EDITOR'S TABLE. 



ll 5 



pointing out the diversities of scientific 

 opinion, and remarked : " I heard one 

 of the greatest scientific men in Amer- 

 ica reply, when somebody said, ' You 

 must at least admit that there is a di- 

 vision of opinion among scientific men 

 in regard to the doctrines of Darwin,' 

 * No, there is no difference of opinion 

 among scientific men.' ' Why not ? ' 

 4 Because,' said he, ' no man who sup- 

 ports the doctrines of Darwin is en- 

 titled to be called a scientific man.' " 

 As to who the great man was who 

 made this destructive remark, nobody 

 will need to guess twice ; but it 

 squelches Prof. Allman, and turns the 

 British Association out-of-doors as a 

 lot of mere scientific pretenders, for 

 their representative biologist aired his 

 vagaries as follows : " I have thus 

 dwelt at some length on the doctrine 

 of evolution, because it has given a 

 new direction to biological study, and 

 must powerfully influence all future re- 

 searches." 



Prof. Allman regards the doctrine 

 of evolution as a great and actual truth 

 of Nature, still obscured and embar- 

 rassed by many difficulties, and in this 

 he is at one with its oldest and strong- 

 est adherents ; but he insists that it 

 harmonizes and explains so extensive a 

 range of facts, which are without ex- 

 planation on any other view, as to be- 

 come invaluable as an instrument of 

 scientific research. On this point he 

 says: 



"The hypothesis of evolution may 

 not, it is true, be yet established on so 

 sure a basis as to command instanta- 

 neous acceptance, and for a generaliza- 

 tion of such wide significance no one 

 can be blamed for demanding for it a 

 broad and indisputable foundation of 

 facts. Whether, however, we do or 

 do not accept it as firmly established, 

 it is, at all events, certain that it em- 

 braces a greater number of phenomena, 

 and suggests a more satisfactory expla- 

 nation of them, than any other hypoth- 

 esis which has yet been proposed. . . . 



Or, finally, is the doctrine of evolution 

 only a' working hypothesis which, like 

 an algebraic fiction, may yet be of in- 

 estimable value as an instrument of re- 

 search ? For, as the higher calculus 

 becomes to the physical inquirer a 

 power by which he unfolds the laws 

 of the inorganic world, so may the hy- 

 pothesis of evolution, though only an 

 hypothesis, furnish the biologist with 

 a key to the order and hidden forces of 

 the world of life. And what Leibnitz 

 and Newton and Hamilton have been 

 to the physicist, is it not that which. 

 Darwin has been to the biologist?" 

 Only to think of it ! Would it not 

 have been well if those British sci- 

 entists had got some American to 

 teach them what science is, and how 

 to preserve it from perversion and deg- 

 radation ? 



PROFESSOR CZERMAK. 



Our readers will recall an impor- 

 tant lecture on " Hypnotism in Ani- 

 mals," a translation of which, by Miss 

 Hammond, appeared in The Popular 

 Science Monthly for September. It 

 gave some of the results of a very in- 

 teresting research in com parative psy- 

 chology; and, in a second lecture upon 

 the same subject, in the present num- 

 ber, the results of the investigation are 

 continued, with some strictures on the 

 so-called experimental investigations 

 of " spiritualism." The originality of 

 this, inquiry, and the practical lesson 

 that is drawn from it, will be sufficient 

 to secure a careful perusal of these dis- 

 courses, but the reader's interest in 

 them will be increased by the painful 

 announcement of the recent death of 

 their distinguished author, which oc- 

 curred September 15th. Prof. Czer- 

 mak was the head, and in fact the pro- 

 prietor, of the famous Physiological 

 Laboratory in Leipsic, where he lived. 

 He was the inventor of the laryngo- 

 scope, and his treatise upon it waa 

 translated and published by the Eng- 



