74 Scieniific IntdHgence. 



book is throughout readable. Mr. Darwin's gift for making 

 thinn;s clear without technicalities, is as great as that of many 

 writers for enveloping them in technical obscurity. Having given 

 an account of this essay upon its original appearance, we need 

 only mention the republication, Avhich will be within the reach of 

 all, as an edition is about to be issued by Appleton & Co. a. g 



4. Hce-kePs Ziele und Wege der heutigea Entwickehmgsge- 

 schichte. — The controversy carried on by llseckel in defence of 

 some of his pet theories has gradually assumed a more and more 

 personal character. The criticisms in his Generale Morphol- 

 ogie were sharp, \)ut justifiable from his standpoint. In the 

 Schopfungsgfschichte, they had already become sensational. lu 

 the Anthropogenie his sketches of contemporaries and his analysis 

 of their work assumed a still more unpleasant emphasis ; and this 

 has now culminated in a pamphlet entitled " Ziele und Wege der 

 heutigen Entwickelungsgeschichte." 



It IS difficult to characterize this production without indulging 

 in the same style of epithets which Hteckel uses so freely. From 

 the title we expected one of those brilliant chapters, which, how- 



uggestio 



pointed to find it filled simply with abuse of His, Gcette, Ludwig, 

 Reichevt, Michelis, Agassiz and others. 



We shall not fill the pages of this Journal with countercharges 



risen to such a height of intolerance, is proof against anything so 

 tame as fact or argument. This is not the place to refute his 

 absurd claims to omniscience, and his assumptions of immunity 

 for the very offences he so mercilessly condemns. According to 

 Hivckel it is an unpardonable sin for His or Goette to give a false 

 interpretation of what they have seen, or for Ludwig and Reichtrt 

 to differ from him in his explanation of protoplasm; but when 

 he himself, to suit a purpose, deliberately falsifies facts, when he 

 manufactures with names and figures an archetype which never 

 existed, we are called upon to be grateful that a corner of the veil 

 shrouding creation is lifted, and that we are fortunate enougli to 

 live at a time when so infallible an interpreter of its mysteries, 

 has taken up his abode at Jena. 



In the concluding pages, devoted to Agassiz and Michelis, all the 

 bitterness of his bigotry and dogmatism are poured forth against 

 the latter, while he stoops so low in his attacks on the former as 

 to pick up all the baseless slanders ever circulated by his enemies 

 during his life. With scientific productious like these we have no 

 concern. A few more such criticisms, and Hteckel's claim to he 

 recognized as a true and devoted student of nature will be forgot- 

 ten. In its place, he will gain, what he seems to seek, the front 

 rank aniong scientific demagogues. a. ag. 



5. Memoirs of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science. I. Mssil Butterflies ; by S. II. Scudder. 99 pp. 

 4to, with three plates. Salem, 1875.— The sum of one thousand 

 dollars was given in Aug., 187:i, by Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, ot 



