May 23, 1890.] 



SCIENCE. 



319 



crops, preservation of forests, and writing insurance. Nothing, 

 perhaps, touches people's mundane welfare at so many points as 

 the weather; and yet, as a science, meteorology is really in its 

 infancy. In many civilized countries there are, aside from the 

 ofiSoial weather bureaus, independent associations made up of per- 

 sons who are interested in their own or other people's investiga- 

 tions of the weather, in some of its bearings upon the happiness 

 of man. Such are the New England, Royal, and Scottish Mete- 

 orological Societies. Some of the members are professional and 

 hard working meteorologists, of national or world-wide fame, 

 like Dr. Buchan and the Hon. Ralph Abercrombie; and some are 

 wealthy hut intelligent enthusiasts, like Mr. G. Lawrence Rotch 

 of Boston, who has built and equipped one of the finest private 

 observatories in the world, and in a quiet way contributes much 

 to the advancement of science. There can be no question as to 

 the value of such an organization. A few minutes' reflection 

 should satisfy any well-informed resident of this city and vicinity 

 that men enough, admirably qualified to conduct such an enter- 

 prise, are to be found hereabouts; and the advantages of affilia- 

 tion for this purpose ought to be too apparent to need pointing 

 out. The discussion of appropriate papers from members or out- 

 side experts, the education which even the most accomplished 

 scholars would derive from others" labors, the stimulus and direc- 

 tion given to individual investigation, the procuring of a common 

 library for use in meteorological research, the shaping of popular 

 ideas about weather, and the depreciation of "cranks" of the Wig- 

 gins type, would be among these benefits. Whether those per- 

 sons best fitted to carry on this work have the time and inclina- 

 tion to carry the proposed society through a short infancy into an 

 assured permanence and a usefulness worthy of the American 

 metropolis and its environs, is really the only question to be 

 solved. I should be glad to be the humble means of bringing to- 

 gether for organization those who will favor the movement in 

 private letters to the editor of Science. James P. Hall. 



Brooklyn, N.Y., May 20. 



BOOK-REVIEWS. 



Midnight Talks at the Club. Reported by Amos K. Fiske. New 

 Yord, Fords, Howard, & Hulbert. 16°. |1. 

 Most of the chapters of this book were originally published as 

 a series of articles in the Sunday edition of the New York Times, 

 and purport to be accounts of certain talks and discussions at the 

 Asphodel Club, at which the author was present as a listener. 

 The principal talker is known as " the Judge," who is obviously 

 intended as the author's mouthpiece. The talks are almost en- 

 tirely on religious themes, "the Judge's " views being those of the 

 most advanced liberal Christians of the present day. He is repre- 

 sented as regarding "the restraint and elevating influence of 

 Christianity over society as necessary to the uplifting of mankind 

 from their low condition, the salvation of free institutions, and 

 the system of popular government" (p. 108). But he holds that 

 "the Church, in order to maintain its great influence and power for 

 good, and do the work which most needs to be done, absolutely 

 must range itself in line with modern progress in knowledge and 

 thought " (p. 321). But the Church, he says, has not kept up with 

 the intellectual progress of recent times, and for this reason is 

 losing its hold upon the world. The remedy that "the Judge" 

 proposes is to "discard the requirement of a belief in the miracu- 

 lous" as a condition of admission to Christian fellowship. Such 

 a loosening of the bonds of dogma would, he thinks, bring into the 

 Church all the best minds of the age, and make it the saving and 

 elevating power that it ought to be. It will be seen, therefore, 

 that the views expressed in the book are those now commonly 

 held by scientific men and historical critics, but they have not 

 until i-ecently been expressed in this country with such freedom 

 and emphasis. Unfortunately, however, "the Judge's" views, 

 like those of most liberal Christians, are mainly negative and 

 critical; and he has little to say as to tlie positive side of religion, 

 except that he believes in the being of God and the immortality 

 of the soul. Hence, although the work is written in an excellent 

 spirit, and contains many good points, the reader lays it down 

 with the consciousness of something lacking. 



