610 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



shores of the sea present analogous or identical species, following not zones of 

 latitude, but those of longitude. The same phenomena is to be observed between 

 Indo-China and the Sound Islands. 



M. Quatrefages confirms the opinion of M. Lund, that the fossil man dis- 

 covered by the latter in the Agna Santa Cavern, is contemporary with the species 

 of mammoths whose remains have been found in bone-caves. In brief, M. Lund 

 holds to the theory of fossil man, and which he maintains every day brings fresh 

 evidence in support. M. Quatrefages himself has made a profound examination 

 of the American skulls in the Natural History Museum, and pronounces they 

 have a form generally analogous with those found in the Agna Santa cave. 



M. Palsermacher has invented an apparatus for measuring the "doses of 

 electricity " for invalids. 



PHILOSOPHY. 



AN APOLOGY FOR NATURE. 



BY DAVID ECCLES. 



Habits of thought, like habits of dress, are seldom suddenly changed. Most 

 innovations, in inception, appear grotesque, and this fact is the bulwark of con- 

 servatism. A certain familiarity must be cultivated before any departure from 

 established modes of action or thought is free from unthinking prejudice. We are 

 all " custom made" — stereotyped in the matrix of our surroundings — and those 

 most governed by antecedents generally least suspect it. Each individual, in 

 the hallucination of an absolute freedom, feels himself above all law, past or 

 present, whereas, his neighbors may observe he moves with the uniformity of 

 an automaton and does all his thinking in an established groove. The electro- 

 lysis of social habits polarizes us all, and pre-determines our adjustments. Indi- 

 vidual thought is but a small factor of modification ; however accurate and true 

 to Nature that thought may be. Predilection for, and pre-adjustment to, the old, 

 makes us unconsciously sacrifice the truths of the new to a spirit of compromise. 

 The evolution of all thought exhibits this tendency, and no department furnishes 

 stronger illustration than that pertaining to law and miracle. 



Time was when such a thing as uniformity of action, as applied to Nature, 

 was never suspected. Nature was then as capricious as the caprice of the uncul- 

 tured mind could reflect it. Gnomes, nymphs, sylphs, fairies, witches, spooks, 

 angels, devils, gods and goddesses without end, filled heaven and earth, to the 

 exclusion of all conception of law. Before physical science was born, " miracle " 

 was the explanation of everything. It is a long way from these barbarous con- 



