JANUABY 28, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



137 



tive treatises for each branch of science, bigger 

 and more comprehensive than any which had 

 preceded them. Such treatises have been par- 

 ticularly full in their discussion of the work 

 of German investigators, and the wide famil- 

 iarity with the field of a science which results 

 directly from successful compilation has 

 yielded a type of authority quite distinct from, 

 though often joined to, that which has been 

 responsible for a great advance through orig- 

 inal investigation. Those who have attended 

 international congresses in some field of sci- 

 ence have not failed to note that German 

 delegates have been much the most strongly 

 represented, whether the place of meeting were 

 near or far from their native land, and that 

 their papers presented at the meeting have 

 been so coordinated as to produce a telling 

 efiect. In many cases provision has been made 

 by the government for the expenses of profess- 

 ors who are in attendance upon such interna- 

 tional meetings. It can hardly be doubted that 

 German science has for these reasons been 

 given a most favorable presentation before the 

 representatives of other nations. 



It is not impossible that the advantage of 

 the German scientists due to their propaganda 

 has been fully realized by the French nation; 

 but in any case the new history of French sci- 

 ence prepared by the Ministry of Public In- 

 struction with special reference to the Expo- 

 sition at San Francisco, has served well the 

 purpose of revealing the high position of 

 French science before the world, with the in- 

 evitable consequence of originality and initia- 

 tive due to individualism as contrasted with 

 organized group efforts. The two volumes 

 serve to introduce the reader to a truly 

 remarkable library covering the field of 

 French science which was exhibited at the ex- 

 position. The collection was made up, on the 

 one hand, of books yellow with age and, on the 

 other, of those on which the ink is hardly dry. 

 In the language of the general introduction by 

 Lucien Poincare: 



"In these works of such varied date and 

 such different aspects one finds concentrated, 

 so to speak, the thought of an entire people; 

 here is the essential part which France has 



brought to scientific progress; here is the dis- 

 play by the authors themselves of the great 

 discoveries due to her creative genius. 



" For each science the attempt has been 

 made to trace the origin to the moment when 

 in France an order of studies important by 

 reason of the intellectual or moral profit which 

 they have brought to the human race, was ap- 

 proached for the first time and became the ob- 

 ject of researches systematically conducted. 

 The desire has been to mark the origin, the 

 point from which so many hardy explorers have 

 gone out on the eternal voyage toward re- 

 search and truth. There has been indicated 

 along the path traced by their glorious efforts, 

 the summits from which the new horizons have 

 been descried. Finally, with some insistence 

 there have been set forth those stations actu- 

 ally attained, to be surpassed by the labors of 

 to-morrow through following directions which 

 it was sought to make precise." 



Each field of science has been treated by a 

 master mind, and in no way can the high au- 

 thority of the work be so well set forth as by 

 a transcription of the tables of contents. The 

 first volume, devoted to pure science, includes 

 the following chapters : French Science at the 

 San Francisco Exposition, by Lucien Poin- 

 care; Philosophy, by Henri Bergson; Sociol- 

 ogy, by Emile Durkheim; Educational Sci- 

 ence, by Paul Lapie; Mathematics, by Paul 

 Appell; Astronomy, by B. Baillaud; Physics, 

 by Edmond Bouty ; Chemistry, by Andre Job ; 

 Mineralogy, by Alfred Lacroix; Geology, by 

 Emm. de Margerie ; Paleobotany, by E. Zeiller ; 

 Paleontology, by Marcellin Boule; Biology, by 

 Felix Le Dantec; Medical Science, by Henri 

 Roger; Geographical Science, by Emm. de 

 Martonne. 



The second volume is devoted to the human- 

 ities, and includes the following chapters: 

 Egyptology, by G. Maspero; Classical Arche- 

 ology, by Max. Collignon; Historical Studies, 

 by Ch.-V. Langlois; History of Art, by Emile 

 Male; Linguistics, by A. Meillet; Hindu, by 

 Sylvain Levi; Chinese, by Ed. Chavannes; 

 Greek, by Alfred Croiset; Latin Philology, 

 by Rene Durand; Celtic Philology, by Georges 

 Dottin; The French Language, by Alfred 



