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will be seen on examining this table that the temperature imparted to the thermometer at the expiration of 36 minutes, was only 37° F., in place of 61 2° observed by Mr. Williams; the rate of discrepancy being thus 37:612=1: 16'56.

This extraordinary discrepancy between the temperatures published by Mr. Williams in his original communication, and the distances assumed in his reply to Lord Rosse, having been fully established by the experiment, the arrangement was changed, the thermometer being brought within 3 in. of the flames. But even at this short distance, the thermometer exposed to the radiant heat during an interval of 29 minutes, indicated a differential temperature of only 22.6° F., in place of 612° F. as stated by Mr. Williams-a fact clearly showing that the high temperature observed by him was owing to the intervention of the box in which he inserted the thermometer. Such a box composed of polished tin plate, open at the end presented towards the flame, was accordingly applied; its position being such that the space between the thermometer and the flame measured 3 in., as before. The 17 jets being ignited and the supply of gas regulated at 5 cubic feet per hour, the column of the thermometer rose rapidly, attaining a height of 136° in 20 minutes. Deducting the temperature of the surrounding air, 63.5°, the increment of heat proved to be 72.5°, thus showing that by the intervention of the box, the differential temperature was increased threefold. It scarcely requires explanation that owing to the close proximity of the flame the air in the box becomes heated, imparting its heat to the thermometer, by convection; while the reflection of the heat rays against the sides and bottom of the polished box, imparts radiant heat to those parts of the bulb which are not exposed to the direct radiation of the flame.

In view of the foregoing explanation it will be evident that, in a properly conducted experiment, the temperatures recorded in Mr. Williams' table cannot be produced unless the thermometer be placed even nearer than 3 in. from the flame. But admitting that the recorded temperatures could be developed at a distance of 3 in., it will be found that the mistake to which Lord Rosse has called attention is fatal to Mr. Williams' deductions. Referring to Table B, constructed in accordance with TABLE B.

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table, they differ to a very great extent. For instance, while the two jets on each side of the centre develope respectively III and o 90 (the energy transmitted by the central jet being represented by unity), the two outside jets develope respectively 2-77 and o51. Accordingly, the energy developed by the central pair will be 1'11 +0.90 201, while the outside pair develope 2'77 +0.51 = 328. Leaving out of sight the imperfections of the method adopted in making the observations, this great difference of the radiant energy transmitted to the thermometer by each pair of jets, is conclusive against the deduction concerning diathermacy of flame, which Mr. Williams has based on his pub. lished table of temperatures. J. ERICSSON

SCIENTIFIC SERIALS THE Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles contains a long and admirable article by Prof. Plantamour, on the meteorology of Geneva and the Great St. Bernard for 1871, a year of very exceptional weather at these places. In a series of carefully compiled tables, the various meteorological phenomena observed are compared in every possible way, and deserve the study of meteorologists. The second paper is an exceedingly interesting one from the work published by M. de Candolle, "Histoire des Sciences et des savants depuis deux Siècles," &c., containing the result of much acute and original research, on Transformations of Movement among Organised Beings. The other two principal papers are one by M. Ernest Favre, on the Geology of the Ralligstöcke on the banks of Lake Thun, and one by MM. de la Rive and Sarasin on the rotation under magnetic influence of the electric discharge in rarefied gases, and on the mechanical action which this discharge may exercise in its movement of rotation.

Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, As, and Letters, 1870-72. This academy was organised in 1870, "by a convention called by the Governor and more than one hundred other prominent citizens of the State," its general objects being "the material, intellectual, and social advancement of the

State," as well as, or rather by means of the advancement of, science, literature, and the arts. This first volume of Tran sactions contains some specimens of the work already done by the Academy in its various departments, to which is prefixed an extremely interesting résumé of what has already been done by Wisconsin for science. This is followed by a long list of papers on various subjects read before the Academy since its formation. Of the scientific papers contained in the volume before us, Dr. Lapham contributes one "On the Classification of Plants;" Mr. J. G. Knapp "On the Conifera of the Rocky Mountains;" Prof. Irving on "The Age of the Quartzites, Schists, and Conglomerate of Sank Co. Wisconsin;" Prof. Chamberlain a few suggestions, some of them original, as to a Basis for the Gradation of the Vertebrata; and Prof. Davies "On Potentials and their Application to Physical Science;" in which he attempts to give a physical interpretation to the potential function, and to illustrate it and its use by some simple examples. We hope the Academy will continue to produce as satisfactory work in the future as it has done since it commenced.

