SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 238 



that romantic love is consistent only with a monogamous society 

 and that this kind of society is the bulwark of civilization ; consider, 

 too, that the ways of finding one's mate not only gives tone to the 

 social institutions of a nation, but, according as they are in accord 

 with or opposed to the inexorable laws of heredity and selection, 

 make for the amelioration or degeneration of the community ; con- 

 sider, next, that the education of the next generation is profoundly 

 influenced by our views of courtship and marriage ; consider how 

 this fact will influence our conceptions of ancient life ; consider that 

 the division of labor between men and women, and the admittance 

 of women into occupations until now monopolized by men, can 

 only be satisfactory settled by a settlement that does not interfere 

 with the reign of romantic love ; consider, in short, that all that is 

 deep and valuable in cultured life is here at stake, — and all must 

 admit that a knowledge of the laws of evolution as they affect 

 sexual selection amongst us is of the profoundest importance. Such 

 inquiries into the nature of human faculty as Mr. Galton is pursuing 

 are directed towards supplying this information. This knowledge 

 is not for the many ; but in the hands of the few it is to be con- 

 verted into public sentiment against certain customs and ways of 

 thinking and in favor of others, by which, eventually, misery will 

 be checked and happiness increased. If Mr. Finck will accept a 

 suggestion, the present writer would urge upon him the preparation 

 of a review article embodying the main points in the evolution of 

 love, and expounding in a strictly scientific style, and without any 

 feuilletonistic ton mots, the anthropological, sociological, and psy- 

 chological significance of this new ' contribution to human develop- 

 ment. 



T/ie Hidden Way across the Threshold. By J. C. Street. Bos- 

 ton, Lee & Shepard. 8° 



The Mark of the Beast revealed by the Shape of the Head. By 

 LuciLLA R. Hedley, M.D. Philadelphia. 8° 



The reviewer of books like these is in no enviable position ; espe- 

 cially as the reviews are written for those interested in science, and 

 the books any thing rather than scientific. The first is another of 

 those ponderous volumes — a combination of strange mysticism, 

 excited exhortation, wild symbolism, unscientific cant, and childish 

 credulousness — that one finds heaped up on the shelves of a sec- 

 ond-hand book-store. The author writes powerfully, makes his 

 points ably, appeals to his reader skilfully, and here and there 

 makes a noble plea for the despisal of the sordid and the living of 

 a high intellectual life. But those portions of the book in which 

 one feels the rationality and the earnestness of the writer give the 

 impression of being aloof from the real purpose of the work, — 

 accidental at least, if not inconsistent. 



The weirdness of this intellectual conglomerate, it is hard to de- 

 scribe : the cause of such writing seems to be an hypertrophy of 

 that sentiment, common to all specialists, that the public at large 

 does not stand in sufficiently close contact with them ; that they 

 live a life exclusive, — the life of an adept, an occultist. Mr. Street, 

 A.B.N. , fellow of the order S.S.S., and of the brotherhood Z.Z. 

 R.R.Z.Z., is such an adept : "the mystery which hath been hidden 

 for ages and from generations " is revealed to him. He is in the 

 clouds, but the ladder, alas ! is still to be found. The present 

 writer, at least, fails to get the slightest inkling of the process, save 

 that it seems much like dropping common sense and giving one's 

 self over to wild fancy and morbid illusion. 



The following extracts will perhaps be sufficient to enable the 

 reader to decide with which one of the categories into which he is 

 accustomed to divide books, this one belongs. Amongst the origi- 

 nal contributions to science here announced, we read that " the Sun 

 and Planets in space, as well as terrestrial objects, have their mag- 

 netic, odyllic, and astral emanations, and these exert influence upon 

 each other and upon every organized being, in proportion to their 

 size, their distance, and the velocity of their revolutions." " This 

 Astral influence is conveyed to man, and acts upon him through the 

 Astral light. This, the palmister tells us, is composed of the seven 

 fluids which emanate from the se\'en primary planets respectively. 



1 Mr. Finck thinks that the reason why no one has called attention to this recent 

 origin of romantic love is that no sufi&cient distinction has been drawn between 

 romantic and conjugal love. 



