BEVIEWS. 
71 
ment for tliis preposterous speculation, his own emotions on entering 
the saddling ground at Epsom before the start for the Derby,” "Will 
Professor Owen tell us whether he thinks the steam engine, and the compass, 
and the electric telegraph were prepared and destined in a similar manner, 
and if not, where he discerns that superior intelligence which selected the 
former set of influences rather than the latter ? 
The most startling phase of the author’s mental development is that which 
unfolds itself in his open conviction of the views of M. Pouchet. This 
will pain and surprise not a few of his ‘^creationist” supporters considerably. 
Yet we think it is the one “ saving clause ” in the volume, the one redeem- 
ing feature of a work which, however comprehensive, is so full of objection- 
able features that we trust it may not be accepted abroad as the reflex of 
British science. We are certainly of opinion that on this one point of spon- 
taneous generation Professor Owen has allowed his mind to arrive at an un- 
biassed conclusion, and in this solitary instance we think he is in advance 
of his confreres in this country, with the single exception of Dr. Hughes 
Bennett of Edinburgh, whose able essay in our present number is in great 
measure a demonstration of the principle of heterogeny. Professor Owen 
speaks his mind openly and honestly on this question, and lends the weight 
of his authority to the side of heterodoxy. But it is heterodoxy which we 
do not think we go too far in asserting will soon be very generally accepted. 
Looking at the work which Professor Owen has just completed as a whole 
we must say, as we did at first, that it disappoints us. On the other hand, 
we are bound to confess that it contains a huge store of anatomical facts, 
and that once the reader has mastered Professor Owen’s style he will find a 
peculiar fascination in the book. 
K. PACKABD, who is a constant contributor to the pages of our inte- 
resting contemporary, the American Naturalist, and who is a careful 
student of insect-life and structure, has in the work now published given us 
not only a guide to the study of insects zoologically, but a very excellent 
anatomical treatise on the class Insecta. In addition, he has offered some 
remarks of great practical value on the insects injurious and beneficial to 
crops. The illustrations, which, like those of most American works on 
Zoology, are printed in white on a black ground, are both handsome and 
accurate, and in some instances are taken from the fine memoir presented 
last year to the Boston Natural History Society by Professor Wyman. The 
account of the development of the ovum seems to us to be exceedingly well 
and intelligibly stated. The author has not merely transferred the state- 
ment of some text book to his pages, but has drawn abundantly on his own 
original observations, and has made frequent reference to the valuable in- 
vestigations of Zaddach and Kathke. We wish we had space at our disposal 
* ‘‘A Guide to the Study of Insects,” by A. S. Packard, jun.. M.D. 
Salem, U.S. 1868. 
THE STUDY OF INSECTS.* 