WE have received numbers 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the Australian Mechanic and Journal of Science and Art for August, September, October, and November, and highly creditable is the quality of the contents to its able editor, Mr. Ellery, Superintendent of Melbourne Observatory, and a hopeful sign of the intelligence and progress of the Aust alian people it is, that such a high-class scientific journal should have a paying circulation in so young a colony. Mr. Ellery himself is contributing a series of valuable and well-illustrated articles on "How to make and how to use a Spectroscope," while another contributor, "Delta," concludes in the August number a series of seven papers on "Spectrum Analysis." The subjects treated of are very various, and mostly practical, but whatever the subject of an article may be, science and the application of scientific principles are never lost sight of. There is a series of articles on agriculture, in which the application of science to this department of industry is well illustrated; and in an article on "Science and Govern. ment," principally with reference to the supply of coal, the writer concludes thus :-"There is scarcely any subject within the range of material science, however trifling it may at first ap pear, that has not a direct and important interest for the whole community, and especially for those who hold the responsibility

of conducting the affairs and guarding the interests of the State." Would that all ministers would realise and act upon the great truth, so clearly and pithily expressed. Mr. Ellery contributes monthly a very valuable and interesting set of "Astronomical Notes," in which he gives all the details in a tabular form necessary to find out the positions, on the first of each month, of the planets, nebula, clusters, and double and other peculiar stars. We hope the journal will have all the success it well deserves.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES LONDON

:

Royal Society, Jan. 30.-Prof. George Busk, vice-president, in the chair. The following communications were read: "Note on the Origin of Bacteria, and on their Relation to the Process of Putrefaction.' By Dr. H. Charlton Bastian, F.R.S.

In his now celebrated memoir of 1862, M. Pasteur asserted and claimed to have proved (1) that the putrefaction occurring in certain previously boiled fluids after exposure to the air was due to the contamination of the fluids by Bacteria, or their germs, which had before existed in the atmosphere; and (2) that all the organisms found in such fluids have been derived more or less immediately from the reproduction of germs which formerly existed in the atmosphere.

The results of a long series of experiments have convinced me that both these views are untenable.

In the first place, it can be easily shown that living Bacteria, or their germs, exist very sparingly in the atmosphere, and that solutions capable of putrefying are not commonly infected from this source.

It has now been very definitely ascertained that certain fluids exist which, after they have been boiled, are incapable of giving birth to Bacteria, although they continue to be quite suitable for the support and active multiplication of any such organisms as may have been purposely added to them. Amongst such fluids I may name that now commonly known as "Pasteur's solution," and also one which I have myself more commonly used, consisting of a simple aqueous solution of neutral ammonic tartrate and neutral sodic sulphate." When portions of either of these fluids are boiled and poured into superheated flasks, they will continue quite clear for many days, or even for weeks-that is to say, although the short and rather narrow neck of the flask remains open the fluids will not become turbid, and no Bacteria are to be discovered when they are submitted to pical examination.

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But in order to show that such fluids are still thoroughly favourable media for the multiplication of Bacteria, all that is necessary is to bring either of them into contact with a glass rod previously dipped into a fluid containing such organisms. In about thirty-six hours after this has been done (the temperature being about 80° F.), the fluid, which had hitherto remained clear, becomes quite turbid, and is found, on examination with the microscope, to be swarming with Bacteria.+

Facts of the same kind have also been shown by Dr. Burdon Sanderson to hold good for portions of boiled "Pasteur's solution." Air was even drawn through such a fluid daily for a time, and yet it continued free from Bacteria.

Evidence of this kind has already been widely accepted as justifying the conclusion that living Bacteria or their germs are either wholly absent from, or, at most, only very sparingly distributed through the atmosphere. The danger of infection from the atmosphere having thus been got rid of and shown to be delusive, I am now able to bring forward other evidence tending to show that the first Bacteria which appear in many botled infusions (when they subsequently undergo putrefactive changes) are evolved de novo in the fluids themselves. These experiments are moreover so simple, and may be so easily repeated, that the evidence which they are capable of supplying lies within the reach of all.

