276 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. VI., No. 138. 



the author's own work in his professional 

 practice, and in carefully conducted experi- 

 ments. 



A somewhat novel feature of the book, and 

 one which will commend it to the manufacturer 

 and mill-owner, is the closing chapter on ' The 

 finance of lost work.' The lost work, the 

 cost of the lubricant, the quantitj^ used, and 

 the saving or loss of energ}^ effected by the 

 change of one lubricant for a better or a poorer, 

 are represented b^^ s^'mbols, and embodied in 

 equations, by which general principles, as well 

 as special results, are reached. The applica- 

 tion of these equations is illustrated by the 

 solution of several problems. 



While the author points out the need of 

 more extended experiments in some directions, 

 and warns the reader against drawing con- 

 clusions too hastil}' from insufficient data, it 

 would seem that the method outlined, and so 

 extensively pursued, covers the whole ground 

 of investigation required for the complete 

 solution of all questions relating to losses due 

 to friction in mechanism. 



DARWIN'S BIOGRAPHY. 



Some men are great, and some men famous : 

 a few are both, and among them Darwin is pre- 

 eminent. Greatness is a quaUty, fame a 

 circumstance, which greatness, unhelped b}' 

 fortune, cannot secure. In this century, there 

 have been many great intellects celebrated to 

 the votaries of science for their achievements, 

 yet not famous with the public. Darwin is 

 not solitarily pre-eminent : of his own genera- 

 tion we ma}' count a number his compeers. 

 He stands high aloft, yet he is even over- 

 topped in sheer greatness by his greatest con- 

 temporaries ; but, among them all, not one 

 equals Darwin in deserved fame. The influen- 

 tial importance of a discovery is measured 

 neither by the ability of the discoverer, nor 

 by the magnitude of the difficulties overcome. 

 There have been other intellectual efforts as 

 successful and grand in their making and re- 

 sults, as that which estabhshed the Darwinian 

 theory, but, in our time, no other of equally' 

 profound far-reaching and lasting significance 

 to mankind. 



In studying Darwin we have to bear in mind 

 to separate the greatness of the man from the 

 fame of his influence. The time has not yet 



Charles Danoin und aein verhdltniss zu Deutschland. Von 

 Dr. Ernst Kkause. Mit zahlreichen bisher ungedruckten 

 briefen Darwins, zwei portraits, handschriftprobe, u.s.w., m. 

 Jichtdruck. Leipzig, 6^«?i<Ae/', 1885. 8+236 p. 8°. 



come to fully estimate the man — we must 

 await the biograph}- promised by the family ; 

 but we are alread}' able to appreciate the 

 directness and force of his intellect, his noble 

 candor, his courage under suffering, and, above 

 all, his insatiable love of knowledge and re- 

 search ; we can appreciate also the revolution 

 of belief he caused. 



If a poet were to imagine forth a career, 

 which without adventurous incident, or par- 

 ticipation in the great affairs of nations, 

 should stir the world, he might, if a great 

 artist, conceive a character at once simple 

 and noble ; endowed with irrepressible love 

 of knowledge ; given over to study ; inde- 

 fatigable in gathering facts, and always mar- 

 shalling them into logical phalanxes, making 

 the front and flanks of his evidence alike im- 

 pregnable : he would place this character aside 

 from the bustle of the world, and perhaps add 

 ill health to the conditions to enforce closer 

 retirement, and accentuate the obscuritj^ of 

 secluded labor ; and the poet-artist would 

 endow his created man with means, that his 

 life might be altogether devoted to study, 

 without pecuniary harassments to impede the 

 absolute concentration of mental effort. Last 

 of all, the poet's conception includes a great 

 idea. For j^ear after year the toil would con- 

 tinue, unheeded but prosperous, until the 

 long-growing thought becomes a proven gen- 

 eralization — the whilom myster}' of nature is 

 clarified. At last the result is given to the 

 world ; it turns the minds of men topsy-turvy ; 

 all civilized nations are convulsed with the 

 turmoil of discussion, angr}' and turbulent : 

 the suddenl}' famous philosopher maintains his 

 retirement ; he withholds himself from all share 

 in the profitless furj' he has aroused ; he does 

 not swerve from the continuation of his unob- 

 trusive labors, but repeatedl}^ re-enforces by 

 more facts and more logic his published gener- 

 alization. In a few 3'ears the vituperation, 

 which was hurled at him in unmeasurable 

 quantit}', ceases ; 3'et a little while, and his 

 due is paid — fully : the world, that had but just 

 now reviled him, turns about and acknowledges 

 the mighty progress the one man has accom- 

 plished for all. Now the work is finished : 

 the rich recompense of universal gratitude has 

 been earned and received. Then the life 

 closes, honored hy ever}' class and in every 

 countrj'. At his death it is alread}' known 

 that this student's name will henceforth mark 

 the century in which he lived, because the 

 kings, generals, and politicians of his time are 

 all less than the unpretentious investigator. 



Our supposed poet, the maker of this his- 



