i88 3 .] 
Analyses of Books . 613 
believe that knowledge was to some extent handed down in the 
human species prior to the development of speech, as we see 
among the lower animals. 
There are other passages on which issue might be joined in 
the columns of journals devoted to theological, historical, or 
political questions, but into which we cannot enter. The work, 
whatever may be thought of the subsidiary opinions here and 
there expressed, is at any rate a fair, temperate, and clear expo- 
sition of the creed of the Agnostic. Those who study it may 
be preserved from errors misleading to the public and discredit- 
able to themselves. 
The School of Mines and Industries , Ballaarat , Victoria , Aus- 
tralia. Ballaarat Science Lectures. First Series, 1882. 
A Course of Popular Science Ledtures delivered in the 
Ledture-Hall of the School during the Winter of 1882. 
Ballaarat: James McHutchison. 
Of these Ledtures several are of decided interest, and may 
fairly claim our notice. 
In a discourse on Alchemy, delivered by Mr. G. Foord, of the 
Royal Mint, Melbourne, the speaker noticed the belief, common 
in the days of Queen Elizabeth, that worms, snakes, and eels 
might be produced by fermentation. It would seem that in some 
parts of Scotland, even to the present day, it is half-believed 
that a horse-hair placed in a cask of water will gradually become 
an eel. 
The Rev. T. E. Ick, M.A., gives an able Ledture on the 
Wonders of Coral Life. His treatment on the subjedt is fully 
on a level with the latest results of investigation. He brings 
forward a teleological explanation of the fadt that the trees on a 
coral island grow densest and highest on either side of the 
opening into the lagoon, and finds here a special arrangement 
for the safe guidance of mariners. We would remind him that 
as “ it is an ill wind which blows nobody good,” so it must be 
an exceptional circumstance indeed which has not a useful 
phase. 
Dr. J. F. Usher takes for his subjedt Human Physiology, under 
the title “ Body and Bones.” His Ledture has rather, if we 
may use the expression, a buffo charadter. He ventures on the 
statement — “ A physiologist lately declared that he thought he 
had conclusively proved a certain point after he had vivisedted 
or otherwise experimented on 4000 dogs, but that on similarly 
experimenting on 4000 more he found his first conclusions 
wrong.” The internal evidence of this case is so doubtful that 
we must take the liberty of asking whether the authority is Baron 
