NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 437 



The Philosophy of Biology. By James Johnstone, D.Sc. 

 Cambridge, at the University Press. 



This is a very difficult book for notice in ' The Zoologist,' 

 our mission being a bionomical one and our standpoint of an 

 observational character. Our evolutionary conceptions are still, 

 in this country, largely based on those of Huxley and Darwin, 

 the clear and direct biological thinkers of the nineteenth century, 

 who first attuned our thoughts on these questions. They did 

 this with such a lucidity and directness that even the " man in 

 the street," without much understanding or knowledge of the 

 evidence, caught the crisp sentences and conclusions of these 

 great thinkers, like a jury in a complicated legal case which 

 they do not understand give their verdict solely on the 

 summing up of the judge. Much has happened since the time 

 of the enunciation of the evolutionary hypothesis, and the 

 ordinary naturalist is much less sure that he understands the 

 argument. It is now almost a consideration for experts ; not 

 that the cardinal necessity of evolution has become obscured, 

 but because its advocacy has passed into realms of metaphysic 

 and philosophy which only few can follow, and at some future 

 time another Darwin will be required to unravel and explain 

 the ramifications of the present evolutionary Vedanta. 



To follow Dr. Johnstone, his book must be closely read and 

 also pondered. It is full of facts and suggestions, but the 

 theory or conclusion of the author is not always apparent. 

 "Where we would desiderate direct conclusion or advocacy the 

 reader will frequently find himself still in the meshes of the 

 law. Many of the pages are too scholastic for the ordinary 

 enquirer. 