That boiling the experimental fluid destroys the life of any Bacteria or Bacteria germs pre-existing therein is now almost universally admitted. It may moreover be easily demonstrated. If a portion of "Pasteur's solution" be purposely infected with baile 1 Bacteria and subsequently boiled for two or three minutes, it will continue (if left in the same flask) cleat for an indefinite * In the proportion of to grains of the former and 3 of the latter to 1 ounce of Ji tilled water.

+ The Modes of Origin of Lowest Organisms, 1871, pp. 30, 1.

1 Thirteenth Report of the Medical Officer of the Privy Council 1871),

p. 59.

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period; whilst a similarly infected portion of the same fluid, not subsequently boiled, will rapidly become turbid. Precisely similar phenomena occur when we operate with the neutral fluid which I have previously mentioned; and yet M. Pasteur has ventured to assert that the germs of Bacteria are not destroyed in neutral or slightly alkaline fluids which have been merely raised to the boiling-point.*

Even M. Pasteur, however, admits that the germs of Bacteria and other allied organisms are killed in slightly acid fluids which have been boiled for a few minutes; so that there is a perfect unanimity of opinion (amongst those best qualified to judge) as to the destructive effects of a heat of 212° F. upon any Bacteria or Bacteria germs which such fluids may contain.

Taking such a fluid, therefore, in the form of a strong filtered infusion of turnip, we may place it after ebullition in a super. heated flask with the assurance that it contains no living orga nisms. Having ascertained also by our previous experiments with the boiled saline fluids that there is no danger of infection by Bacteria from the atmosphere, we may leave the rather narrow mouth of the flask open, as we did in these experiments. But when this is done, the previously clear turnip infusion invariably becomes turbid in one or two days (the temperature being about 70° F.), owing to the presence of myriads of Bacteria.

Thus if we take two similar flasks, one of which contains a boiled "Pasteur's solution," and the other a boiled turnip infu sion, and if we place them beneath the same bell-jar, it will be found that the first fluid remains clear and free from Bacteria for an indefinite period, whilst the second invariably becomes turbid in one or two days.

What is the explanation of these discordant results? We have a right to infer that all pre-existing life has been destroyed in each of the fluids; we have proved also that such fluids are not usually infected by Bacteria derived from the air-in this very case, in fact, the putrescible saline fluid remains pure, although the organic infusion standing by its side rapidly patrifies. We can only infer, therefore, that whilst the boiled saline solution is quite incapable of engendering Bacteria, such organisms are able to arise de novo in the boiled organic infusion.

Although this inference may be legitimately drawn from such experiments as I have referred to, fortunately it is confirmed and strengthened by the labours of many investigators who have worked under the influence of much more stringent conditions, and in which closed vessels of various kinds have been employed.

Whilst we may therefore infer (1) that the putrefaction which occurs in many previously boiled fluids when exposed to the air is not due to a contamination by germs derived from the atmo sphere, we have also the same right to conclude (2) that in many cases the first organisms which appear in such fluids have arisen de novo, rather than by any process of reproduction from preexisting forms of life.

Admitting, therefore, that Bacteria are ferments capable of initiating putrefactive changes, I am a firm believer also in the existence of not-living ferments under the influence of which putrefactive changes may be initiated in certain fluids--changes which are almost invariably accompanied by a new birth of living particles capable of rapidly developing into Bacteria.

"On Just Intonation in Music; with a description of a new Instrument for the easy control of all Systems of Tuning other than the ordinary equal Temperament." By R. H. M. Bosanquet.

The object of this communication is to place the improved systems of tuning within the reach of ordinary musicians; for this purpose the theory and practice are reduced to their simplest forms. A notation is described, adapted to use with ordinary written music. by which the notes to be performed are clearly distinguished. The design of a key-board is described, by which any system of tuning, except the ordinary equal temperament, can be controlled, if only the fifths of the system be all equal. The design is on a symmetrical principle, so that all passages and combina sions of notes are performed with the same handling, in whatever key they occur. The theory of the construction of scales is then developed, and a diagram is given, from which the charac

How unwarrantable such a conclusion appears to be, I have elsewhere endeavoured to show. See "Beginnings of Life," 1872, vol. i. pp. 326-313, and pp. 372-399+ See Beginnings of Life," vol. ii. p. 35, and vol. i. p. 463.

