Reviews — Lesley's Origin and Destiny of Man. 325 



the Hermitage and Observatory and traversing the Crocelle, the path 

 enters the Atrio del Cavallo, from which the ascent of the cone is 

 made. As the inclination of the sides of the cone is 40*^, and the sur- 

 face covered with loose masses of scorias of all sizes, this is the most 

 difficult and laborious part of the whole ascent. Perseverance, how- 

 ever, lands the traveller at length on the top of the old cone, where 

 he finds himself on a narrow terrace surrounding the base of the 

 small cone, formed during the recent eruption. This new cone is 

 found to be about two hundred feet high, with sides comparatively- 

 smooth, the upper part being covered with beautifully and vari- 

 ously coloured incrustations, the sublimates of the volcano. Suli)hur 

 was very abundant, and sulphate of copper, from its bright blue 

 colour, very conspicuous. Great quantities of vapour rise from the 

 surface of the new cone, and these fumes become so dense at the 

 summit as almost to conceal the edge of the crater. At the time of 

 the lecturer's visit, in March, 1868, scoriae and ashes were being 

 shot forth to a great height from the crater, with loud explosions 

 and rattling subterranean noises. The interior of the crater had 

 a very wild and extraordinary aspect, and formed a striking contrast 

 to the bright and peaceful scene presented to the eye when turned 

 in the opposite direction ; for, from the summit of Vesuvius, a grand 

 panoramic view is obtained of the scenery around the world-famed 

 Bay of Naples, which, once seen, is never to be forgotten. 



I^E"V^IEAA7^S. 



I. — Man's Origin and Destiny sketched from the Platform of the 

 Sciences (being a course of Lectures delivered before the Lowell 

 Institute in Boston, 1865-6). By J. P. Lesley, Memb. National 

 Acad. U.S., and Sec. American Phil. Soc. 8vo. pp. 384. London : 

 N. Triibner and Co. 1868. 

 fT^HIS course of lectures, though not entirely, or even largely, geo- 

 I logical, yet contains many references to the method of geological 

 investigation, and many descriptions of geological facts bearing on 

 the question of the Origin of Man. These features we gladly seize 

 upon, and invest with perhaps too great importance, as an excuse 

 for reviewing, in a purely geological publication, a book so cal- 

 culated to interest every intelligent man. 



Mr. Lesley adopts the safe plan of giving his hearers some pre- 

 liminary knowledge of ''the sciences," from whose ''platform" he 

 intends to sketch " Man's Origin and Destiny ; " and to avoid an 

 evil of great importance and very common occurrence, viz., giving 

 undue weight to one particular branch of knowledge at the expense 

 of others, he exhibits a classification of the sciences in a scheme 

 designed to show their individual scope and mutual relations. As this 

 scheme is in some respects peculiar we subjoin it for our readers' 

 consideration. 



Classification of the Sciences. 

 I. General Sciences :— 1. Philosophy. 2. Bibliograpliy. 

 II. Mathematical Sciences:—!. Mathematics. 2. Astronomy. 3. Meteoro- 

 logy. 4. Geodesy. 6, Geography, 6. Physics, leading to the 



