April 26, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



327 



Creatine and hypoxanthine are said, in small doses, to have the 

 power of increasing muscular work, and to cause the muscle to 

 recover rapidly after exertion. Creatine particularly is said to have 

 this power to a great extent. Glycogen is also classed with these 

 substances, and is said to have great power of increasing muscular 

 capability. 



In practice, however, we all recognize a difference in the action 

 of the popular mixtures, — tea, coffee, cocoa, etc. In many persons 

 tea will stimulate, and in a few it exercises a marked action on the 

 kidneys and bladder. Coffee, again, will keep some people awake, 

 vifhile tea does not have the same effect with them. With some 

 individuals it acts as a mild aperient. Coca does not seem to have 

 any decided action on the digestive organs or kidneys. 



We find, therefore, that the reputation lor sustaining the strength, 

 appeasing hunger, and temporarily increasing the physical powers, 

 which coca, kola, coffee, and tea have in the respective parts of the 

 world in which they are indigenous, is borne out by experiment. 

 Moreover, there seems a probability that physiological science will 

 shortly be able to provide a satisfactory explanation of the practical 

 value of these substances. 



BOOIC-REVIEWS. 



Francis Bacon, his Life a?zd Philosophy. By John Nichol. 

 Part II. Bacon's Philosophy. Edinburgh, Blackwood. i6°. 

 (Philadelphia, Lippincott, $1.25.) 

 This is the latest issue in Messrs. Blackwood's series of Philo- 

 sophical Classics. In the first part of the work, Professor Nichol 

 gave an account of the life of Bacon, and in this he gives an expo- 

 sition of his philosophy. He first recounts the efforts of previous 

 thinkers, ancient and modern, to solve the physical problems of the 

 universe, and shows how most of them failed, owing to neglect of 

 observation and experiment, which we now know to be the most 

 essential means of discovering physical truth. He points out, how- 

 ever, that before the appearance of Bacon's works the right method 

 had come into use, and Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and others had 

 made important discoveries by the use of it. Hence Bacon cannot 

 be credited with discovering the new method, but only with being 

 the first to generalize it and give a philosophical theory of it. He 

 shows, as others have done, that Bacon recognized more or less 

 clearly the various experimental methods now acknowledged by 

 logicians, while at the same time he pointed out the defects in the 

 induction of the ancients. Bacon also made a survey and classifi- 

 cation of the sciences, which has not even yet lost all its interest, 

 and which at the time it was written was quite remarkable. Bacon 

 must also be credited, notwithstanding the defects in his moral 

 character, with an earnest desire to serve his fellow-men, " believ- 

 ing," as he says of himself, " that I was born for the service of 

 mankind." Such being his merits and such his purposes, it is im- 

 portant to inquire why it was that his own attempts to discover the 

 secrets of nature resulted in nothing but failure. Professor Nichol 

 discusses this question at considerable length, and expresses the 

 opinion that Bacon failed partly because he had too ovenweening 

 a sense of the power of his method, and partly because he thought 

 the universe a far simpler thing than it really is ; and he quotes 

 Bacon's own remark, that he " should presently disclose and bring 

 into sight all that is most hidden and secret in the world," as show- 

 ing what extravagant expectations he had. But the main reason 

 for Bacon's failure was that in his own researches he was seeking 

 for something that does not exist. His object was to find the 

 " forms " of things, and there has been some difficulty in ascertain- 

 ing what he meant by this term. He certainly did not mean causes, 

 and the true view is doubtless that expressed by Mill in his 

 " Logic," and adopted by Professor Nichol. The " forms " were 

 something " related to permanent qualities as efficient causes 

 are to changes or events." Or, as Mill says. Bacon " seems to 

 have thought, that, as every event has an invariable antecedent, 

 so every property of an object has an invariable co-existent, which 

 he called its form." But, as both Mill and Professor Nichol remark, 

 there is no such invariable co-existent of each property of a thing ; 

 and hence Bacon, in his search after " forms," was pursuing ignes 

 fatui with the usual result of landing in a bog. The failure of his 

 own researches, however, should not blind us to his real contribu- 



tions to the theory of method ; and what these contributions were 

 Professor Nichol has pointed out in the pages of this interesting 

 work. 



