292 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
the first in more senses than one, English account of the interesting geo- 
logical facts concerning the growth of coral-reefs. There is, however, one 
point on which we may observe that the book has especial importance, and 
that is with reference to the valuable work which has been done within 
the last few years on the American continent by Professor Dana. It is 
the more worthy of note because Professor Dana, strange to say, accepts 
views which are in point of fact diametrically opposed to those advanced 
by Mr. Darwin. In this book, however, Mr. Darwin endeavours to prove, 
and we think most satisfactorily so — though we shall dwell on this subject 
in our next review — that his own views are in the main correct. And he 
cites the evidence of the late Professor J. Beete Jukes in his favour, for the 
latter says, in his account of the voyage of H.M.S. Fly : — “ After seeing 
much of the Great Barrier Reefs, and reflecting much upon them, and 
trying if it were possible by any means to evade the conclusions to which 
Mr. Darwin has come, I cannot help adding that his hypothesis is perfectly 
satisfactory to my mind, and rises beyond a mere hypothesis into the true 
theory of coral reefs.” But then, on the other hand, there is the evidence 
of Chamisso, which is distinctly opposite. However, we shall see in our 
next notice towards whom the mass of testimony predominates. It will 
suffice here to point out that Mr. Darwin gives an abundance of evidence, 
much of it quite new, bearing on this important question ; and that it is in 
his usually happy style, which for terseness and clearness are almost un- 
paralleled in the English language. There is, too, another quality which 
it would be unjust not to indicate, and that is the manner in which the 
author deals with his opponents — it is invariably with kindness and con- 
sideration. Every one of the points is pushed even more than they would 
be by the writer himself ; and wherever they appear to outweigh Mr. Dar- 
win’s evidence, they are constantly and fully admitted. We have, then, 
said enough to show the quality of the book before us ; we regret to have to 
put off our criticism of it for so long a period. 
NE had almost thought that Lardner’s books, though they were excel- 
lent at the date of their publication, could hardly have been produced 
at this date with much chance of success. However, we fancy that in 
issuing a new edition the publishers of the present volume have not been 
unwise in their selection of an editor, and therefore, from this fact alone, we 
have reason to imagine that the book has been brought up to date. And 
this is really the case ; so that we may say that the editor’s labours have 
not been thrown away, but, on the contrary, that they have produced a 
* “ Handbook of Natural Philosophy.” By Dionysius Lardner, D.C.L. 
“Hydrostatics and Pneumatics,” new edition, the greater part re-written by 
Benjamin Loewy, F.R.A.S., Lecturer on Physics in University College. 
Lockwood & Co., 1874. 
LARDNER’S HYDROSTATICS.* 
