700 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
second upon The Relations of Scientific to Religious Belief; and, since whatever 
this eminent naturalist contributes to the literature of science carries with it in- 
disputable force and weight, it is unnecessary to say-that they comprise the sum 
of what is known and believed by the best and most profound thinkers and ex- 
perimenters in natural science and biology. His vast experience and skilled 
observations give him a position among scientists that few Americans occupy, and 
these lectures are read by old and young, creationists and evolutionists, with re- 
spect and confidence. 
In the first lecture he traces the rise and abandonment of numerous beliefs ; 
as that plants and animals are composed of different ultimate materials, whereas 
the essential oneness of the two kingdoms of organic nature is now a new article 
of scientific creed; the idea that the characteristic features of an animal were a 
mouth and a stomach, whereas it is now known that entozoa feed like rhizophytes 
and turbellarias and their relatives have no alimentary canal, the food taken by 
what answers to mouth passing as directly into the general tissue as does the ma- 
_ terial which a parasitic root imbibes from its host or an ordinary root from the 
soil; more recently, even the faculty of automatic movement is believed to belong 
to certain vegetables instead of being a special attribute of animals only. 
The hypotheses of natural selection, origin of species, etc., are all taken up 
in their turn and explained in the light of the most modern discoveries, and their 
errors as well as their established facts clearly and fairly pointed out. 
In the second lecture the distinguished and venerable author considers the 
attitude that thoughtful men and Christian believers should take respecting the 
scientific beliefs of the present day and how they stand related to beliefs of another 
order. In reference to Darwinism, which he declares to be entirely and clearly 
distinct from monistic and agnostic philosophy, he says:—‘‘As theists we are not 
debarred from the supposition of supernatural organization, mediate or immedi- 
ate. But suppose the facts suggest and inferentially warrant the conclusion that 
the course of. natural history has been along an unbroken line ; that—account for 
it or not—the origin of the kinds of plants and animals comes to stand on the 
same footings as the rest of nature. As this is the complete outcome of Darwin- 
ian evolution, it has to be’-met and considered.” Christian theists ‘should not 
denounce it as atheistical or as practical atheism or as absurd,” but give it the 
most complete investigation from the highest summits of scientific knowledge and 
research. 
As before stated, there is no work on this subject more deserving of our 
studious and respectful examination. 
History OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION TO THE YEAR 200. By Charles B. Waite, 
A. M.; pp. 455, 8 vo. Chicago; C. V. Waite & Co., 1881. For sale by 
M. H. Dickinson. $2.50. 
The author of this work claims that his intent to publish it was formed after | 
ascertaining facts and arriving at conclusions which appeared of great importance, 
