55 ^ 
Notices of Books. 
[October* 
A Science Primer, On the Nature of Things. ByJ. G. Mac= 
vicar, A.M., LL.D., D.D. Edinburgh and London ; W, 
Blackwood and Sons. 
Dr. Macvicar uses the word “ Primer ” in a somewhat peculiar 
sense. It is generally taken to signify a plain, simple, elementary 
treatise which a mere tyro may comprehend, and which, passing 
over controversial matters, deals merely with what is fully esta- 
blished and generally recognised. From all this the Primer” 
before us differs widely. It contains much which we, after a life 
devoted to science, find ourselves unable to understand clearly; 
much that is, to say the least, doubtful, and much that sadly 
lacks demonstration. The very methods of science are, in our 
opinion, completely ignored, and the results seem to us indefi- 
nite and intangible. The author tells us that his work is 
u grounded on the belief of [in ?] an Almighty Being possessing 
unity, omnipresence, and ever-blessedness, and awarding exist- 
ence to a creation for the sake of manifesting Himself and 
extending blessedness beyond Himself, and, in a word, to be a 
mirror of Himself so far as the finite can bear a likeness to the 
Infinite. After setting out with this cosmical law of assimila- 
tion, by its aid alone bearing on only one kind of created sub- 
stance or energy (‘ mind-stuff’), he deduces the creation of the 
world of Spirits, and as their home the Universal Ether or 
medium of light. Then, as a beautiful cloud-work in the azure 
of the Spirit World, he gives the genesis of Matter and the 
molecular system, culminating in this planet in the construction 
of the myo-cerebral organism, whose characteristic function is 
to construct a powerfnl tissue of organised ether or the matter 
of light, which being unified in its focus of vital action into an 
element of energy so powerful as to have recovered the primal 
attribute of energy — namely, mental power — is a spirit.” In 
consideration for scientific men he advises them to turn 
first to the latter part of the work, where he thinks that he 
has verified his theory “ by a detailed appeal to natural 
phenomena, and experiments in physics and chemistry.” 
Thither accordingly we proceed, in the hope of finding a key to 
what has gone before. But on arriving at our destination we 
find experimental evidence is wanting. There are assertions, 
but they lack demonstration. We read, p. 65, “ Thus with 
regard to silica itself, its molecular structure, as obtained by our 
method, shows that it is not destined to remain for ever dead, 
giving to nature nothing but barren rock and sand. Every atom 
of it is capable of development into coupled atoms of oxygen 
and carbon, and a tetratom of hydrogen. This the acffual che- 
mistry must assent to, thus far at least as to admit that their 
atomic weights are the same. 
u 
Silica, at weight 6o : 
'2O =32' 
2C =24 
4 H= 4 
= 60.” 
