466 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 690 



and the aflSrmation, on the basis of the argu- 

 ment from design, of the necessity of refer- 

 ring the origination of the world to an intelli- 

 gent mind — i. e., an optimistic deism. It was 

 implied in this that God must in some sense 

 also be corporeal. Now, this peculiar com- 

 bination of ideas was characteristically that of 

 Priestley; and (as Dr. Biley neglects to point 

 out, in his account of the sources of Jeffer- 

 son's ontological notions) the Virginian's 

 language plainly shows that he took over this 

 combination, and the arguments for it, from 

 Priestley, ready-made. The author's use of 

 the term " deism " (to which movement a 

 whole section of the book is devoted) is con- 

 fusing and inconsistent. It would take too 

 long to discuss here the historically correct 

 and the incorrect uses of the word; but it is 

 surely absurd to classify equally as " deists " 

 such strange bed-fellows as Berkeley, Bishop 

 Butler, Cotton Mather, Addison, Charles 

 Chauncey, Channing, Toland, Ethan Allen 

 and Thomas Paine. These men, between 

 them, represent all possible attitudes upon all 

 the issues with which the term " deism " has 

 been associated: natural vs. revealed religion, 

 pantheism vs. transcendence of the deity, op- 

 timistic vs. pessimistic view of nature, imi- 

 formity of natural law vs. miracles and spe- 

 cial providences, inherent dignity vs. natural 

 depravity of man. There can be no possible 

 ground for the application of a common name 

 to such an incongruous collection. Finally, 

 it is rather unfair to dismiss as " puerility " 

 a passage in which an otherwise unknown 

 eighteenth-century writer, Thomas Dobson 

 (p. 239), points out, concisely and clearly, 

 just that fundamental fallacy in the then 

 popular argument from design which Clifford, 

 many years after, still thought it worth while 

 to explain at some length. 



But though open to criticism upon these 

 and some other details, the book as a whole 

 is a thorough and scholarly piece of research 

 in a territory where the author has often been 

 obliged to blaze his own way, and a notable 

 addition to our historical literature. It will 

 be indispensable to all who are interested in 

 the history of philosophy, of natural science. 



of education, of religious movements, of lit- 

 erature, and of public opinion in America. 



A. O. LOVEJOY 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



The Washington Academy of Sciences at 

 its annual meeting, January 16, elected the 

 following officers for 1908 : 



President — C. D. Walcott. 



Vice-president representing the Anthropological 

 Society — W. H. Holmes. 



Vice-president representing the Archeologioal 

 Society — J. W. Foster. 



Vice-president representing the Biological So- 

 ciety — Ti. Stejneger. 



Vice-president representing the Botanical So- 

 ciety — T. H. Kearney. 



Vice-president representing the Chemical So- 

 ciety — F. W. Clarke. 



Vice-president representing the Society of Engi- 

 neers — A. P. Davis. 



Vice-president representing the Entomological 

 Society — A. D. Hopkins. 



Vice-president representing the Society of For- 

 esters — Gifford Pinchot. 



Vice-president representing the Geographic So- 

 ciety — Willis L. Moore. 



Vice-president representing the Geological So- 

 ciety — Geo. Otis Smith. 



Vice-president representing the Historical So- 

 ciety — J. Dudley Morgan. 



Vice-president representing the Medical Society 

 — Henry D. Fry. 



Vice-president representing the Philosophical 

 Society — J. F. Hayford. 



Corresponding Secretary — Frank Baker. 



Recording Secretary — J. S. Diller. 



Treasurer — Bernard R. Green. 



Manager, Class of 1910 — Bailey Willis. 



Managers, Class of 1911 — L. 0. Howard, O. H. 

 Tittmann, B. W. Evermann. 



Under the auspices of the academy the 

 president of the Anthropological Society of 

 Washington, Dr. Ales Hrdlicka, delivered the 

 annual address at Hubbard Memorial Hall, 

 February 11, on " Physical Anthropology and 

 its Aims." 



The fiftieth meeting of the Washington 

 Academy of Sciences was held at Hubbard 



