108 
BAUER. 
omer as long as he had to confine himself to mere celestial 
observations and the comparatively rapid strides which oc- 
curred as soon as some of the observed phenomena could be 
either imitated by, or be compared with, those derived by 
laboratory experiment. The investigator, he says, must he 
absolutely free from preconceptions and be careful, cautious, 
and unbiased in his interpretation of what his senses may 
reveal to him. lie illustrates how Man, called jokingly “das 
Ursachenthier” (the animal ever bent on ascertaining the 
cause of things), proceeds in ferreting out the why and 
wherefore of observed phenomena, and how his methods of 
circumspection develop with the advance of knowledge. 
Though Man cannot determine the “Endursachen,” or 
ultimate causes of things, the field open to him to discover 
the laws governing phenomena or vice versa , classifying and 
enumerating those which follow a certain revealed law, is, 
nevertheless, still very large and sufficient to tax his energies. 
Witness, for example, the host of observed phenomena obey- 
ing the law of inverse squares! 
The remaining sections of Litt row’s article deal with the 
reduction of the experiments to the laws of motion, the nu- 
merical expression of the observed results in definite units, 
the importance of the part played by instruments or 
mechanical appliances, derivation of laws governing the 
observations, methods of ascertaining these laws, methods of 
reduction and of publication, and errors to be avoided. 
These two articles will show sufficiently the character and 
scope of similar ones we should like to see in our standard 
English and American encyclopedias.* Such information 
is contained in some measure, at least, though not as com- 
prehensively, in the modern German book of reference, 
Brockhaus’s “Conversations-Lexikon,” as also in the “Grande 
Encyclopaedia” of the French. It is truly remarkable that 
there should he such an oversight in our “International 
Encyclopaedia,” when it is remembered that the editor-in- 
* Chamber’s Encyclopaedia is found to contain a short article on 
“Experiment;” also one on “Observation.” 
