval science. It is interest- 

 ing to compare this study with earlier ones 

 devoted to the same subject: it illustrates the 

 wliole difference between historical studies of 

 the old literary type and those permeated with 

 the scientific spirit — a genuine understanding 

 of scientific problems and values. The other 



is a study in early Renaissance anatomy with 

 a new text : the Anothomia of Hieronymo 

 Manfredi (1490). Both studies are very ac- 

 curate, clear and complete ; they are magnifi- 

 cently illustrated. 



There is a suggestive paper on vitiilism' — 

 in fact the most comprehensive short state- 

 ment of this question which I have read — by 

 the mucli lamented John Wilfred Jenkinson, 

 (with a jwrtrait). Dr. Jenkinson was killed 

 in action in 1915, at the Gallipoli peninsula. 

 He had already produced excellent embryo- 

 logical work, but was still very young and his 

 friends had placed considerable faith in him. 



I must quote more hriefly the other papers : 

 Raj-mond Crawfurd deals with " The blessing 

 of cramp-rings. A chapter in the history of 

 epilepsy." E. T. Withington's essay is de- 

 voted to one of the most clear-minded men of 

 the sixteenth eenturj': Dr. John Weyer, the 

 first serious oi)ponent of the witch-mania. Any 

 one acquainted with the history of witch-craft 

 will at once appreciate his greatness. Most 

 historians probably know very little about him, 

 and yet this man was far greater than the 

 contemporary kings and princes about whom 

 they know and tell us so mucL And do you 

 think it was by mere coincidence that the first 

 opponents of the witch-mania were scientists? 

 Reuben Levy shows that the " tractatus de 

 causis et indicis morborum " attributed to 

 Maimonides, is most likely not his own work. 

 Lastly there is a long essay by F. C. S. Schiller : 

 " Scientific Discovery and Logical Proof." 

 Interesting as it is, I think that this paper is 

 here somewhat out of place. A book chiefly 

 devoted to the history of science, should only 

 harbor such philosophical and methodological 

 studies as are based on historical information. 



The publication of this book is highly grati- 

 fying. It proves that in England, as well as 

 in Italy, France and Germany, the idea of the 

 history of science is crystallizing and growing 

 fast. 



In America also, the .vear 1917 has brought 

 to light some important contributions to this 

 movement. I refer to the publication of two 



1 It is a revised edition of a paper published in 

 the Hibbert Journal, IX., 545-559, 1911. 