These fluids, separately and in their combinations, are tempered 

 and modified by the sun and moon." And so on. Here is a won- 

 derful discovery : the sensations arising from the cut nerve-strings 

 of amputated limbs we thought explained by the physiological law 

 of the external projection of sensation. But, no ! " All this is due 

 solely to the action of the Star-magno, or Astral, vibrating between 

 the amputated limb and the patient. So frequent and almost uni- 

 versal are such occurrences [i.e., cases in which the patient feels 

 amiss because something is wrong with his lost member : a num- 

 ber of such are cited] that all surgeons use the utmost caution in 

 disposing of amputated limbs." "The Astral body, enclosing the 

 Soul like an atmosphere, can be and has frequently been seen by 

 attendants and physicians, leaving the animal body just at the mo- 

 ment of separation between Soul and body, known as death or dis- 

 solution." Under proper light, there is seen accompanying the 

 death-rattle " a column of thin ethereal violet blue vapor vibrating 

 and oscillating, ebbing, finally passing upward and fading away." 

 As a piece of logic, the following cannot be excelled : " The golden 

 sunlight produces vibration to the amount of 500,000,000 of mil- 

 lions in a second " proportioned amongst the several colors in such 

 and such a way. " Of course, therefore, different colors must 

 necessarily affect the human soul," etc. " Love comes from pink 

 and bright red, Hope and Faith from violet, Truth of blue, Melan- 

 choly of yellow. Epilepsy of pearl white," etc. 



Let us hear what the author holds regarding the material basis of 

 modern Spiritualism, that now stands in so bad a light. He gives 

 full details for forming spirit circles, which practically amount to 

 employing all conditions that make rational observation impossible, 

 and neurotic self-deception inevitable, and assures all that the fail- 

 ure of manifestations is always due to the bad influence of sceptics 

 and the like. " Students of occult mysteries," he warns them with- 

 out seeing the double interpretation of his words, " never permit 

 scientific investigators or psychic-research committees to control or 

 even be present in the room during your efforts at development of 

 mediumship. Remember thought is a potential atmosphere. Their 

 worldly-wise theories create opposing vibrations and congeal the 

 Spirit. Even in large rooms and at a distance their presence is 

 highly objectionable." If to this we add the definition of ' a 

 medium,' the reader will be able to imagine the rest of the chapter. 

 Here it is : " To become a medium is to learn to vibrate the Astral 

 body as a pendulum between Spirit and mortal, and thus to reach 

 the third state of being, the state between sleeping and waking, — 

 Trance — a condition co-equal with both, is to have found the Key 

 that unlocks the mysterious place where actual Soul semblances 

 have their immortal birth." 



That this omnivorous ' psychist ' unfolds the theor)' of soul- 

 migrations ; shows the rationality of faith-cure (e.g., to cure con- 

 sumption you must insist that it is not inherited, that " tubercles, 

 hemorrhage, inflammation, and ulcers are only ugly names and be- 

 liefs, not spirit and truth of man ") ; expounds the mysteries of the- 

 osophy ; and indorses the cabalistic literature of all ages and 

 nations, — is easily believed. For this he has six hundred pages at 

 his disposal. 



Considering the volume as the sincere and earnest expression of 

 an enthusiast for the spiritual side of life, — and this is the most 

 charitable point of view, — it is still a pernicious work. It embeds 

 the kernel of truth it contains with a husk of rubbish ; it chokes up 

 ' the threshold ' with a refuse-heap. By so doing it fosters an im- 

 moral trade, — a scandalous appeal to the sentimentalities of sim- 

 ple-minded folk. It debases the value of true spirituality, draws 

 men's activity away from the proper duties of life, cultivates a life 

 of useless solitude, and, moreover, is unscientific and unprogressive. 

 With a healthy public taste, such a book can have no success. 



The second book is indeed an absurd piece of pseudo-scientific 

 writing, and can be dismissed with a word. The idea of the book 

 is, that the ' mark of the beast,' as mentioned in the Book of Daniel, 

 refers only to the leopard, bear, lion, and dragon. There are given 

 pictures of the heads of noted criminals, showing their resemblance 

 to one or other of these animals. They had ' the mark of the 

 beast,' and, had we only known it, their crimes could have been 

 prevented. Besides this, there is much phrenology, some little 

 Spiritualism, several untrue statements, and a host of Scripture 

 quotations not always relevant. 



