1 883.] 
Analyses of Books . 
99 
cross-fertilisation. Thus we see how in the light of Evolutionist 
principles such a stray fadt as the favourite locality of a flower 
acquires a meaning, and how it in turn aids in confirming those 
very principles. 
On the colours of flowers the author makes, in passing, some 
interesting remarks, from which a lesson unwelcome to the modern 
asstheticists may be drawn. These good people, for some reason 
not very apparent, have an especial love for yellow flowers. Now 
as any truly philosophical botanist well knows, and as Mr. Allen 
does not fail to point out, “ the most primitive flowers are yellow ; 
those a little above them in the scale have usually become white ; 
those more highly evolved are generally red or pink ; and the 
highest grade of all, the blossoms peculiarly modified for bees and 
butterflies, are almost always blue or purple.” If we turn again 
to consider leaves we find a yellow colour associated with decay. 
And if we consider the processes by which artificial colours are 
manufactured, we shall find that inattention, carelessness, too 
high a heat, or an excessive prolongation of the adtion, will give 
other colours a yellow cast or turn them altogether yellow. Hence 
the worship of the sunflower and the daffodil is altogether an aber- 
ration, from which a fine feeling for the beautiful would preserve 
even the unscientific mind. A true aestheticism will transfer its 
love and reverence to red, purple, and blue flowers. We may here 
see, also, the reason why it is rare to find yellow and blue species 
in one and the same genus, or yellow and blue varieties in the 
same genus. We see also the reason why yellow flowers are so* 
abundant ; they are within the scope of Nature’s “ ’prentice 
hand.” 
“The Trout Jump ” is a curious medley of interesting matter, 
leading sometimes to difficult philosophical questions. The 
author writes : — “ One of the great dangers, indeed, which sur- 
round the path of scientific psychology is that of being too 
exclusively human. Here, more than anywhere else in Science, 
the old Greek dodtrine that man is the measure of all things, 
seems especially to beset us on every side.” This saying may 
be, and is, taken in two senses, so different that the one may be 
pronounced nonsense and the other a profound truth. “ Man the 
measure of all things ” is commonly understood to mean that 
everything in the world exists with reference to man, and is ar- 
ranged with a view to his interest and convenience. In the other 
or idealist meaning it is simply an admission of the purely pheno- 
menal charadter of all our knowledge. 
In the same chapter the author introduces his hypothesis that 
“ in every case a taste for colour has been aroused in the creatures 
themselves during their constant intercourse with brilliant sur- 
roundings and their continual quest for brilliant articles of food.” 
The rule, however, that the most gaily-coloured species are 
flower-feeders or fruit-eaters, is not without signal exceptions, as 
Mr. A. R. Wallace has indeed pointed out. It fails in such groups 
