ways were; when the accidental features of Hobbes's ethico-political ideas—due to time and circumstances and personal temperaments—are discounted, it is not difficult to understand how it should have been philosophical results of the school of Bentham that first gave them effective currency"; and, finally, it should be said that, "with enemies and friends alike, Hobbes's power has been due not least to the rare excellence of his literary style."
Appalachia. March, 1886. Pp. 108. Price, 50 cents. Register of the Appalachian Mountain Club, for 1886. Boston: Appalachian Mountain Club. W. B. Clarke and Carruth. Pp. 40.
The Appalachian Mountain Club was organized in January, 1876, and reorganized and chartered in April, 1878. Its objects, as specified in the By-Laws, are to explore the mountains of New England and the adjacent regions, both for scientific and artistic purposes; and, in general, to cultivate an interest in geographical studies. Its list of members has gradually grown, and now includes six hundred and ninety-three names of members of all classes. It is in relations of correspondence and exchange of publications with seventeen American societies and surveys, and fifteen Alpine clubs, and fifteen geographical societies abroad, besides single exchanges. Its periodical, "Appalachia," is usually published twice a year, four numbers constituting a volume. From the official reports, published in "Appalachia," it appears that the club held thirteen meetings during 1884—nine regular, two special, and two field meetings—the average attendance upon which was more than one hundred. The topographical department of the club is engaged upon a manuscript map of the White Mountains, on a scale of 15000 from data already collected by members. Besides official reports, and reports of the meetings of the club, which themselves embody some papers of interest, the present number of "Appalachia" contains special papers on "The Tripyramid Slides of 1885"; "Earthquakes in New England"; "A Day in Flume Mountain and a Night in the Wilderness"; "Middlesex Fells"; "Accurate Mountain Heights"; and "Mountain Meteorology."
Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission. Vol. V, for 1885. Washington: Government Printing-Office. Pp. 494.
While the present volume of the "Bulletin" does not contain any long and elaborate monographs on some special branch of fish-culture like those which have given unusual value to some of the previous volumes, it is filled with numerous brief articles and extracts from correspondence, reporting progress, or embodying information of practical value. Under the heading of "A Foreigner's Opinion of American Fish Culture," Sir Lyon Playfair is quoted as saying: "There is an essential difference between the mode of proceeding of the Government of the United States and that of our own country in relation to fisheries. We have had commissions without end, on some of which I have served. Vast bodies of contradictory evidence have been obtained from fishermen, who, I agree with Huxley, know less about fish than the community. Our commissions have led to little useful result. The American commissioners act in a different way. They put questions directly to Nature and not to fishermen. They possess scientific methods, and not those of 'rule of thumb.' They make scientific investigations into the habits, food, geographical distribution of fishes, and into the temperature of the seas and rivers in which they live or spawn. Practical aims and experiments are always kept in view."
The Order of Creation; The Conflict between Genesis and Geology. New York: The "Truth-Seeker" Company. Pp. 178. Price, 75 cents.
This publication contains the articles by Mr. Gladstone and Professor Huxley which have already appeared in the "Monthly," together with Professor Max Müller's and M. Réville's replies to those parts of Mr. Gladstone's observations which bear upon what they have respectively said on the subject in controversy or upon theories to which they adhere; together with a reply by Mrs. E. Lynn Linton to a phrase used by Mr. Gladstone to convey his regret that some writers appear to him to rejoice at the thought that they have got rid of the belief in God.