Epitomes of Three Sciences: Comparative Philology, Psychology, 

 and Old Testament History. Chicago, Open Court Publ. Co. 

 13°. 75 cents. 



This volume contains three essays designed to give an account 

 of recent investigations in certain departments of science, with 

 their most important results. The ablest and most interesting is 

 the first, on "The Study of Sanskrit." written by Professor H. 

 Oldenberg of Kiel. It is not, as the title of the book would lead 

 us to think, an exposition of comparative philology, which is only 

 incidentally alluded to, but is an historical account of the discov- 

 ery and elucidation of the ancient Sanscrit literature. Beginning 

 with Sir William Jones, the author traces the progress of Sanscrit 

 studies through various vicissitudes and difficulties to the present 

 day, and shows how much has been done toward the recovery of 

 this important literature, and by what means the work has been 

 accomplished. 



The second paper, entitled "Aspects of Modern Psychology," by 

 Professor Joseph Jastrow, is really devoted to the new science of 

 psycho-physics. It is not a summary of the science, but a brief 

 history of its origin and development. The contributions of the 

 different nations are recorded, those of Germany naturally occupy- 

 ing the most prominent place; and there are also a few pages on 

 recent investigations in comparative psychology and in animal 

 psychology. 



The third essay, "Rise of the People of Israel," by Professor C. 

 H. Cornill of Konigsberg, is an attempt to state the grains of his- 

 torical truth in the early traditions and legends of the Israelites. 

 The author holds that every such historical legend has a basis of 

 truth; but by what criterion he discriminates between the truth 

 and its attendant falsehoods he does not tell us. However, he 

 sets before us what he believes to be the real outline of Israelitish 

 history from Abraham to David, which has at least the merit of 

 being based on conscientious and painstaking study. On the 

 whole, this little volume is well worthy of perusal. 



Pure Logic and other Minor Works. By W. Stanley Jevons. 

 New York, Macmillan. 8°. $3.50. 

 This volume is made up of several of the author's shorter 

 works, with a preface by Professor Robert Adamson. It contains 

 the woik on "Pure Logic" first published in 1884; "The Substitu- 

 tion of Similars," which appeared in 1869; and some minor logi- 

 cal essa.vs, closing with the four papers entitled "John Stuart 

 Mill's Philosophy Tested," originally published in the Contempo- 

 rary Review. As all of them have long been before the world, 

 and most students of logic and philosophy have already formed 

 their opinion of them, we shall not discuss them here; but we 

 cannot help recording our opinion that neither these nor the au- 

 thor's other works have such high merit as his admirers claim for 

 them. Jevons was always trying to be original, and to revolution- 

 ize the branches of knowledge with which he dealt; yet his only 

 valuable contributions to them relate to minor points. The criti- 

 cisms of Mill might better, we should think, have been left to 

 slumber in the pages of the magazine in which they originally 

 appeared, as they are no benefit to their author's reputation. He 

 does, indeed, point out some defects in Mill's philosophy ; but 

 many of his criticisms are worthless and misleading, while their 

 tone and temper are about as bad as is possible. They are, in 

 fact, models of all that controversial writings ought not to be. 



How to Remember History. By Virgima Conser Shaffer. 

 Philadelphia, Lippincott. 8°. $1. 

 The main object of this work is to assist the student of history 

 in remembering dates. It presents a summary of the leading 

 events of the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighleenth. and nineteenth 

 centuries, some thirty or forty in each one, with charts designed 

 to make the dates and character of these events apparent to the 

 eye. The occurrences of each century are first stated in brief 

 chronological form, it being intended that these statements shall 

 be committed to memory; and then follows a succinct histoiical 

 account of the events themselves. But the charts are the peculiar 

 feature of the work, and are believed, not only by the authoress 

 but by others who have used them, to be valuable aids to the 

 memory. The plan of the charts was originally borrowed from 



