Decembeb 11, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



879 



that ' the date given on the title page must 

 be accepted as the date of publication.' 



The fundamental point in this matter has 

 really not been touched on by Dr. Allen or by 

 myself. What we desire to ascertain is that 

 date at which the discovery of a fact was 

 announced, a formulation made, or a name 

 given, and by whom. Until the description 

 of the fact, the formulation, or the name, is 

 printed, it has no fixity, and may be in- 

 definitely altered. After it is printed the 

 statement cannot be altered. Such a printed 

 statement, wherever and whenever found, de- 

 termines the question. Whether this be publi- 

 cation or not, the printed document will settle 

 the question of priority, which is the point 

 which we desire to have settled. It appears to 

 me that no rules can set aside this proposition, 

 however inconveniently it may sometimes, for- 

 tunately rarely, affect us. If we adopt (or 

 rather follow, as it is already adopted) this 

 view, we escape the complicated, and to my mind 

 insoluble, questions as to publication, which 

 may be brought up. It will probably settle, 

 among other things, questions as to the inaccu- 

 racy of dates on ' the proceedings, memoirs, 

 and other publica ons of scientific societies,' 

 which Dr. Allen alleges, and of which I must 

 say, I was quite unaware. E. D. Cope. 



Philadelphia, December 3, 1896. 



SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 

 A History of the Warfare of Science with The- 

 ology in Christendom. By Andrew Dickson 

 White. 2 vols. Pp. xxiii, 415 ; xiii, 474. 

 New York, D. Appleton & Company. 1896. 

 The title of this book describes its general 

 character. Its range is indicated by the cap- 

 tion of its successive chapters. These embrace 

 the development of Cosmology, Geography, 

 Astronomy, Meteorology, Geology, Anthro- 

 pology, Archaeology, Ethnology, Chemistry. 

 Medicine, Hygiene, Abnormal Psychology, 

 Comparative Philosophy and Mythology, Politi- 

 cal Economy, and Biblical Criticism and The- 

 ology. A large field for any one investigator 

 to traverse ! Yet such is the author's wealth 

 of scholarship that he touches nothing without 

 removing some obscurity, while important prov- 

 inces are fairly flooded with light. 



The book is of interest to the historian, the 

 scientist, the theologian and the philosopher. 

 But in estimating its value they must not forget 

 the limits defined by the author. Dr. White does 

 not, like Whewell, attempt to write a history 

 of the sciences. Still less does he, like Harnack, 

 essay a history of dogma. His theme, though 

 more intensive, is less extensive. Dr. White 

 concentrates attention upon the points at which 

 the sciences, in the several crucial stages of 

 their development, have come into conflict with 

 the dogmas laid down in the creeds of Christen- 

 dom. His book is a history of those collisions ; 

 and history being philosophy teaching by ex- 

 perience. Dr. White does not hesitate to apply 

 its conclusions to the conditions of the present 

 day. Nor is the author merely an historian of 

 events in which he has no personal interest ; on 

 the contrary, the multitudinous victory of sci- 

 ence over irrational dogmatism rejoices the lover 

 of truth and evokes pseans unknown to the sober 

 analytic historian. But this occasional triumph 

 of the man over the historian does not detract 

 from the historical value of the work. The 

 greatest pains have been taken to secure ac- 

 curacy ; and the foot-notes show that innumer- 

 able libraries, both at home and abroad, have 

 been consulted in the ascertainment and verifi- 

 cation of the facts cited. Taking the text and 

 notes together, the work may be fairly described 

 as a kind of self-attesting encyclopaedia ; and as 

 such it is likely to become, at least in the Eng- 

 lish-speaking world, the standard book of refer- 

 ence on the interesting subject with which it 

 deals. Such books are not wont to be read 

 through by many persons ; but this one is likely 

 to be often consulted by scientists who are in- 

 terested in the early development of their 

 specialty, by historians who deal with the pro- 

 gress of culture and civilization, and by theolo- 

 gians who care to see how the dogmatic appre- 

 hension of Christianity has been continuously 

 modified by the inexorable pressure of the his- 

 torical and natural sciences. 



Dr. White makes it clear that the warfare of 

 science is not waged against religion but against 

 theology. The distinction between religion as 

 a life and theology as a theory of that life is, 

 from a logical standpoint, as clear as the dis- 

 tinction between digestion and physiology. 



