ApraL 27, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



205 



account. This does not detract from the value of the work as a 

 presentation of the ' dynamics of the human organism,' but it cer- 

 tainly does seriously lower its value to the student of mental dis- 

 ease or of psychology in general. 



The great desideratum of a work on the relations of body and 

 mind that shall do justice to all the various Unes of advance along 

 which research is progressing, and shall succeed in unifying the 

 presentation thus given with perhaps a proper historic setting, re- 

 mains for the work of another hand. Whether or not the time is 

 ripe for such a contribution is certainly an open question. 



Beiircige zur Geophysik. Abhajidlungen aus dem geograpischen 

 Seminar der Universitdt Strassbiirg. Ed. by Prof. G. Ger- 

 land. Vol. I. Stuttgart, Schweizerbart. 8°. 

 The present volume is of great interest, even setting aside the 

 scientific value of the papers contained in it. It illustrates the 

 method of geography-teaching at German universities better than 

 any elaborate description could do. As indicated in the title, it 

 contains the results of researches of members of the geographical 

 Soninar. The object of these institutions, which e.\ist at every 

 German university, is to teach students the methods of original in- 

 vestigation. The volume under review shows that this method 

 leads to very valuable results. In the introduction. Professor Ger- 

 land gives his views on the aim and scope of geography. He is 

 one of the few geographers who would exclude altogether what has 

 been called 'anthropogeography ' from the field of geographical re- 

 searches. We believe that the author, one of Germany's most em- 

 inent ethnologists, was led to this conclusion by his intimate knowl- 

 edge of the methods of ethnology. Recognizing that the latter are 

 anthropologic, psychologic, or linguistic, he has no confidence in 

 the generalizing speculations on the influence of the character of a 

 country upon its inhabitants. On the other hand, he does not con- 

 sider the methods of geology, so far as they are founded on paleon- 

 tology, as the proper field of geographical studies, and confines the 

 latter to the study of the problems of geophysics ; i.e., the study of 

 the physical and chemical forces as acting upon the earth. The 

 essays contained in this volume treat exclusively this class of prob- 

 lems. Dr. H. Blink contributes an elaborate paper on the winds 

 and currents of the region of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which he 

 tries to explain according to Zoppritz's theory of currents and by 

 considering the tides of this region. The influence of accumula- 

 tions of polar ice during the glacial period is ably discussed by 

 Dr. H. Hergesell. He shows that the changes in the levels of the 

 sea are far too great to be explained by the attraction of polar ice 

 and by the decrease of the amount of ocean-water, caused by their 

 formation. The same author shows that it is extremely improba- 

 ble that a river could reverse its course by the attractive action of 

 the ice of the glacial period. The concluding paper of the volume 

 is a discussion and compilation on submarine earthquakes and vol- 

 canic eruptions, by Dr. E. Rudolph, which is accompanied by very 

 interesting maps. The author's discussion of the theory of the 

 earthquake-waves is of great importance. These brief remarks 

 show both that the volume contains papers of great importance, 

 and the high standard of the work done in the seminary of the Uni- 

 versity of Strassburg. It may be expected that the subsequent 

 volumes will be of equal interest and importance. 



The Geological History of Plants. By Sir J. William Dawson. 

 New York, Appleton. 12^. 

 The student of plant-history will find in this volume a compact 

 statement of much of our present knowledge of pateobotany, — a 

 department of science in which the author has for many years oc- 

 cupied a distinguished position as an original investigator. A work 

 of the kind here presented has long been needed, and cannot but 

 meet with much favor from those who have earnestly and often 

 vainly attempted to unite the fragmentary chapters that are found 

 scattered throughout geological treatises and disconnected reports 

 of learned societies. The individual chapters of the book before us 

 not only treat of the geological succession of plant-forms through- 

 out the various geological periods, but enter. into a discussion of 

 the structure of the more prominent types of fossil plants, geo- 

 graphical distribution, the conditions attending appearance and ex- 

 tinction, climatic changes, and the evolution of specific types. 



