_A GRAMMAR OF SCIENCE._
The increasing specialization of the sciences and the consequent
occupation with the details and technical manipulations of a specialty
render it possible for many a student to secure the equipment needed
for his immediate activity, with but little appreciation of the general
principles that give direction and solidarity to his science, or of the
more general and fundamental conceptions which the various sciences
and the spirit and progress of science as a whole have in common. The
student runs the danger of gaining a certain familiarity with the
vocabulary and the usage of the language of science, but of ignoring
its grammar. One of the purposes met by Prof. Karl Pearson’s ‘The
Grammar of Science’ is to give the serious student an opportunity to
acquaint himself with these underlying conceptions--cause and effect
and probability, space and time, motion and matter and the composition
of the physical and organic worlds. It discusses with him and for him
the nature of the knowing process, and demonstrates how the sciences
stand--not for a literal copy of reality, but represent a special
abstraction and construction on the basis of experience, which serve
the purposes of intelligibility and logical system. A law of nature
is not an objective reality, but “a _résumé_ in mental shorthand,
which replaces for us a lengthy description of the sequences of our
sense-impressions. Law in the scientific sense ... owes its existence
to the creative power of his [man’s] intellect.” Science is thus not
the mere reflection of perceptual experience, but is dependent for its
advance quite as much upon the formation of appropriate conceptions
by the exercise of insight and a keen logical analysis and synthesis.
Hence, the importance of the imagination as a requisite for scientific
discovery, which leads Professor Pearson to regard Darwin and Faraday
as superior in this quality to the best of the poets and novelists.
Not only the content of the sciences but the spirit and the means that
guide its advance form part of the grammar of science. The nature of
the scientific method, the appreciation that the scope of science is
really coincident with the scope of verifiable knowledge; that science
represents a mode of approach and of inquiry, and that the scientist
or the scientifically-minded individual is characterized by a definite
logical attitude, by a manner of entering into relation with his
surroundings and of dealing with reality; that science discountenances
attempted short-cuts and inspired revelations, or guesses of the
riddles of existence; that it avoids metaphysic and impractical
speculation; that it justifies its existence and the energies which are
expended on its behalf by the mental training it provides in education,
by its illumination of the problems of life and society, by the
practical benefits it confers in the various fields of human activity,
as well as by the gratification it yields to some of the most permanent
and most worthy of our intellectual and æsthetic impulses--these
and other propositions are ably and interestingly presented and
constitute an essential portion of this very stimulating and clarifying
volume. The success of the work is attested by the appearance of this
second edition; the chief addition consists of a discussion of the
quantitative method as applied to biological phenomena, which the
readers of others of the author’s works will recognize as one of his
favorite subjects of investigation.
_THE TEACHING OF ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS._
The book with the above title, by David Eugene Smith, principal of
the State Normal School, at Brockport, N. Y., contains much of value,
presented in a very readable and attractive manner. The subjects
treated are arithmetic, algebra and geometry. About half the book is
devoted to the first. The author sketches the history of the teaching
of arithmetic from the earliest times, gives a critical examination of
the different systems which have been tried and aims to discover the
correct general principles upon which the instruction should proceed.
He notices the tendency of many of our schools to follow too closely
the Grube method, or a modification of it. The chapter on the present
teaching of arithmetic is full of valuable suggestions. Algebra and
geometry are treated in the same way. Much useless lumber is cleared
away, and the whole discussion is marked by strong common-sense, an
element not always present in discussions of this kind. The extreme
differentiation in the teaching of these three branches which prevails
in so many schools is condemned. It is urged that the blending of
algebraic method and notation with the higher parts of arithmetic, and
the early introduction of the inductive study of geometric form, both
contribute to the substantial progress and development of the student.
Valuable references are given to other writings for fuller discussions
on special topics. These references cover works in English, French,
German and Italian.
_GEOLOGY._
Professor Suess’s great work, ‘Das Antlitz der Erde,’ has been
translated into French with emendations and annotations, and thus
becomes accessible to an enlarged number of readers. No strictly
geological publication since the time of the first appearance of
Sir Charles Lyell’s ‘Principles of Geology’ has brought together so
many data concerning the nature of the altitude of the continents in
relation to sea level. Geologists have generally assumed that it is
the land which rises or sinks when a change of level takes place in
relation to the sea. Professor Suess attacks this view and endeavors to
show that the ocean has and has had its great movements, now keeping
up its waters in the equatorial district, now accumulating about the
poles and transgressing the low lands of its borders. An exhaustive
review of the geological structure of the known parts of the earth,
particularly complete with regard to the borders of the oceans and the
the Mediterranean, is presented as a basis for discussing the evidence
of such changes as the sinking in modern geological times of lands or
islands in what is now the North Atlantic. By the sinking of the ocean
floor, it is held that the sea level is lowered around the earth, thus
giving rise to emerged lands. Parts of these plateaus have in turn
sunk, and so the earth has experienced varied and often sudden changes
of the relations of land and sea. The work is entertainingly written,
despite the laborious compilation of geological details, which is made
evident in its numerous chapters. The geological explanation of the
Noachian Deluge is perhaps one of the most interesting sections of
the work. Aside from the theory which the work sets forth, it affords
the best general survey of the earth’s surface which is at present
available in any language. It has been supplied with numerous recent
references by M. de Margerie and his able assistants in the work of
translation.