I See a recent communication by Prof. Burdon Sanderson, in NATURE January 9.

teristics of any required system can be ascertained by inspection. An account is then given of the application of such systems to the new key-board, and particularly of a harmonium, which has been constructed, and contains at present the division of the octave into fifty-three equal intervals in a complete form. Rules for tuning are given. Finally, the application of the system of fifty-three to the violin is discussed.

Throughout the work of former labourers in the same field is reviewed; the obligations of the writer are due to Helmholtz, the late General T. Perronet Thompson, F.R.S., and others.

"On the Composition and Origin of the Waters of a Salt Spring in Huel Seton Mine, with a Chemical and Microscopical Examination of certain Rocks in its Vicinity." By J. Arthur Phillips.

After giving some tables, the author proceeds as follows:A consideration of the various phenomena connected with the occurrence of this and other apparently similar springs, which have at different times been discovered in the district, would seem to lead to the inference that they all have some more or less direct communication with the sea, and that they are either the result of infiltration of sea-water through faults, or are true and independent sources which, before being tapped below the sea-level, had found their way to the ocean through faults or channels.

The following would appear, in the present state of our knowledge, a probable explanation of the origin of the Huel Seton spring. The cross-course is believed to extend through both granite and clay-slate to the sea. From the close contact of its surfaces, the presence of clay, and from other causes, this fault may be supposed not to be uniformly permeable by water, which can only follow a circuitous passage. In this way it penetrates to depths where reactions take place, which, although not entirely in accordance with the results of daily experience in our laboratories, can, after the investigations of M. Daubrée, M. de Sénarmont, and others, be readily understood. By the action of sea-water on silicates of calcium, silicates of sodium and chloride of calcium may be produced. The sulphate of sodium of the sea-water will be decomposed by this chloride of calcium, with the production of sulphate of calcium and chloride of sodium. The decomposition of clayey matter by common salt may produce chloride of aluminium and silicates of sodium, while the magnesium of the chloride of magnesium may be replaced by calcium; lastly, a portion of the potassium in the sea-water appears to have been replaced by the lithium of the granite.

Royal Geographical Society, Jan. 27.-Major-General Sir H. C. Rawlinson, K. C.B., president, in the chair.-"Journey from Bunder Abbas to Meshed, by Seistan," by Sir Frederick Goldsmid. The object of the author's journey was to carry into effect a settlement of the frontiers of Seistan, with which he had been entrusted. He left Bunder Abbas for the interior, with his party, on December 23, 1871, travelling in an E.N. E. direction first towards Bam. Beyond Bam and Azizabad, the country was fertile and well cultivated; this afterwards ceases, and near Fahraj the central desert begins. Beyond this, to the west, is another tract of mountainous country, bounding the fertile district of Seistan. The Hamun Lake was found dry, except pools of water at the mouths of the rivers, and the party crossed its southern part, where the bed was perfectly dry. Its limits are, however, well-marked by belts of reeds. The waters of the Helmund near and in the Delta had been led off by irrigation canals. The area of Seistan Proper was estimated at 947 square miles, and the population at 35,000. Majors St. John and Lovett, R.E, the surveyors attached to the party, had superintended the execution of a new wall-map of Persia, which was exhibited, and which gave quite a new character to the geography of many parts of Persia. The two great central areas of desert (1,500 to 3,000 feet above the sea-level) were clearly shown, and the snowy-ranges running in a north-west and southeast direction, nearly parallel to the Persian Gulf, well defined. One of these ranges rises to a height of more than 17,000 feet."On the Comparative Geography and Ethnology of Seistan," by the President. The country physically is dependent entirely on the River Helmund; and it is probable the earliest Aryan colonists drew off the whole of the water for irrigation, for in the earliest Geographical List, that contained in the "Vendidad," the country was called, not from the lake, but from the river. None of the sites of the cities and places named in an. cient history could be identified with certainty. Seistan formed the most southerly provin.e of the ancient Aryan country of Iran.

strong.

DIARY

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6.