Ctirve Pictures of Londoii for the Social Reformer. By Alex. B^ 

 MacDowall, M.A. London, Sampson Low. 16". 



This little book is intended by its author to represent, in a pic- 

 torial form, such statistics and other information as are necessary 

 for the social reformer in his efforts to deal with the great prob- 

 lems which he has undertaken to help to solve. Like the leader of 

 an army setting out on a campaign, those who are bent on doing 

 something to right the wrongness of our social state (especially 

 through legislation) should see clearly what is, while cherishing an 

 ideal to be realized. To furnish such a guide has been the author's 

 endeavor. Diagrams are given by which one can ascertain for a 

 series of years the following : population; density of population; 

 birth, marriage, and death rates; early marriages; death by dis- 

 ease; suicides; drunkenness; felonies; licensed houses; appre- 

 hension; pauperism; education; illiteracy; prices of commodities 

 and prices of meat. 



Marriage and Divorce in the United States. By D. CONVERS. 

 Philadelphia, Lippincott. 16°. $1.25. 



The author of this work is a clergyman, and writes from a high- 

 church point of view. He starts out with the remark that " mar- 

 riage and divorce in the United States are in an unsatisfactory 

 condition," and then goes on to criticise our marriage laws in de- 

 tail. He calls attention to the looseness of these laws in some of 

 the States, and to the difficulties often arising from the difference 

 in legal requirements in different States. He strongly condemns 

 the common-law doctrine of marriage, according to which all that 

 is necessary to constitute a valid marriage is a mutual declaration 

 by the two contracting parties that they take each other as hus- 

 band and wife, followed by cohabitation ; although he is obliged 

 to admit that this is and always has been the canon law of the 

 Christian church. He condemns marriage with a deceased wife's 

 sister, which he declares to be incest. On the subject of divorce 

 he takes the extreme scriptural ground, holding to the principle 

 " once married, married till death." He would allow separation 

 in case of fornication, but without liberty to marry again ; 

 while absolute divorce, such as the law now grants, he considers 

 an abomination. He gives some tables and charts showing the 

 rates of marriage and divorce in the different States of the 

 Union, which will be useful to students of the subject, and also 

 many interesting examples to illustrate the defects and inconsis- 

 tencies in our marriage laws. The fault of his work is, of course, 

 the extreme view he takes of the indissolubility of the marriage tie, 

 — a view which the' mass of men will not accept, and which it is 

 impossible to embody in legislation. Our marriage and divorce 

 laws need reforming, but the work must be done in a sensible and 

 practical way, and not in a spirit of hide-bound conservatism. 



AMONG THE PUBLISHERS. 



In the Fortnightly Review for April (New York, Leonard 

 Scott Publication Company, 29 Park Row), Sir Charles Dilke pre- 

 sents the second of his series on the frontiers of India. These 

 papers, while partly military, are largely made up of descriptions 

 of places seldom visited by Europeans. H. H. Johnston discusses 

 the question "Are our Foreign Missions a Success ? " from the point 

 of view of the political economist, and finds their indirect influence 

 in matters of education and enlightenment of positive value. W. 

 M. Gattic tells of some scandals of the English lighthouse boards. 

 Professor J. R. Seeley's address on ethics and religion before the 

 Ethical Society of Cambridge is printed in full. Arsene Houssaye, 

 probably the only living survivor of the poet's friends, contributes 

 the first section of a delightfully gossipy paper on Alfred de Musset, 

 Mr. W. H. Mallock joins the agnostic controversy with a paper 

 entitled " Cowardly Agnosticism," in which he points out a num- 

 ber of startling facts. Two papers from opposite standpoints treat 

 of the enfranchisement of women, by Miss Fawcett and Stuart 

 Glennie, which are especially timely in view of the fact that two 

 bills are now before Parliament giving the suffrage to women. 



