114 



SCIENCE. 



[YOL. VI., No. 131. 



however, of this kind of writing and thinking, 

 is reached by Professor Sumner, when, in one 

 of the non-economical articles (p. 134), he 

 gravely tells us, speaking of elections, that 

 " they are not a source of energj^ and there- 

 fore cannot cause any thing at all." 



We have dwelt thus at length upon these 

 faults, because we consider them as most hurt- 

 ful to the cause of sound discussion, and to 

 the influence of the very methods in political 

 economy which, with Professor Sumner, we 

 wish to see upheld. We have not attempted 

 to give a full account, or, if one prefers the ex- 

 pression, a fair account, of the papers collected 

 in this volume. In the article on wages, and 

 even in those on bimetallism and on protection, 

 there are instructive passages and telling 

 points. The articles are not made up entirely 

 of impatient assertion and sweeping denuncia- 

 tion. In the discussion of bimetallism, valid 

 practical reasons are adduced against it, and 

 the same is true with regard to protection ; but 

 it is precisely the theoretical core of the argu- 

 ment which is made weak and powerless by the 

 defects which we have endeavored to point 

 out. 



subject- title. They should be printed after the 

 manner of certain biblical texts, and displa3'ed 

 on the walls of every collegiate hall in the laud. 



We append a few of these paragraphs : — 



" There is no nobler service than the life of 

 a true teacher ; but the mere taskmaster has 

 no right to the teacher's name, and can never 

 attain the teajcher's reward" (p. 85). 



"The teaching which a professorship implies, 

 instead of being a hindrance, ought to be a 

 great stimulus, to scientific investigation. Of 

 course, this influence is greatly impaired, if, as 

 in many of our colleges, the available energies 

 of the teacher are exhausted by the daily 

 routine of instruction, or by outside work re- 

 quired to supplement his meagre salary ; but 

 if the teaching is only moderate in amount, and 

 in the direction of the professor's own work, 

 there is no stimulus so great as that which the 

 association with a class of earnest students 

 supplies" (p. 280). 



" Men of aflE"airs should resign the endow- 

 ments intended for the maintenance of scholars 

 to those whose zeal is sufficient to induce them 

 to make gladl}" the sacrifices which the advance- 

 ment of knowledge usually entails " (p. 277). 



SCIENTIFIC CULTURE. 



The question of the position of the physical 

 sciences in courses of instruction, as compared 

 to that of the classics, was scarcely thought of 

 at the time when Professor Cooke began his 

 work as an instructor in the experimental 

 sciences thirt}^ years ago. During this long 

 service as a teacher and investigator, the ques- 

 tion became a glowing one, but has been so 

 far settled as to give to many of the essays of 

 the little volume before us an historical rather 

 than a current interest. 



Nevertheless, the general reader who may 

 care nothing for the Greek question will read 

 these essays with pleasure. He will admire 

 the earnestness and candor of the writer. He 

 will follow with delight the limpid stream of 

 argument and exposition. To the citation 

 drawn from the literature of physics, to the 

 eff*ect that " such men as Dav3^ Dalton, and 

 Faraday were as truly learned, as highly 

 cultivated, and as capable of expressing their 

 thoughts in appropriate language as the most 

 eminent of their literary compeers," might be 

 added the name of the author. 



The most important statements which are 

 made in these essays are quite independent of the 



Scientific culture and other essays. By Josiah Parsons 

 OOOKE, LL.D., professor of chemistry and mineralogy ir Harvard 

 college. Second edition, with additions. New York, D. Apple- 

 ton tfe Co., 1885. 



AROUND AFRICA. 



The activity which the Germans have shown 

 during the past few years in colonial and com- 

 mercial enterprises has produced some good 

 results, and has given occasion for a few good 

 books, notably those of Schweinfurth and 

 Nachtigal. Dr. Joest, instead of following 

 those explorers into equatorial Africa, circum- 

 navigated the Dark Continent, visiting only a 

 few inland towns in the extreme south-east. 

 He described his travels in a series of let- 

 ters to the Cologne Zeitung, which form the 

 basis of the present work. Schweinfurth and 

 Nachtigal performed their tasks well, and gave 

 us good common-sense accounts of the people 

 they visited, and the countries they saw. So 

 has Dr. Joest. His first stopping-places were 

 Madeira and St. Helena, which have been so 

 often described that he was able to add little 

 of interest. From St. Helena he went to Cape- 

 town, or Kapstadt, as he in true German fash- 

 ion insists upon calling it. And this is a good 

 place to utter a protest against the habit which 

 the Germans have of translating proper names ; 

 for, really, ' Kapstadt,' ' Tafelbai,' and ' Kap- 

 land ' do not represent the places described. 

 Indeed, either this fact seems to have struck 



Urn Afrika. Von Wilhelm Joest. 

 zahlreichen illustrationen. Koln, 1885. 



Mit 14 lichtdrucken und 



