December 81, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



639 



tion to the consideration of that part of the os- 

 seous system. Notwithstanding the genei'osity of 

 the authors in allotting such a goodly share of 

 their space to the treatment of this part of their 

 subject, it has materially suffered, in common with 

 the other systems of the economy, by the too ex- 

 tensive condensation of matter which character- 

 izes the entire volume. Space will not permit us 

 here to phow the numerous instances wherein this 

 is evident, and an example or two must suffice. 

 As an instance, we fail to discover even a mention 

 of such structures as are presented us iu the ves- 

 ^tiges of a pelvis in the whales and other marine 

 mammals ; and a similar omission applies to the 

 limbless Reptilia, as in Ophisaurus, for example. 

 Nor (were these well-known facts alluded to) 

 would the absence of external limbs imply that 

 ' pectoral and pelvic arches are also wanting,' as 

 our authors would have us believe (p. 87). And 

 in regard to these vestiges of organs, and rudi- 

 ments of the same, we are, in view of the fact of 

 the highly important part they play in general 

 morphology, compelled to deplore the exceedingly 

 slight attention they have had bestowed upon 

 them throughout the book. 



Without the assistance of some such handbook 

 as Parker's ' Zootomy,' we are quite certain that 

 the special student would find but little to serve 

 him in the chapter devoted to the musculature of 

 the trunk and its appendages, for the subject has 

 been generalized to the last degree ; nor is this 

 section entirely free from error, as, to instance, we 

 are told that ' no trace of a transversalis can be 

 distinguished ' in birds, — a statement that is by 

 no means true, for a well-developed one is found 

 in Apteryx, and this muscle is also found in some 

 of the higher gi-oups. 



It will be out of the question to even enumerate 

 the many slips that have been allowed to creep 

 into the section devoted to the 'Nervous system,' 

 certain portions of which must be read with great 

 caution by the student, who perhaps may have to 

 rely upon this manual as final authority. 



So far as the defects among the figures are con- 

 cei'ned, one of the principal ones to be noted is 

 the inaccurate representation of the lancelet on 

 p. 2il, as compared with the far more correct 

 drawing of the same animal on p. 114. Aside 

 from these strictures, however, and many others 

 that could be made, this work, with its long list 

 of biilliant, and for the most part accurate, wood- 

 cuts, some of which are even colored, greatly en- 

 hancing their usefulness, its excellent bibliographi- 

 cal references at the end of each section, and its 

 list of general works following the preface, and 

 finally its admirable arrangement and clearness 

 of diction, will be sure to commend itself to Eng- 



lish students and readers of the subject of which 

 it, as a whole, so ably treats. R. W. S. 



THE LIFE OF HAMILTON. 



Early in the third volume of Science, at p. 23, 

 we left Hamilton at the age of twenty-seven, 

 young in years, but with the foundation of that 

 superstructure, which is and always will be the 

 marvel of mankind, well and deeply laid. Noth- 

 ing can be of profounder interest than, in this sec- 

 ond volume of his life, to watch the completion 

 and growth to maturity of that imposing intellec- 

 tual edifice so ably delineated by the accomplished 

 author, whom Hamilton had nominated as his lit- 

 erary executor. 



Mr. Graves finds enough in a year of Ham- 

 ilton's life for a single sizable chapter, if not for 

 more. So important an event to Hamilton as his 

 marriage is given the prominence it ought to 

 have : in fact, subsequent events justify his bi- 

 ographer in terming it ' a crisis of his life.' As 

 might be surmised, the period of his courtship of 

 Miss Bayly was no less a period of his courtship 

 of the Muse ; but it w as not with Hamilton as it 

 would have been with a mere poet, a period de- 

 void of intellectual activity in other directions. 

 His head was full of the mathematics of conical 

 refraction, while liis heart craved the satisfaction 

 of that complete consent, long delayed, which he 

 prized above every thing else. 



On the whole, this book, as well as its com- 

 panion volume, is a most diffuse one — at least, it 

 so seems ; but its compiler might well have made 

 it even more so without undergoing in the long- 

 run any charge of error in judgment ; for every 

 scrap of even meagre information becomes of 

 importance, no one can tell how great, when re- 

 lated to a man like Hamilton, of whom it may 

 more truly be said than of any other man of the 

 present century, that his highest fame is still of the 

 future. While the slow progress of the quaternion 

 method is not a little remarkable, Hamilton ap- 

 pears to have been himself conscious that this 

 might be the case, and to some extent fore- 

 shadowed it, somewhere speaking of the mathe- 

 maticians of a thousand years hence, and their 

 gratitude to hitn for the discovery of the new cal- 

 cukis. 



We have nothing but the highest praise for Mr. 



Graves's delicate and trustworthy descriptions of 



Hamilton's character, aud the incidents of his 



life. We have also to thank him for the charming 



glimpses he gives us of other distinguished names, 



in the space allowed their letters : what we see of 



Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton. Vol. ii. By Rob- 

 ert Perckval Graves. London, Longmans, Green d: Co. 



