768 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
BOOK NOTICES. 
The Unity of Nature: By the Duke of Argyll. Octavo, pp. 571. G. P. 
Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1884. For sale by M. H. Dickin- 
son, $2.50. 
This work is to some extent a sequel to the author's admirable discussion of 
"The Reign of Law," published first in 1866, inasmuch as in that volume he 
expressed an intention of following the chapter upon Law in Politics by one up- 
on Law in Christian Theology. When, however, he came to reflect upon the 
magnitude of the subject he speedily discovered that not only could it not be 
treated in a single chapter but that a whole book would be insufficient for the 
purpose without extended preliminary study and investigation. The object of 
the present work, therefore, is "to trace the connection between the reign of 
law and the ideas which are alike fundamental to all religions and inseparable 
from the facts of nature." The author proposes in this volume to off"er a solution 
of some of the problems which perplex us most in this inquiry, through the scheme 
of the unity of nature, assuming that if these problems are not entirely soluble in 
this light, they are at least broken up by it and are reduced to fewer and simpler 
elements. " He says, " The following chapters are an attempt to follow this con- 
ception along a few of the innumerable paths which it opens up, and which 
radiate from it through all the phenomena of the universe, as from an exhaust- 
less center of energy and of suggestion." 
In order to give the reader a somewhat full idea of the comprehensivess of 
the work, we call attention to the titles of the thirteen ample and exhaustive 
chapters which are comprised in it, viz : — General Definitions and Illustrations 
of the Unity of Nature — What it is and What it is Not; Man's Place in the Unity 
of Nature ; Animal Instinct in its relation to the Mind of Man ; On the Limits of 
Human Knowledge; On the Truthfulness of Human Knowledge; On the Ele- 
mentary Constitution of Matter in Relation to the Inorganic ; The Elementary 
Constitution of Matter in Relation to the Organic ; Man as the Representative 
of the Supernatural ; On the Moral Character of Man ; On the Degradation of 
Man ; On the Nature and Origin of Religion ; On the Corruptions of Religion ; 
Recapitulations and Conclusion. 
As will be seen by our readers the scope of this treatise is vast, and the 
student of it will wonder at and be impressed by the extensive knowledge dis- 
played by its author. In the consideration of the various branches of the sub- 
ject every department of knowledge is drawn upon with equal readiness and accu- 
racy, whether it be physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, history, logic or 
metaphysics, while the summing up in the last chapter is able, forcible, and ap- 
parently unanswerable. The style of the author is clear, simple and logical, and 
