Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/25

 abaeUL'C ftmoiig tJio pai'uiits ol' Ibc iuiliviiliinl studied. Tbe reaiilts of tbis ioquiry are tabu- lated. To illustrate what he nieana by fbar- acteiistics. the author cites three runious men whose lives ore well known, and mentions their donunant traits, — Louis XVI. (Srieen clinr- utemtics), Napoleon Bonaparte {thirty -seven characteiietica) . and Charles Darwin (twenty- nine cbaracteristiL's). All this part of his essay is full of iitterest., Bis conclusions are these: —

I, Ilei-edity is n general law whidi lulniitK but few exceptions.

S. The intcrniplioii of heredity tbrongh one or more generations (atavism) is rare, perhaps Sve or teD times in a hundred.

S. The more remarkable a i>erson is for good or ill. the more numerous and pronounced arc his characteristics.

■I. Women show fewer distinctive character- iiitics than men.

a. All groups of characteristics are more likely to be transmitted bj- fathers than hj- mothers.

li. It is difficult to detcnnine whether (.-har- acteristies which have been acquired by edu- catioD and other external circumstances arc trnnsniitted by heredity.

7. The most marked characteristics in uii individual are generally those received from both parents, especially those received both from |>arenta and other progenitors.

Tbe main portion of the volume, iii the sec- ond as in the first eitition, is a study of whnt might be called the origin and distribution of scieutific men during the last two cenluries. The author's views are based upon the selec- tion of foreign memlters by three great acad- emics, — in Loudon, 1750-lS(li>; Paris. IBfiCi- 1883; and Berlin, 1 7.'iO-l«(i9. Asaruie, these Msooiations bc&tow the honor of foreign mem- Iwrsbip. from time to time, upon men of all countries, and of all departments of study. who have exerted most inHuence U|>on the progress of science by their publications. Such elections may he regarded as imUcations of impartial judgment respecting merit: iiml, Hllhough there may be errors or prejudices, be believes that the aggregate lists include the names of those most worthy to be honored for tbcir scientific investigations. From the facts llius collected he points out the pro|>ortion of matiiematicians and naturalists at ditferetit ppocbs: the increasing devotion to a single subject: the rarity of feminine contributions to the progress of science: the social classes Trom which savants come: special intlucnces «hicb affect the number, Ibc studies, and the

��scientific men: jiutional distribu- tion of scientific leaders. Many valuable com- ments follow on the outlook of modern gpiencc, and the favorable aiid unfavorable inSuenccs which are at work. Toward the close of the volume, there is given an investigation (which was only approached in the first edition) re- sijecting the academic recognition of men demoted to the moral and social sciences.

" The secret workings of nature which brinjr it to pass that an Aeschylus, a Llonardo, a Faraday, a Kant, orn Spinoza is born u]iou llic earth, are as obscure now as they were a thou- sand years ago." These are the words with which Pollok introduces bis life of Spinoza, anil they have occurred to us after a perusal of the book we have desciibed. The origin of genius or of talent is as fascinating an inquiry as the origin of species. But there is some- thing in the intellectual or spiritual uaturc of man which eludes analysis, and hides Itself from the most penetrating researches of the psjcholt^ist and the physiolc^lst. Never- theless, a volume so full of learning, so sparkling with bright ideas, so controlled by scientllic habits, is a thought-inspiiing book, for which every one must be gratefjll, even if it serves only as an introduction to an unex- plored continent.

��DR. HACK TUKE ON HYPNOTISM.

l)i(. ILicK Tike can hardly l>c said to have wiitten a book on sleep-walking and hypno- tism: it is a collection of papers which are (lill of repetition, and which are ivritten in a style that is decidedly undress. But hj^pnotlsm is at present such an interesting subject, that any exact information about it is very welcome. The author's main object is to iK>int out the resemblance between natural and induced somnambuhsm, which latter term he uses as another name for hj-puotisni. and to call atten- tion especially to the former mixie of aberraut mental action as an important aid to the study of mind. His own article on natural somnam- bulism, based on answers to a circidar sent out six years ago. contains little that was not known before: but his examination into tie mental condition of the hypnotic subject is of greater interest. He finds that consdonsness may persist, or that it may pass rapidly or slowly Into complete unconsciousness; the manifestations are not dependent upon its presence or absence. One subject. Mr. North,

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