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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
tending, one and all, to restore the healthy standard of some vital process or 
processes. Such are Dr. Anstie’s important views as to the nature of stimu- 
lants and narcotics, which he well supports by numerous illustrative facts and 
cogent reasonings. In the course of his argument he discusses the doctrine 
that stimulation is followed by a projDortionate depression and denies that any 
depression at all follows true stimulation as a consequence of it. As a neces- 
saiy conclusion from his views of the relation of stimulant and narcotic he 
also denies that the one or other effect being caused by the same medicine 
according to the dose in which it is given, is to be attributed to the one being 
an intensified form of the other as is commonly believed. But space does 
not permit us to dwell on these and other points ; nor on the interesting and 
valuable researches on the action of alcohol, ether, and chloroform, which 
form the latter part of the volume. Nor can we do more than refer to the 
histoiy of the doctrine of stimulus and the extensive bibliographical references 
the work also contains, to the benefit of the student. The book, we may add, 
is published in a handsome form. 
HE principal exterminator of the organ-grinding race has supplied us 
with a very interesting and pleasingly-vTitten account of his doings 
during a life-time spent in the attempt to advance science. IMr. Babbage is 
well known to the public as the inventor of that wonderful triumph of com- 
bined theoretical and j)ractical knowledge, the “ calculating machine ; ” and 
to a history of the trials and expenses incurred in carrying the idea of con- 
structing the machine to perfection, at least one-half of the volume now 
before us is devoted. Few will take up this work mthout expressing their 
surprise that human patience could- have sustained so many defeats. The 
narrative of the years spent in carrying out his grand aim is a tale of the war 
between obstacles and perseverance, which is carried on whenever a great 
mind exerts itself to achieve a great end. It is almost mar\"ellous to think 
how Mr. Babbage ever succeeded in giving substance to the profound scheme 
projected by his brain, and we conceive there are few cases in the annals of 
discovery which afford in so marked a manner a proof of the immense power 
of human energy when persistently brought to bear upon a complex and 
mighty problem. 
It would be useless to endeavour — within these limits — to follow the author 
through his description of his interviews with Government on the question 
of his discovery, but we venture to assert that a more glaring instance of 
“ circumlocutionism ” has never yet been put on record. Year after year did 
he toil at his task, expending thousands in experimenting, always confident 
of final success but invariably opposed by difficulties. At length did Govern- 
ment expend a small sum in carrying on the work ; but the supply soon 
ceased and the then Chancellor of the Exchequer pronounced the project 
* “ Passages from the Life of a Philosopher.” By Charles Babbage, Esq., 
M.A., F.R.S., &c. Pp. 496. London : Longman & Co. 1864. 
AUTOBIOGEAPHY OF A PHILOSOPHER.* 
to be — 
