78 Notices respecting New Books. 



second series, it will be our object to draw the attention of the 

 reader to the mental process which he ought to perform while 

 perusing the familiar essays presented to him : he must gather of 

 every kind of opinion ; indeed he cannot fail to do so ; but it is 

 incumbent on him to store up that which is good and to cast the 

 bad away. 



These thoughts have been suggested by the controversial spirit 

 which generally pervades the essays. So important is it to present 

 the truths which science seeks in a familiar form to the uninitiated, 

 that, after carefully perusing the volume, we pondered for some 

 interval of time over the title itself, " Light Science " for " Leisure 

 Hours," and were almost inclined to come to the conclusion that it 

 partook of the nature of a misnomer. Turning to the essays entitled 

 " The ever-widening World of Stars " and " Movements in the 

 Star-depths," we could not find in either the characteristic of 

 lightness. With so masterly a hand have they been written that 

 every step the author takes to establish the point he aims at (that 

 of the unity of the sidereal universe) is of the most sterling cha- 

 racter. To regard either of them as light is doing injustice to the 

 sublime science of which they form a part; and we feel certain 

 that if our leisure hours are to be occupied by that which is " light " 

 (we cannot help adding the concluding part of the sentence, " and 

 trifling "), then Mr. Proctor's Essays are not the pabulum for minds 

 that seek for light reading in their leisure hours ; for there is not 

 one essay in the volume but requires thought, and deep thought 

 too, ere the reader can gather up the good and cast the bad away. 

 Perhaps Mr. Proctor adopted the title from a desire to catch the 

 nets that they might catch the truths. 



In the author's sketch of the life and works of Mrs. Somerville, 

 we find him giving expression to his conviction that, as respects the 

 main purpose of her great work, ' The Mechanism of the Heavens,' 

 Mrs. Somerville failed entirely ; and as explanatory of so remark- 

 able a conclusion, one, be it remembered, opposed to the opinion of 

 the late Sir John Herschel, which is quoted by Mr. Proctor, the 

 author alleges that in his opinion success was altogether impossible, 

 and also that " the thorough training, the scholarly discipline which 

 can alone give to the mind the power of advancing be}^ond the 

 point up to which it had followed the guidance of others, had un- 

 fortunately been denied to her." Otherwise, and under happier 

 auspices, our author intimates that Mrs. Somerville might have 

 done original work. Mr. Proctor, we apprehend, has had the 

 advantage of this thorough training, and has experienced this 

 scholarly discipline, and therefore is on the road for executing 

 much original work; but has he ever heard of men or women 

 being beyond the age in which they lived and worked? Have all 

 who occupy niches in the great temple of Science had their names 

 enrolled in the records of universities ? or have the pioneers in the 

 perpetual siege which has been for ages and is still carried on with 

 the view of acquiring a knowledge of the great forces operating in 

 the Natural World, always been men who have first distinguished 



