Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/435

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is impossible to concur with this author even in his presentation of physical truth, and this naturally hinders serious consideration of his views upon such impalpable matters as "astral fluid," "odic force," or "the atomicity of God." His purpose is high and earnest—to win men from grossly material pursuits to a more spiritual life. This he hopes may be realized through his philosophy, that God and the soul are material existences, "God with us—not as a conjecture nor metaphor, but a chemical fact—is all there is of religion." He seeks to establish his theory of soul as a substance "by scientific methods" and with "facts that we all agree about." The most pertinent of these "facts" prove to be the phenomena of personal magnetism and coincidences of thought, in regard to which there is scarcely any agreement of opinion. Other extraordinary assertions are—"force is a thing in motion," "all matter is reducible to electric atoms," "electricity or nerve-fluid is the latest discovery in physiology," "every unit of matter must have a sex." The statement is also made that the amoebae do not eat. The biological truth is that an amoeba incloses any vagrant diatom by its pseudopods, ingests it, and assimilates it as actually as higher organisms digest their special food. The amoebæ are even particular in their diet and do not feed upon starch or fat, so that there is no necessity whatever for the "direct conversion of existing atomicity into living things." There is no doubt, "if we could learn by science and philosophy the simple, natural fact that our personal existence is continuous, it would entirely change human life and society," but, speaking scientifically, the "if" exhibits as yet no sign of katabolism.

short work is believed by the author to be the first attempt in English to present a connected account of the progress and development of commerce in Europe from antiquity to the present time. In the space to which the book is limited only the main outlines of the subject could be given, but they are enough to convey an idea of the course of development, and to furnish a sketch which may at some future time be more adequately filled up. The history is given under the three heads of Ancient and Classical Commerce, Mediæval Commerce, and Modern Commerce, the last including the history of the commercial empires in the East and in the West; English commerce in three periods—from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, the industrial revolution in England and the continental war, and modern English commerce; France and Germany; and Holland, Russia, and the other States of Modern Europe. The commerce of the United States does not properly come within the scope of the work, except as in its relations to the European nations. References are made in several places to the trade with the colonies, and to the later trade with the States. And, under the heading. Recent Developments of Commercial Policy, the "insane example of America" and the "notorious McKinley tariff" are mentioned as patterns which European countries seem inclined to follow; and we are warned that, although we can not understand it, both Europe and the United States may in time discover the fact "that freedom of trade and industry, even though it may seem to encourage foreign competition, is nevertheless of inestimable advantage to the country that adopts it. . . . Meanwhile, both in her colonial policy and in her system of trade and industry, England, though she has yet much to learn, is setting an example to all European nations."

author began a catalogue in 1867 for use in arranging the collections of the School of Mines of Columbia College, but was interrupted in the work. When he came to resume it, in 1885, he found that the progress of the science had been so great that the whole had to be done over again from the beginning. The study of mineralogy is embarrassed by the great varieties of synonyms that prevail for the same mineral, whether in different languages or in the works of different authors. The object of the present