1382.] Recent Literature. 499 



the Copernican system is built, and in the teeth of the evolution 

 of his own race during his own life, Dr. Wythe dare not only as- 

 sert that " transmutation is impossible," but brands with the name 

 of " Atheist," such men as Spencer, Wallace, Tyndali, Huxley, 

 Darwin, Ouatrefages, Cope and Draper, men whose reverence 

 for all that is good, and honest hatred of all that is evil or hypo- 

 critical is evident in every line of their writings. Dr. Wythe does 

 not know, or fo: gets, the fact that the teachers of a newer and 

 better creed are always called atheists by the bigoted adherents of 

 an older and worse one. His list of dualist naturalists consists in 

 great part of the mighty of the past, and Of men whose laurels 

 have been won in non-biological fields, and whose claim to the 

 title of biologist consists chiefly in their conservative opposition 

 to the lessons biology teaches. 



Then comes the old argument that, if transmutation be true, in 

 the struggle for existence, all the lower should have been changed 

 to higher forms. By the same reasoning, if civilization be true, 

 all savages should have reached the highest civilization. But 

 savages exist, and Dr. Wythe will not deny that they are of the 

 same species with himself. Ergo, civilization is not true. 



We refer, as a curiosity, to the paragraph on " spiral motion or 

 fiber" (sic), which the author declares to be a" wonderful thing." 

 Even spiral motion without " fiber " is a " wonderful thing " ac- 

 cording to the definition given, which is as follows: " For all cir- 

 cular movement two forces are needed, centripetal and centrifugal, 

 but for a spiral, a progressive movement of the centrifugal point 

 is also necessary." When we read the list of these movements we 

 increase our wonder. They are "cyclosis and spiral fibers of 

 plants, phyllotaxis, spiral forms in shells and radiates, the spiral 

 movement of the moon and planets in space, and many spiral 

 nebulae." 



The classification of our author is better than might be ex- 

 pected, indeed, in some points it is that of the "atheistic 

 Haeckel, but it is significant that the echinoderms are reta.ned 

 among the radiates, that the troublesome types of Vermes are 

 'gnored, and that man is not included in the vertebrates. Shades 

 of Cuvier and Agassiz, what think ye of him who claims to be 

 .your follower? 



Darwin's Formation of Vegetable Mold through the Ac- 

 tion of Worms. 1 — This, the last of Mr. Darwin's works, is char- 

 acterized by the same patient observation, ingenuity in methods 

 of research, cautious spirit and powers of generalization, which 

 m *y be seen in his more important works. The startling conclu- 

 sions of this book are gradually approached, and each step is so 



lh \ Tf "J o nUrnati ™«l Scientific S-ries. The Formation of Vegetable Moult ^^ 



J-J-D. F.i< -, , 1882. i2mo, 



»P-j2b. $1.50. 