ROYAL SOCIETY, at 8.30.-On the Osteology of Hyopotamide: Dr. W.
Kowalevsky.-Magnetic Survey of Belgium in 1871: G. J. Perry
ROYAL INSTITUTION, at 3.-Formation of Organic Substances: Dr. Arm-
LINNEAN SOCIETY, at 8.-Notes on Aristolochiacea: Dr. Masters.
CHEMICAL SOCIETY, at 8.-On Anthrapurpurin: W. H. Perkin-On the
Solidification of Nitrous Oxide: T. Wells-On Isomerism in the Terpene
Family: Dr. C. A. Wright.
SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, at 8.30.-On Donnington Castle: H. Goodwin.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, at 9.-Old Continents: Prof. Ramsay.
GEOLOGISTS' ASSOCIATION, at 7 30-Annual Meeting.-On the Diprionid.
of the Moffat Shale: Charles Lapworth.
PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY, at 8.13.
ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION, at 4.

OLD CHANGE Microscopical SOCIETY, at 5.30.-On the Internal Economy of Insects: T. Rymer Jones.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, at 3.-Comparative Politics: Dr. E. A. Freeman. ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY, at 3:45.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10. ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, at 8 30. LONDON INSTITUTION, at 4.-Physical Geography: Prof. Duncan. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY II. PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY, at 8.-Annual Meeting.-The Achromatisation of an Object Glass: Prof. G. Stokes.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12.

LONDON INSTITUTION, at 7.- Fresco and Siliceous Painting: Prof. Barff.
SOCIETY OF ARTS, at 8.
ARCHEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, at 8.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13.

ROYAL SOCIETY, at 8.30.
SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, at 8.30
MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY, at 8.-On Systems of Linear Congruences: Prof.
H. J. S. Smith.

BOOKS RECEIVED

ENGLISH.-On a Hæmatozoon inhabiting Human Blood: T. R. Lewis, Calcutta. A Report of Microscopical and Physiological Researches into the Nature of the Agent or Agents producing Cholera: T. R. Lewis and D. D. Cunningham-The Useful Plants of India: Col. H. Drury. Second Edit. (W. H. Allen & Co.).-A Handbook of Hygiene: George Wilson (J. A. Churchill)-Chambers' Arithmetical Exercises: J. S. Mackay (W. & R. Chambers)-Standard Algebra (W. & R. Chambers).-Chambers' Elementary Physical Geography: J. Donald (W. & R. Chambers).-Chambers' Scientific Reader (W. & R. Chambers)-Chambers' Electricity: R. M. Ferguson (W. & R. Chambers).-Recollections of Canada: Lieut. Carlile, R.A., and Lieut.-Col. Martindale, Quebec (Chapman & Hall, London).

FOREIGN.-Die Kalkschwamme: eine Monographie. 3 vols. Ernest Haeckel (Williams & Norgate)-Gespinnst Fassern, &c. : Dr. R. Schlesinger (Williams & Norgate).

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1873

MODERN APPLICATIONS OF THE DOCTRINE OF NATURAL SELECTION* OTWITHSTANDING the objections which are still made to the theory of Natural Selection on the ground that it is either a pure hypothesis not founded on any demonstrable facts, or a mere truism which can lead to no useful results, we find it year by year sinking deeper into the minds of thinking men, and applied, more and more frequently, to elucidate problems of the highest importance. In the works now before us we have this application made by two eminent writers, one a politician, the other a naturalist, as a means of working out so much of the complex problem of human progress as more especially interests them.

Mr. Bagehot takes for granted that early progress of man which resulted in his separation into strongly marked races, in his acquisition of language, and of the rudiments of those moral and intellectual faculties which all men possess; and his object is to work out the steps by which he advanced to the condition in which the dawn of history finds him,-aggregated into distinct societies known as tribes or nations, subject to various forms of government, influenced by various beliefs and prejudices, and the slave of habits and customs which often seem to us not only absurd and useless, but even positively injurious. Now every one of these beliefs or customs, or these aggregations of men into groups having some common characteristics, must have been useful at the time they originated; and a great feature of Mr. Bagehot's little book is his showing how even the most unpromising of these, as we now regard them, might have been a positive step in advance when they first appeared. His main idea is, that what was wanted in those early times was some means of combining men in societies, whether by the action of some common belief or common danger, or by the power of some ruler or tyrant. The mere fact of obedience to a ruler was at first much more important than what was done by means of the obedience. So, any superstition or any custom, even if it originated in the grossest delusion, and produced positively bad results, might yet, by forming a bond of union more perfect than any other then existing, give the primitive tribe subject to it such a relative advantage over the disconnected families around them, as to lead to their increase and permanent survival in the struggle for existence. In those early days war was perhaps the most powerful means of forcing men to combined action, and might therefore have been necessary for the ultimate development of civilisation. Freedom of opinion was then a positive evil, for it would lead to independent action, the very thing it was most essential to get rid of. In early times isolation was an advantage, in order that these incipient societies might not be broken up by intermixture, and it was only after a large number of such little groups, each with its own idiosyncrasies, habits, and beliefs, had been formed, that it became