_A YEARBOOK OF BIOLOGY._
_L’Année Biologique_ for 1897.--Every year the number of biological
workers increases, the number of repositories of researches is
multiplied and the difficulties of keeping informed of the results
obtained in even a restricted department of science are enhanced.
Hence, new bibliographical works are ever welcome, especially if they
give not only titles but abstracts. _L’Année Biologique_ does not
only this, but more, for its abstracts are likewise critical reviews
indicating the true place in the science of the results given in any
paper. It goes still further, in that it summarizes the advance made
during the year in each subject, and the contents of the volume are
rendered still more accessible by a thorough author-genus subject
index. Everything seems to be done that is possible to make the
results of general biological studies available. Occasionally figures
are reproduced and comprehensive, synoptic articles on the recent
advances in one subject are printed. In the present volume there is a
report on senile degenerescence, by Elie Metchnikov; on the urinary
tubules in vertebrates, with seventeen figures, by P. Vignon; and on
the conditions of existence in and the bionomic divisions of fresh
waters by G. Prouvot. The reviews are all signed by the authors, the
critical remarks being bracketed. Many of the reviews have the dignity
of distinct contributions to science, as where a half-page abstract is
followed by a two-page discussion. The reviewers, or ‘collaborators,’
are drawn from various countries, America, Austria, Belgium, England,
Russia and Scotland being represented in addition to France. This
periodical may be commended in the strongest terms to biologists and to
others interested in the results of biology. It is surprising that the
work is still so little known in this country. Scientific men have a
right to take pride in the unremunerative efforts of the chief editor,
Professor Delage, to make accessible the literature of the science of
general biology in order to facilitate its advancement.
_ASTROPHYSICS._
The ‘Atlas of Representative Stellar Spectra, together with a
Discussion of the Evolutional Order of the Stars,’ by Sir Wm. Huggins,
K. C. B., and Lady Huggins (Wesley & Son), is not only a sumptuous
and beautifully illustrated volume, but is also of great scientific
value. Sir Wm. Huggins belongs to that group of men in England who,
unconnected with any university, devote themselves to research for the
pure love of truth. His distinguished services to science received
recognition on the occasion of the Queen’s diamond jubilee, when with
only two other scientific men he received the order of knighthood. His
accomplished wife, who is his constant coadjutor, was the only woman
mentioned in the list of Jubilee honors. Sir Wm. Huggins may be said
to be the founder of the so-called ‘New Astronomy,’ for scarcely more
than a quarter of a century ago his spectroscope, turned upon a newly
discovered star, first revealed the cause of the sudden lighting up of
these beacons in the heavens, and turned upon the nebula showed them
to be of glowing gas. Since that time the telescope of the Tulse Hill
Observatory, armed with spectroscope and camera, has been constantly
and laboriously analyzing the light of star, comet and nebula, to solve
the mystery of their constitution. “We never go anywhere,” said Lady
Huggins; “astronomy, at best, is a heart-breaking object of devotion
beneath English skies, and we are always at home to catch every gleam
between the clouds.”
This book gives, in charming narrative, which would be read with
interest by one previously ignorant of the subject, the history of the
pioneer work “when nearly every observation revealed a new fact, and
almost every night’s work was red-lettered by some discovery.”
There follow full details of later work, especially of the first
detection, by the shifting of the lines of their spectra, of the motion
of stars towards us or from us in the line of sight. We learn also how
terrestrial chemistry has been enriched by this study of the stars, and
how the nature of long known elements like hydrogen and the existence
of undiscovered elements like helium have been first made out from
stellar spectra.
But, as the supreme problem for the biologist is the development
of man, so the supreme problem for the astronomer is that of the
evolutional order of the stars. This problem, too, is discussed in the
light of the discoveries at Tulse Hill. From the simple but beautiful
harmonic system of hydrogen lines which characterizes a white star like
Vega, we learn how we pass to the more developed star of a solar type,
like Capella, and thence to Arcturus, and Belelgueze, which indicate a
still later stage of development. At least this is the theory of the
author. Aside from its great theme lucidly discussed the book deserves
to be upon every library table as a superb specimen of bookmaking. For
once, beautiful truth is promulgated in fitting guise. Lady Huggins is
an artist and archæologist as well as an astronomer, and the initial
letters of the chapters are illuminated with original sketches and
designs from quaint old manuscripts, which make the book artistically
as well as astronomically worthy of the prize which it received from
the Royal Society as the most distinguished contribution to the
scientific literature of the year.
_EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE._
Anyone who wishes to gain a fairly adequate idea of what experiments
on living animals have accomplished for the welfare of the human race
and of other animals as well, can now do so by reading ‘Experiments
on Animals,’ by Stephen Paget. Mr. Paget has collected evidence
showing the part that animal experiments have played in the progress
of physiology, pathology, bacteriology and therapeutics. He has not
ventured to offer opinion or even statements unsupported by exact
and verifiable facts. A large part of the book’s space is filled
by original quotations from scientific workers, from Galen down to
the recent students of the malaria parasite. It shows plainly that
knowledge of the processes of life in health and disease has throughout
depended on experiments on living substances. Mr. Paget’s book is not
dependent for its interest solely on the laudable curiosity to know the
worth of animal experiments. For these have been so important in the
science of medicine that their story is at the same time the history
of a great number of medical discoveries. There is, too, a freshness
and biographical interest in the quotations from the famous past and
present students of medical science which makes them very readable.
_ICHTHYOLOGY FOR ANGLERS._
In his “Familiar Fish, their Habits and Capture,” Mr. Eugene McCarthy
has put forth a readable volume which doubtless will prove popular
among the disciples of Izaak Walton, for it is essentially a book for
anglers, written by an angler of experience. A preliminary chapter,
devoted to fish-culture, dwells on the destruction of eggs and fry in
nature and the necessity for artificial measures. It is a fairly good
general outline of the subject, although some of the methods described
are obsolete. The many breeders of ornamental fish will wonder whether
the author is intentionally facetious in stating that the “famous
double-tailed goldfish frequently seen are raised in Japan, and are
produced by violently shaking the eggs in a pan.”
About a third of the book is devoted to brief accounts of the
distribution, food, habits and peculiarities of the fresh-water fishes
most sought by anglers, the salmons, trouts, basses and pikes naturally
receiving most attention. The remaining pages deal chiefly with the
description of angling paraphernalia and methods, camping, boating and
useful data for sportsmen. By far the best chapters are those treating
of the ouananiche and its capture, as the author writes from ample
experience. He gives it first rank among our game fishes and holds that
“pound for pound the ouananiche can greatly outfight the salmon, and
none of the freshwater fishes can equal it in this respect; the black
bass approaches it the nearest but never equals it.”
The volume is freely illustrated with fishing scenes, angling apparatus
and twenty-five full-page figures of fishes, all but one of which are
copied, without credit, from the reports of the U.S. Fish Commission.
The author submitted his manuscript to President Jordan “to be
justified in advancing the claim” that the descriptions of the
different fishes “are absolutely reliable and correct,” and a prefatory
note by Dr. Jordan is in that author’s most pleasing style and adds
considerably to the literary excellence of the volume; but evidently
that distinguished ichthyologist did not believe any responsibility
attached to him, for even a cursory glance by him over the manuscript
would have eliminated a number of ichthyological incongruities, such
as the inclusion of the white bass, one of the Serranidæ, in the same
family as the black basses (Centrarchidæ). The author’s conception
of zoölogical nomenclature and classification is decidedly novel. In
the final chapter, on “scientific names of fish mentioned,” the first
species referred to is _Salmo salar_, of which it is stated that “the
word _salmo_ is used in connection with a large variety of the trouts,
to designate the family or descent. It is the first name given, as
is the case with all other kinds of fish, being the specific name
indicating the species. The other names following are subspecific.” The
land-locked salmon of the Saguenay River is by some systematic writers
regarded as a variety of the sea salmon, and bears the name _Salmo
salar ouananiche_ McCarthy. Strange to say, this is the only species
in the volume for which the name of the original describer is given,
and in explaining his own connection with the fish, Mr. McCarthy says:
“McCarthy, so named from his first writing fully regarding the fish!”
To the zoölogist the volume will be of no use, as it embodies few new
observations on the fishes considered and is largely a compilation
from other well-known works. The author, however, deserves credit for
bringing the subject to the attention of anglers in such an attractive
form; and, as an attempt to extend the knowledge of the habits,
distribution and relationships of our game fishes among this large and
influential class of citizens, the volume should be accorded a welcome.
_MICROSCOPY OF DRINKING-WATER._
Mr. G. C. Whipple, Director of the Mount Prospect Laboratory of the
Brooklyn Waterworks, has prepared a handbook for the water analyst
and the waterworks engineer, with the title given above. It deals
with the purposes, methods and results of the biological examination
of drinking-water, affording means for the identification of the
microscopic life found in water supplies and suggesting means for the
elimination or control of those organisms which disagreeably affect the
color or odor of potable waters. The construction of reservoirs, the
storage of surface and of ground waters and the growth of organisms
in pipes are also discussed. Though the motive of the book is thus
technical, the subject is developed by the author along broad lines
in a thoroughly scientific manner, and he has brought together a
great deal of information, not only for the sanitary engineer, but
also for the physicist, the chemist and the biologist. The problems
in limnology, such as the temperature, stagnation and circulation of
reservoir waters; the distribution and relative numbers of different
organisms and their relation to chemical analyses are discussed in the
light of the results of many years’ investigation of water-supplies.
The seasonal succession of organisms, their movements with respect
to light and other stimuli, and their horizontal and vertical
distribution, are in like manner fully treated. The scope of the work
and the treatment of the subject make the book a valuable one alike for
engineering and biological laboratories and for the general library.