sity, Cambridge, Mass. New York: D. Appleton &
Co.

When all lower branches of Natural History have been finally exhausted,
and we begin upon the Natural History of Scientific Men, we shall no
doubt discover why it is necessary for each _savant_ to season his mild
pursuits by some desperate private feud with the nearest brother in the
service. The world of scoffers no doubt revels in this particular
weakness, and gladly omits all the rest of the book, in haste to get at
the personalities. But to the sedate inquirer it only brings dismay. How
painful, as one glides pleasantly on amid "concentric vesicles" and
"albuminous specialization," tracing the egg from the germinal dot to
the very verge of the breakfast-table, to be suddenly interrupted, like
Charles O'Malley's pacific friend in Ireland, by the crack of a
duelling-pistol and the fracture of all the teacups! It makes it all the
worse to know that the brother professor thus assailed is no mean
antagonist, and certainly anything but a non-resistant; and that
undoubtedly in his next book our joys will again be disturbed by an
answering volley.

Yet it should be said, in justice to Professor Clark, that all this
startling fusillade occurs at two or three points only, and that reading
the rest of the book is like a peaceful voyage down the Mississippi
after the few guerilla-haunted spots are passed. The general tone of the
book is eminently quiet, reasonable, and free from partisanship. Indeed,
this studied moderation of statement sometimes mars even the clearness
of the book, and the reader wishes for more emphasis. Professor Clark
loves fact so much better than theory, that he sometimes leaves the
theory rather obscure, and the precise bearing of the facts doubtful. To
this is added the difficulty of a style, earnest and laborious indeed,
but by no means luminous. In a treatise professedly popular, one has a
right to ask a few more facilities for the general reader. It can hardly
be expected of all scientific men to attain the singular success, in
this direction, of Professor Huxley; but the art of popularization is
too important a thing to be ignored, and much may be done to cultivate
the gift by literary training and by persistent effort. The new
researches into the origin of life are awakening the interest of all;
and though the popular tendency is no doubt towards the views mainly
held by Professor Clark, yet most men prefer an interesting speech on
the wrong sid