~ 
778 Recent Literature. [ August, 
Hence if the critic deserve the name, justice only will be his in- 
fallible guide. 
People of sensibility and refinement shrink from controversy ; 
and the enervated and dishonest endeavor to avoid it alto- 
gether. But it cannot be escaped without a total withdrawal 
from the field of action, or an attainment of perfection such as 
rarely falls to human lot. In the scientific world all the aspects 
of this question come before us from time to time. We meet the 
sometimes brutal vigor of German truth-telling, contrasted with 
the dexterous fencing of French elegance and skill. We meet 
with inexcusable rashness or misrepresentation on the one hand, 
and with subservient cowardice or fulsome adulation on the other. 
In our own country science is none too strong in criticism. With 
here and there healthy exceptions we have a good deal of paraly- 
sis in this direction. In a few quarters the indisposition to accept 
fair criticism is marked. But there is enough virility in our sci- 
entific community to accustom such weak brethren to this one of 
the phases of “ the struggle for existence,” by administering more 
criticism in judicious quantities so long as their cases may seem 
to require it. 
If the bureaus of the Government would send their return 
receipt with or in the publications they issue, every one concerned 
would be greatly accommodated. The return receipts would 
then be promptly returned, whereas as now sent at another time, 
it requires time and trouble to identify the package referred to, 
which sometime Tesults in a failure to return the receipt as 
desired. 
We are sorry to see our cotemporary Mind in Nature ad- 
mitting to its columns articles like that of Professor Piper on evo- 
lution. If the author had spent his time in studying field mice, OF 
garter-snakes, or trout, or minnows, he would have learned to 
know something of the subject on which he writes so fluently. 
:0: 
RECENT LITERATURE. 
-De CANDOLLE’S ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PranTts.!—Two years 
ago the French edition of this book made its appearance, and 3 
n — s Evorety received and noticed Pile the botanical og al Tt ee 
of the Academies of St. Puenburp, Stoc kholm, Berlim, Munich, &c., &c 
rk, D. Appleton & Con 1 E 1885, pp. x, 463. 
