1873O Notices of Books. 407 



u Such a combination, I suppose," says Mr. Savory, " no one 

 has ever attempted ; the general amount of time taken in cutting 

 fiures being from a quarter of a minute to five minutes." But 

 further than this, the reader may gather an idea of the possible 

 intricacy of the curves from the fact that a chuck could be con- 

 structed which, " if it made one revolution as the earth does in 

 twenty-four hours, might go on for thousands and perhaps mil- 

 lions of years before it travelled again the same path ; it would 

 only be to make all the slides and radius self-acting, and the 

 time when they would recur to the same position would be incal- 

 culable." Mr. Savory not only delights in the wonders of the 

 appliance, but what he has to tell of his own progress towards 

 perfection in its uses is rendered valuable by chronicle as well 

 of failure as of success. 



The Noetic Deluge : Its Probable Physical Effects and Present 

 Evidences. By the Rev. S. Lucas, F.G.S. London : 

 Hodder and Stoughton. 1873. 



Glimpses of the Future Life. With an Appendix on the Probable 

 Law of Increase of the Human Race. By Mungo Ponton, 

 F.R.S.E. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1873. 



The Bible and Science or Science and the Bible has, not very 

 recently perhaps, become a twofold object of investigation, and 

 the emblem of certain sections of the religious and scientific 

 community. Unfortunately, there is amongst writers on the 

 joint subject a too general feeling of confidence in their strength 

 and their comprehensiveness. Everyone feels that the subject 

 is of exceeding difficulty, yet so interesting that it would be almost 

 as difficult to maintain silence. Emphatically the relation of 

 Religion and Science is not a question which a man of ordinary 

 education is qualified to discuss. The intellect required is one 

 trained at the same time to the observation of particulars and to 

 the regard of generalities ; and this without bias. Especially 

 the expounder should be a Hebrew, a Greek, and perhaps an 

 Oriental scholar. He, while an accurate and rigidly logical 

 reasoner, must be capable of appreciating, yet of disregarding, 

 the most delicate metaphor. Add to this the requirement of a 

 knowledge of the natural sciences sufficient to rank the possessor 

 as a scientific man ; and is there any cause for wonder that our 

 attempts at a conjoint judgment are so unsatisfactory ? 



But there is another method by which results may be attained 

 more speedily; and it is that pursued by Mr. Lucas in his con- 

 sideration " of the Noaic Deluge," as well as by Mr. Ponton in 

 his " Glimpses of the Future Life." In the latter case we have a 

 scientific man, who traces the authority of names into the original 

 Hebrew, and who shows where science and logical argument 

 may be brought to interpret the Bible. Mr. Lucas, on the con- 



