M. Elie Metchnikoff is one of those rare scientists who have found a
way to lay hold of and present to the world in untechnical
phraseology, intelligible to the lay mind, such results of his
researches as are of universal interest and go straight home to the
bosoms and business of intelligent men. _The Nature of Man_, by the
same author, was one of the most fascinating books, at once popular,
and scientific, which have appeared for decades. The book here in
question will stand beside it as a worthy companion volume. It is
satisfactory to report that, absorbed as Metchnikoff is in "material"
problems, and deep as he is in the mysteries of the physical universe,
these essays show him to be an optimist who speaks with no uncertain
voice.

A great deal of attention is given in _The Prolongation of Human Life_
to the subject of old age and its causes, with scientific observations
of special cases among human beings and the lower animals. The author
suggests means of prolonging life and health, while contemplating
natural death with serenity, and finding that agreeable sensations
accompany its approach. Beyond a certain point it seems to him a
disadvantage to prolong life. Passing on from these mortuary
lucubrations, the essays concern themselves with psychological
matters, with optimism and pessimism and in general with questions of
science and morals. The temperaments of certain great men are analyzed
in studies that have for their subjects respectively Byron, Leopardi,
Schopenhauer, and Goethe. In the preface the author says that he has
avoided, as far as possible, repeating points which have been
sufficiently treated in _The Nature of Man_.

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

NEW YORK LONDON

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