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advantageous for them to meet to intermingle or to struggle together, and the stronger to drive out or exterminate the weaker. Out of the great number of petty tribes thus formed, only a few had the qualities which led to a further advancement. The rest were either exterminated or driven out into remote and inaccessible or inhospitable districts, and some of those are the "savages" which still exist on the earth, serving as a measure of the vast progress of the human race. Yet even these never show us the condition of the primitive man; they are men who advanced up to a certain point and then became stationary :

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Their progress was arrested at various points; but nowhere, not even in the hill tribes of India, not even in the Andaman Islands, not even in the savages of Terra del Fuego, do we find men who have not got some way. They have made their little progress in a hundred different ways; they have framed with infinite assiduity a hundred curious habits; they have, so to say, screwed themselves into the uncomfortable corners of a complex life, which is odd and dreary, but yet is possible. And the corners are never the same in any two parts of the world. Our record begins with a thousand unchanging edifices, but it shows traces of previous building. In historic times there has been but little progress, in prehistoric times there must have been much.”

Again our author shows how valuable must have been the institution of caste in a certain stage of progress. It established the division of labour, led to great perfection in many arts, and rendered government easy. Caste nations would at first have a great advantage over noncaste nations, would conquer them and increase at their expense. But a caste nation at last becomes stationary ; for a habit of action and a type of mind which it can with difficulty get rid of is established in each caste. When this is the case, non-caste nations soon catch them up, and rapidly leave them far behind.

This outline will give some idea of the way in which Mr. Bagehot discusses an immense variety of topics connected with the progress of societies and nations and the development of their distinctive peculiarities. The book is somewhat discursive and sketchy, and it contains many statements and ideas of doubtful accuracy, but it shows an abundance of ingenious and original thought. Many will demur to the view that mere accident and imitation have been the origin of marked national peculiarities; such as those which distinguish the German, Irish, French, English, and Yankees: "The accident of some predominant person possessing certain peculiarities set the fashion, and it has been imitated to this day"; and again, "Great models for good or evil sometimes appear among men who follow them either to improvement or degradation.” This is said to be one of the chief agents in "nation-making," but a much better one seems to be the affinity of like for like, which brings and keeps together those of like morals or religion or social habits; but both are probably far inferior to the longcontinued action of external nature on the organism, not merely as it acts in the country now inhabited by the particular nation, but by its action during remote ages and throughout all the migrations and intermixtures that our ancestors have ever undergone. We also find many broad statements as to the low state of morality and of intellect in all prehistoric men, which facts hardly warrant, but this is too wide a question to be entered

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upon here. In the concluding chapter, "The Age of Discussion," there are some excellent remarks on the restlessness and desire for immediate action which civilised men inherit from their savage ancestors, and how much it has hindered true progress; and the following passage, with which we will conclude the notice of Mr. Bagebot's book, might do much good if by means of any skilful surgical operation it could be firmly fixed in the minds of our legislators and of the public :

