544 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol,. I., No. 19. 



result of narrowness and dogmatism on both 

 sides, and ■will never end, until, on the one 

 hand, theologians not only acquaint them- 

 selves with the facts, but deeplj^ sj'mpathize 

 with the spirit of science, and, on the other, 

 scientific men not merelj' retain in memory 

 from childish days some extreme forms of 

 religious dogmas, but enter deeply and lov- 

 ingly into the profound truths which lie at the 

 root of these dogmas. The author certainly 

 deserves the thanks of all fair-minded men for 

 the judicial spirit in which he treats the points 

 in dispute. 



As indicated bj' the title, the book is not a 

 sj'stematic treatise, but rather a collection of 

 essays written at diffei'ent times, but following 

 a continuous line of thought. Chapter i. , as in- 

 troductory to all the rest, treats of the ground 

 of validity of induction. In this the author 

 shows that both scientific and religious beliefs 

 rest on induction. In both we attain, not 

 demonstrative certainty, but probabilities of 

 all degrees. In both we demand only the best 

 working hypothesis. Having thus in his first 

 chapter laid a foundation, in his second and 

 third he talies Darwinism as an example of 

 scientific induction, and gives a discussion 

 which is so fair that Darwin himself, we are 

 sure, would be satisfied. In the fourth chapter 

 he discusses the question of evidence of design 

 in nature, and shows that Darwinism is not, 

 as some suppose, destructive of the doctrine 

 of design and final causes, but onl}- elevates 

 and ennobles our conceptions of the designer, 

 or, to use his own words, that "there is a 

 divinity that shapes the ends of organic life, 

 let natural selection rough-hew them how it 

 will." 



The impression received from reading these 

 chapters is that the author, while not cham- 

 pioning the cause of Darwinism, believes that 

 some form of evolution — i.e., the origin of 

 species by derivation with modification — is 

 extremely probable. Yet he clearlj- sees (as 

 every one ought to see) that the origin of 

 species bj^ derivation need trouble the theo- 

 logian no more than the origin of any thing else 

 by secondary processes. 



In the fifth chapter the author runs a re- 

 markable parallel between Darwinism and 

 Calvinism, showing how both insist on absolute 

 continuity and reign of law, how in both indi- 

 vidual cuds are sacrificed to general ends, and 

 how both, if carried to extreme, tend to fatal- 

 ism. In both, also, we are brought face to face 

 with the same irreconcilable antithesis ; for, if 

 one strives in vain to reconcile the freedom of 

 man with the absoluteness of God, the other 



must strive in vain to show how the free will 

 of man is consistent with the invariableness 

 of law. Our own view on this subject is briefly 

 this : there are two modes of viewing nature, 

 which may be called the religious and the 

 scientific. According to the one, God in nature 

 operates nature, but according to regular laws, 

 which we call the laws of nature ; according 

 to the other, nature, for all practical purposes, 

 may be regarded as operating itself. Both of 

 these views are, we believe, legitimate. AVhen 

 we deal with nature, we practically must hold 

 the latter ; when we retire to the inner sanc- 

 tuarj- of philosophic thought or religious emo- 

 tion, we must hold the former. The one is 

 the necessarjr work-clothes of our outdoor life, 

 which we must put off" when we return home 

 to enjoj' our inner life. For finite man this 

 apparent inconsistehcj^ — this daily change 

 of clothing — is the truest wisdom. But those 

 who will be logically' consistent in detail, even 

 at the expense of one-half of all philosoph}-, 

 run, on the one hand, into extreme Calviniftm, 

 or, on the other, into universal automatism, — 

 the one a spiritualistic, the other a materialistic 

 fatalism. 



Chapter vi. is a really admirable rdsumi pf 

 the question of prehistoric man, — his relation 

 to the glacial epoch, and his probable antiquity. 

 This being the field of his own scientific work, 

 the author is here at home ; and geologists 

 will read this chapter with especial interest as 

 an authoritative statement of the latest and 

 best views on the subject of the glacial epoch 

 in America, and especially' of the course and 

 character of the ice-sheet moraine. In fact, 

 it is to our author, in connection with Pro- 

 fessors Chamberlin, Upham, and Lewis, that 

 we are chiefly indebted for tracing the ice-sheet 

 moraine through the United vStates, and thus 

 generally settling the fact of the former exist- 

 ence of such an ice-sheet. 



As to the antiquitj- of man : while his exist- 

 ence during the latter portion of the quater- 

 nar}', and his coexistence with a now extinct 

 mammalian fauna, is admitted, yet reasous are 

 given for the belief that the time elapsed since 

 the glacial epoch is much less than usuallj* sup- 

 posed by geologists. The author thinks that 

 the flooded rivers and lakes which characterized 

 the close of the glacial epoch, and which were 

 undoubtedly seen by man, maj- not have been 

 more than ten thousand years ago. For our 

 own part, while we believe that some years ago 

 tliere was too strong a tendency-, on the part 

 of many geologists of the uuiformitarian 

 school, to stretch the time beyond reasonable 

 limits, yet recently in this country the ten- 