The consideration of the theoretical questions constitutes the 

 weakest portion of the work, and probably many will agree that 

 the omission of much that it contains would have proved an advan- 

 tage rather than otherwise. Professor Dawson apparently is still 

 an anti-evolutionist, as the following quotation (p. 268), unfortu- 

 nately of that character which bespeaks determined opposition lo- 

 an idea, seems to show : " I can conceive nothing more unreason- 

 able than the statement sometimes made, that it is illogical or even 

 absurd to suppose that highly organized beings could have been 

 produced except,by derivation from previously existing organisms. 

 This is begging the whole question at issue, depriving science of a 

 noble department of inquiry," etc. And further, on p. 271, we find 

 clearly stated his adherence in belief to " something not unlike the 

 old and familiar idea of creation." 



Sir William finds much difficulty in explaining non-variation 

 through time on any evolutionary hypothesis of slow modification,- 

 and, as one of his points de resistance, refers to the oft-quoted 

 identity existing between the plants of the Egyptian tombs and 

 species now living, — a point which has also been forcibly insisted 

 upon by Mr. Carruthers, president of the Linnasan Society ; but 

 why we should have expected to find a change in such a compara- 

 tively brief period is not stated. 



Whatever position the author himself may hold in the matter of 

 evolution, it appears more than likely that the intelligent student of 

 his work will agree with a recent critic that " the evolution of species- 

 from species is apparent in every page of Sir J. W. Dawson's work."" 



Yankee Girls in Zulu Land. By LOUISE VesceliuS-Sheldon, 

 New York, Worthington. 12°. $2.25. 



The author tells the experiences of three American ladies travel- 

 ling in South Africa in so charming a style and good humor, and 

 with such vividness, that it is very pleasant and instructive to fol- 

 low her on her adventurous expeditions through the Cape Colony 

 and the Dutch republics. While her description of Cape Town, of 

 its European, JWalayan, and African inhabitants, attracts us, the 

 book becomes even more interesting when she describes her jour- 

 ney by stage-coach from Beaufort to the diamond-mines of Kim- 

 berley, and the social life at this place. From Kimberley they vis- 

 ited Potchefstrom and Pretoria in Transvaal, which was at the time 

 of their visit occupied by the English. The author describes the 

 prevailing discontent, and is full of praise of the beauties of the 

 Transvaal. She is equally enchanted by the inhabitants and climate 

 of the Orange Free State. From here the enterprising ladies made 

 a long journey by ox-wagon ; and the character of the land, the 

 violent thunder-storms and sudden floods, are so graphically de- 

 scribed, that the reader will feel well repaid. The attractiveness of 

 the book is principally founded on the simplicity of the manner in 

 which the author's experiences are told. Although it is not filled 

 with statistics and treatises on the forms of government, it creates, 

 by the truthfulness of the descriptions, a vivid and instructive pic- 

 ture of the forms of life and state of affairs in South Africa. 



Irish Wonders. By D. R. McAnally, Jun. Boston, Houghton^ 

 Mifflin, & Co., 1888. 8°. $2. 

 The author, who paid a lengthy visit to Ireland, in course of 

 which he traversed the island from end to end, has collected a con- 

 siderable amount of Irish folk-lore, which he presents in this vol- 

 ume. Most of the tales are attached to certain places which the 

 author visited, and, according to his statement, they are told in the 

 same form in which the Irish story-teller told them: "Go where 

 you will in Ireland, the story-teller is there, and on slight provoca- 

 tion will repeat his narrative ; amplifying, explaining, embellishing,- 

 till from a single fact a connected history is evolved, giving motives, 

 particulars, action, and result, the whole surrounded by a rosy 

 wealth of rustic imagery and told with dramatic force an actor 

 might envy." The story-tellers who told Mr. McAnally these le- 

 gends mixed a good deal of politics with their tales, abusing the- 

 English landlord, and pleading for home rule. The author inserts 

 the tunes and texts of a number of songs in his book, which are of 

 considerable interest, the fairy dance on p. 26 being of particular 

 value. The piano accompaniment of the song on p. 164 can. 

 hardly be approved. The book contains a number of legends re- 

 ferring to Satan and the saints, others on the pooka, fairies, and'. 



