230 
Analyses of Boohs. 
[April, 
Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liver- 
pool (during the Seventieth Session4i88o-8i). No. XXXV. 
London : Longmans and Co. Liverpool : D. Marples and 
Co., Limited. 
From a variety of causes, into which we have no occasion to 
enter, this volume is somewhat late in making its appearance. 
Of the memoirs printed three only, or at most four, come 
within the legitimate scope of our cognizance. 
That the Inaugural Address of the President, Mr. E. R. Russell, 
concerns us little may be readily expedted if we call to mind an 
utterance of his contained in an Essay on “ Trevelyan’s Life of 
Macaulay.” The subjedt of the Address is “ The Independent 
Prerogative of the Understanding in the Domain of Moral 
Judgment.” 
A memoir on the “ Dimensions of the Stellar Universe,” by 
R. C. Johnson, F.R.A.S., is a summary of existing knowledge 
rather than a record of newly-discovered fadts or of original 
generalisations. The author’s objedts are to explain the difficul- 
ties which baffled all attempts prior to the invention of the tele- 
scope, to ascertain the distances of the stars, to describe what 
is known concerning the stars so measured, and, lastly, to show 
how from this knowledge there is being gradually elaborated “ a 
scheme that may possibly comprehend the physical connedtion 
of remoter stars and systems.” These points are expounded 
with clearness and ability. 
A paper by the Rev. Thomas Hincks, F.R.S., “ On a Collec- 
tion of Polyzoa from Bass’s Straits, presented by Capt. W. H. 
Cawne Warren to the Liverpool Free Museum,” records good 
original work. This colledtion was placed for examination in the 
hands of Mr. Hincks, well known as one of the greatest living 
authorities in this department of Zoology. It contains no fewer 
than go species, of which 23 are new to Science. Hence the 
author infers that in those regions much remains to be done. 
Twenty-two of the species are, it appears, common to European 
seas, but a large proportion of the remainder are peculiarly Aus- 
tralian. 
Another paper of merit is a description, by H. J. Carter, F.R.S., 
of Foraminifera and Sponges dredged up by Captain W. H. 
Cawne Warren in the Gulf of Manaar and in Bass’s Straits. 
A number of papers are simply mentioned in the Contents or 
briefly noticed in the Proceedings, though many of them might 
be of superior merit and interest to those printed in full. We 
notice a memoir, by T. Higgin, F.L.S., on “ Fresh-Water 
Sponges.” In it the author criticises the position taken by Prof. 
Huxley, P.R.S., that “ the preservation of the individual and the 
continuance of the species are the final causes of the organisa- 
tion ” of the fresh-water sponge. This view Mr. Higgin pro- 