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"If it had not been for quiet people, who sat still and studied the sections of the cone, if other people had not sat still and worked out the doctrine of chances, the most 'dreamy moonshine,' as the purely practical mind would consider, of all human pursuits; if idle star-gazers' had not watched long and carefully the motions of the heavenly bodies, our modern astronomy would have been impossible; and without astronomy, our ships, our colonies, our seamen,' all that makes modern life, could not have existed. Ages of quiet, sedentary, thinking people were required before that noisy existence began, and without those pale preliminary students, it never could have been brought into being. And nine-tenths of modern science is, in this respect, the same; it is the produce of men whom their contemporaries thought dreamers-who were laughed at for caring for what did not concern them-who, as the proverb went, 'walked into a well from looking at the stars'-who were believed to be useless, if anyone could be such. And the conclusion is plain, that if there had been more such people, if the world had not laughed at those there were, if rather it had encouraged them, there would have been a great accumulation of proved science ages before there was. It was the irritable activity, the 'wish to be doing something,' that prevented it. Most men inherited a nature too eager and too restless to find out things; and even worse-with their idle clamour they 'disturbed the brooding hen,' they would not let those be quiet who wished to be so, and out of whose calm thought much good might have come forth. If we consider how much good science has done, and how much it is doing for mankind, and if the over-activity of men is proved to be the cause why science came so late into the world, and is so small and scanty still, that will convince most people that our overactivity is a very great evil.”

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In the second work, of which we have given the title, the veteran botanist, Alphonse de Candolle, sets forth his ideas on many subjects not immediately connected with the science in which he is so great an authority. The most important, though not the longest, essay in the volume is that on Selection in the Human Race," in which he arrives at some results which differ considerably from those of previous writers. In a section on "Selection in Human Societies or Nations," we find a somewhat novel generalisation as to the progress and decay of nations. Beginning with small independent states, we see a gradual fusion of these into larger and larger nations, sometimes voluntary, sometimes by conquest, but the fusion always goes on, and tends to become more and more complete, till we have enormous aggregations of people under one government, in which local institutions gradually disappear, and result in an almost complete political and social uniformity. Then commences decay; for the individual is so small a unit, and so powerless to influence the Government, that the mass of men resign themselves to passive obedience. There is then no longer any force to resist internal or external enemies, and by means of one or the other the

"vast fabric" is dismembered, or falls in ruins. The Roman Empire, and the Spanish Possessions in America, are examples of this process in the past; the Russian Empire and our Indian Possessions will inevitably follow the same order of events in a not very distant future.

Although M. de Candolle is a firm believer in Natural Selection, he takes great pains to show how very irregılar and uncertain it is in its effects. The constant struggles and wars among savages, for example, might be supposed to lead to so rigid a selection, that all would be nearly equally strong and powerful; and the fact that some savages are so weak and incapable as they are, shows, he thinks, that the action of natural selection has been checked by various incidental causes. He omits to notice, however, that the struggle between man and the lower animals was at first the severest, and probably had a considerable influence in determining race-characters. It may be something more than accidental coincidence that the most powerful of all savages-the negroes-inhabit a country where dangerous wild beasts most abound; while the weakest of all-the Australians-do not come into contact with a single wild animal of which they need be afraid.

Selection among barbarous nations will often favour cunning, lying, and baseness; vice will gain the advantage, and nothing good will be selected but physical beauty. Civilisation is defined by the preponderance of three facts-the restriction of the use of force to legitimate defence and the repression of illegitimate violence, speciality of professions and of functions, and individual liberty of opinion and action under the general restriction of not injuring others. By the application of the above tests we can determine the comparative civilisation of nations; but too much civilisation is often a great danger, for it inevitably leads to such a softening of manners, such a hatred of bloodshed, cruelty, and injustice as to expose a nation to conquest by its more warlike and less scrupulous neighbours. Progress in civilisation must necessarily be very slow, and to be permanent must pervade all classes and all the surrounding nations; and it is because past civilisations have been too partial that there have been so many relapses into comparative barbarism. All this is carefully worked out, and is well worthy of attention.

In the last section, on the probable future of the human race, we have some remarkable speculations, very different from the somewhat utopian views held by most evolutionists, but founded nevertheless on certain very practical considerations. In the next few hundred or a thousand years the chief alterations will be the extinction of all the less dominant races, and the partition of the world among the three great persistent types, the whites, blacks, and Chinese, each of which will have occupied those portions of the globe for which they are best adapted. But, taking a more extended glance into the future, of 50,000 or 100,000 years hence, and supposing that no cosmical changes occur to destroy, wholly or partially, the human race, there are certain well-ascertained facts on which to found a notion of what must by that time have occurred. In the first place, all the coal and all the metals available will then have been exhausted, and even if men succeed in finding other sources of heat,

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