576 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 



oppositely directed along the line AB. This is 

 all that the laws of motion imply. They do 

 not imply that the acceleration of A due to B 

 is the same when a third particle is present 

 as when it is absent, although this implication 

 is often read into them. 



The siipposition that the mutual action be- 

 tween two particles A and B may depend in 

 part upon the influence of a third particle 

 has been called the hypothesis of modified 

 action. Pearson/ while emphasizing the pos- 

 sibility that such a hypothesis may represent 

 the truth for molecular or ethereal actions if 

 not for actions between particles of gross mat- 

 ter, states that ' one of Newton's laws of mo- 

 tion distinctly excludes this hypothesis.' To 

 thus interpret Newton's laws seems, however, 

 a mistake. The essence of these laws may be 

 summed up in the principles of the constancy 

 of linear and of angular momentum for any 

 isolated system. These principles do not ex- 

 clude' the hypothesis of modified action. 



The second principle of Dr. James also goes 

 too far in asserting that the acceleration of a 

 particle in a field of force is ' independent of 

 the particle ' (i. e., of its mass). That this is 

 true in a particular case such as that of gravi- 

 tational fields is a consequence not simply of 

 the laws of motion but of the law of gravita- 

 tion, and the possibility of cases in which it 

 is not true may be admitted without thereby 

 questioning the universal validity of the New- 

 tonian laws. 



The foregoing comments have been made 

 because of the intrinsic interest of the ques- 

 tions raised, rather than from any desire to 

 criticize adversely the presentation of Dr. 

 James, which in the main is admirably clear 

 and logical. The remainder of the book is 

 devoted mainly to a discussion of the direct 

 and inverse problems of the mechanics of a 

 particle — i. e., the determination of the law 

 of force when the motion is known, and the 

 determination of the motion when the law of 

 force and the initial conditions are known. 

 These problems are treated for both the case 

 of fixed axes and that of moving axes. In 

 particular considerable space is given to mo- 

 tion relative to the earth. 



"Grammar of Science,' second edition, p. 319. 



On the whole, the book is one that is well 

 worthy the attention of any one who is inter- 

 ested in the rigorous treatment of the funda- 

 mental principles and problems of mechanics. 



L. M. HosKiNS. 

 Lelanb Stanfobd Junioe University. 



the other side op evolution.' 

 Books are rare which, in their last sentence 

 ' look hopefully to God for that only which 

 will deliver the church from this [evolution] 

 and all other pestilent evils, theoretical and 

 practical,' and I owe, perhaps, an apology to 

 the readers of Science for not sooner calling 

 their attention to ' The Other Side of Evolu- 

 tion.' 



The scope of the book is given in the 

 preface : 



It will be shown that evolution is not accepted 

 by all scientists and scholars; that it is rejected 

 by some of the greatest of these; that it is ad- 

 mittedly an unproven theory; that it has never 

 been verified and can not be; that not a single 

 case of evolution has ever been presented, and that 

 there is no known cause by which it could take 

 place. Its arguments will be considered one by 

 one and their fallacy shown. It will be shown 

 to be, by its own principles, unscientific and un- 

 philosophioal, and simply a revamping of the old 

 doctrine of chance clothed in scientific terms. 

 Finally, it will be shown that it is violently op- 

 posed to the narrative and doctrines of the Bible 

 and destructive of all christian faith; that it 

 originated in heathenism and ends in atheism. 



A sharp distinction is not always drawn in 

 this volume between evolution in general and 

 organic evolution, but in the ' Foreword ' we 

 are told (p. 2) : " The theory of evolution 

 asserts that from a nebulous mass of primeval 

 substance, whose origin it never attempts to 

 account for, there came by natural processes, 

 as a flower from a bud, and fruit from flower, 

 all that we see and know in the heavens above 

 and the earth beneath " ; and on page 4 : " The 

 theistic and the atheistic evolution, however, 



' ' The Other Side of Evolution, an Examination 

 of its Evidences,' by Kev. Alexander Patterson, au- 

 thor of, etc., with an introduction by George Fred- 

 erick Wright, D.D., LL.D., F.G.S.A. The Winona 

 Publishing Co., Chicago, Ills. Winona Lake, Ind. 



