248 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



laws, than in the evolution of a summer's 

 shower, through the laws discovered by the 

 meteorologist, who looks back through 

 myriads of ages to the causes that led to 

 the distribution of mountain-chains, ocean- 

 currents, and trade-winds, which combine 

 to produce the necessary conditions result- 

 ing in that shower. 



" Indeed, to the student of Nature, the 

 evolution theory in biology, with the nebu- 

 lar hypothesis, and the grand law in physics 

 of the correlation of forces, all indepen- 

 dent, and revealing to us the mode in which 

 the Creator of the universe works in the 

 world of matter, together form an im- 

 measurably grander conception of the order 

 of creation and its ordainer than was pos- 

 sible for us to form before these laws were 

 discovered and put to practical use." 



Again he says : 



" Thus the ovipositor of the bee has a 

 history, and is not apparently a special 

 creation t but a structure gradually devel- 

 oped to subserve the use of a defensive or- 

 gan. So the organs of special sense in in- 

 sects are, in most cases, simply altered 

 hairs. The hairs themselves are modified 

 epithelial cells. The eyes of insects, sim- 

 ple and compound, are at first simply epi- 

 thelial cells, modified for a special purpose ; 

 and even the egg is but a modified epithelial 

 cell attached to the walls of the ovary, 

 which in turn is morphologically but a 

 gland. Thus Nature deals in simples, and 

 with her units of structure elaborates as 

 her crowning work a temple in which the 

 mind of man, formed in the image of God, 

 may dwell. Her results are not the less 

 marvelous because we are beginning to 

 dimly trace the process by which they arise. 

 It should not lessen our awe and reverence 

 for Deity if, with minds made to adore, we 

 also essay to trace the movements of his 

 hand in the origin of the forms of life. 



" Some writers of the evolution school 

 are strenuous in the belief that the evolu- 

 tion hypothesis overthrows the idea of ar- 

 chetypes and plans of structure. But a true 

 genealogy of animals and plants represents 

 a natural system, and the types of animals, 

 be they four, as Cuvier taught, or five, or 

 more, are recognized by naturalists through 

 the study of dry, hard, anatomical facts. 

 Accepting, then, the type of articulates as 



founded in Nature from the similar modes 

 of development and points of structure per- 

 ceived between the worms and the Crusta- 

 cea on the one hand, and the worms and 

 insects on the other, have we not a strong 

 genetic bond uniting these three great 

 groups into one grand sub-kingdom, and 

 can we not in imagination perceive the suc- 

 cessive steps by which the Creator, acting 

 through the laws of evolution, has built up 

 the great articulate division of the animal 

 kingdom ? " 



Proportions of Pins used in Bridges. 

 By Charles Bender, C. E. No. IV., 



Van Nostrand Science Series, 52 pages. 

 Price, 50 cents. 



This is a very small book, but it would 

 certainly be wrong to measure its impor- 

 tance by its dimensions. In science, we are 

 often told that there is no great and no 

 small, by which it is meant that the interest 

 and value of things in Nature are not de- 

 pendent upon magnitude. It is desirable, as 

 we all feel at times, that bridges should be 

 well constructed, and, as their parts are held 

 together by pins, all who travel are inter- 

 ested that these pins should be in proper 

 proportions. Thanks to Bender for de- 

 termining what these proportions are, and 

 to Van Nostrand for diffusing a knowledge 

 of them. We bear our testimony to the 

 importance of the research, and the value 

 of the publication, but we regret to say 

 that we cannot recommend this monograph 

 for popular reading, as it is brimful of 

 mathematics. 



A Treatise on Analytical Geometry. 

 By William G. Peck, LL. D., Professor 

 of Mathematics and Astronomy in Co- 

 lumbia College, and of Mechanics in the 

 School of Mines. 212 pages. A. S. 

 Barnes & Co. 



Prof. Peck has prepared this treatise 

 for the use of his own classes in Columbia 

 College and 'the School of Mines. His ob- 

 ject has been to present the subject in a 

 narrower compass than is done in the usual 

 voluminous works that are employed as 

 text-books in the mathematical depart- 

 ments of the higher institutions. The 

 author puts forward no claims to origi- 

 nality of method, and states that the gen- 



