July 13, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



67 



enormous influence upon the welfare of the 

 country and in encouraging that fecundity 

 in invention which has always distinguished 

 this country. His spirit, his learning and 

 his logical mind are exhibited in ' Studien 

 in der Praxis des k. Patentamtes,' 1890. 



Hartig was named as ' kgl. sachsischen 

 Regierungsrat, ' in 1876, and as ' Geheimen 

 Regierungsrat,' in 1888. He was decorated 

 with the ' sachsischen Albrechtsorden Kom- 

 thur 2 kl. ,' and the ' sachsischen Verdienst- 

 orden Eitterkreuz I. kl.,' the ' preussische 

 Eote Adlerorden 3 kl.' and the ' oster- 

 reichische Franz Josef Orden Eitterkreuz' 

 and was made a member of many learned so- 

 cieties. 



Ernst Hartig was one of the most modest 

 and companionable of men, kindly, consid- 

 erate, seeking to please his friends, and al- 

 ways most courteous to strangers. As a 

 colleague on the International Jury of 

 1873, the writer, working side by side with 

 him for weeks together, came to know the 

 man and to recognize his admirable per- 

 sonal qualities most fully. His affection 

 for his older colleagues and his former 

 teachers, his friends and his pupils was al- 

 ways in evidence. His mind was a store- 

 house of information and his sincerity and 

 quiet dignity gave him an aspect of age 

 which was yet contra-indicated by his alert 

 and youthful movement. He will always 

 be remembered by those who have known 

 him as one of the most admirable of men, 

 the best of friends and the most able and 

 useful of workers in a field in which there 

 is never likely to be a surplus of such men. 

 E. H. Thurston. 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS. 



The Grammar of Science. By Kael Pearson, 

 M. A. , F. R. S. Second edition revised and en- 

 larged. London, Adam & Charles Black. 

 1900. Pp. 548. 

 It is possible to acquire a speaking and indeed 



a fairly extensive knowledge of a language with- 



out any special attention to its grammatical 

 peculiarities. The conscious realization of syn- 

 tax and conjugation, or of rules and exceptions 

 may be quite unnecessary in ' picking up ' an 

 acquaintance with a new tongue in its local 

 habitat. None the less the student even of 

 ' French at a glance, ' or of ' Fourteen weeks in 

 German,' finds it profitable to include genders 

 and declensions, and principles of structure in 

 his aperju. The more earnest student and, most 

 of all, the specialist must penetrate still more 

 deeply into the intricacies of grammatical struc- 

 ture and development. The same is true, 

 though more readily overlooked in regard to the 

 language of science. In both cases a facility of 

 comprehension and expression, and a sympathy 

 with the pervading spirit or genius of the lan- 

 guage are of inestimable value, and for many 

 purposes are indefinitely more useful than 

 knowledge — particularly than unassimilated 

 and uninterpreted book knowledge — of the re- 

 sults of analytical acumen. A scientifically- 

 minded person may be more at home in the 

 realm of scientific fact, may be less likely to 

 wander astray, than he who has greater knowl- 

 edge of principles with less insight into their 

 practical combination. The observant but em- 

 pirical linguist may interpret usage with greater 

 success than the formal philologist. None the 

 less the grammatical principles of science are of 

 inestimable importance in imparting breadth 

 and scope as well as depth of insight and vigor 

 of logic to the conceptions of professional scien- 

 tists and of that larger class who think scien- 

 tifically and find an interest in scientific prob- 

 lems. That Professor Pearson's ' Grammar of 

 Science ' has met the needs of such thinkers 

 creditably and suggestively, is evidenced bj' 

 the appearance of the second edition, as well as 

 by the comments of approval which greeted the 

 first issue of the volume. 



It will hardly be necessary in the notice of 

 this second edition to present an account of the 

 several chapters and of the method of treat- 

 ment of the book ; it will suflice to outline the 

 scope and power of the whole. Three general 

 groups of topics are included. The first portrays 

 the general scope and spirit of science, or de- 

 scribes the purpose of the worker ; the second 

 interprets its fundamental conceptions, or de- 



