Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Robinson 1870a, Robinson, William 1870a. Alpine Flowers for English Gardens, London: J. Murray
Close   View the register entry >> Robinson 1870b Robinson, William 1870b. The Wild Garden; or, Our Groves and Gardens Made Beautiful by the Naturalisation of Hardy Exotic Plants: With a Chapter on the Gardens of British Wild Flowers, London: J. Murray
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Subjects:

Botany, Horticulture, Collecting

People mentioned:

William Robinson Robinson, William (1838–1935) ODNB
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Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Stoughton 1870 Stoughton, John 1870. Ecclesiastical History of England–The Church of the Restoration, London: Jackson, Walford, and Hodder
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Subjects:

Historiography, Progress, History of Science

    Complains that none of the events discussed in John Stoughton's Stoughton, John (1807–97) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> book are 'brought within the scope of the great European progress. No law of development is discernible in his pages. History under such treatment is a succession of casualties, and science and philosophy are what people happen to be thinking' (10).

Genre:

Review, Serial

Publications reviewed:

Lubbock 1869, Lubbock, John 1869. Pre-Historic Times: As Illustrated by Ancient Remains and the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages, 2nd edn, London: Williams and Norgate
Close   View the register entry >> Lubbock 1870, Lubbock, John 1870. The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man: Mental and Social Conditions of Savages, London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
Close   View the register entry >> Tylor 1870 Tylor, Edward B 1870. Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, 2nd edn, London: J. Murray
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Anthropology, Human Species, Evolution, Progress, Darwinism, Superstition, Class

    Noting that 'the material points of fact and of inference' on which John Lubbock Lubbock, Sir John, 4th Baronet and 1st Baron Avebury (1834–1913) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Edward B Tylor Tylor, Sir Edward Burnett (1832–1917) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> differ 'are of but infinitesimal moment', Rolleston examines their equally resolute opposition to the 'doctrines which Mr. Tylor has styled "degenerationist"'. Both of them, he argues, 'alike regard civilization as the result of a long series of slowly accumulating improvements', and, as such, there is a 'curious correspondence [...] which Sir John Lubbock certainly and Mr. Tylor probably will be slow to repudiate [...] between their speculations and the lines of argument which Mr. Darwin Darwin, Charles Robert (1809–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> has used in his Origin of Species Darwin, Charles Robert 1859. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, London: John Murray
Close   View the register entry >>'. (11) Although both 'authors recognize, and indeed dwell upon the facts of the retention still amongst us of customs which can only be explained as being rudiments and reminiscences of the rites and practices of savagery', Rolleston complains that 'neither of them has [...] drawn sufficient attention to the fact [...] that these rudimentary indications are by no means to be sought or found in one stratum or level of society alone'. In fact, he goes on, 'in those numerically small spheres of society which are largely endowed with this world's goods, modes of thought, and even actual practices, which can be legitimately affiliated to those of savagery, may be proportionately as rife as they are in the secluded and pauperized villages of agricultural and mountainous districts'. (12)

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Huxley 1870, Huxley, Thomas Henry 1870. Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews, London: Macmillan & Co.
Close   View the register entry >> Tyndall 1870b Tyndall, John 1870b. On the Scientific Use of the Imagination: A Discourse Delivered Before the British Association at Liverpool on Friday Evening, 16th September 1870, London: Longmans, Green and Co.
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Subjects:

Scientific Naturalism, Popularization, Education, Religion, Truth, Controversy, Materialism, Imagination

People mentioned:

Thomas H Huxley, Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825–95) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> John Tyndall, Tyndall, John (1820–93) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Herbert Spencer Spencer, Herbert (1820–1903) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Bottrell 1870 Bottrell, William 1870. Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Penzance: printed for the author
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Subjects:

Human Species, Anthropology, Race, Comparative Philology, Nomenclature

    Observes that 'Not only was the Indo-European race proved to be One by comparative philology, but the same conclusion was arrived at by a comparison of popular fables (the proper name of the science has not yet been invented)', although 'as the investigation has extended, this conclusion has become uncertain; for some of the popular tales are found to be widely spread among other races not belonging to the Indo-European stock'. The question as to whether 'such stories [have] been borrowed, or [...] date from a still earlier age, and point to a still higher unity of races [....] is not yet settled, and much previous sifting of the evidence will be required'. (29)

Genre:

Review, Serial

Publications reviewed:

Lubbock 1869, Lubbock, John 1869. Pre-Historic Times: As Illustrated by Ancient Remains and the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages, 2nd edn, London: Williams and Norgate
Close   View the register entry >> Lubbock 1870, Lubbock, John 1870. The Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive Condition of Man: Mental and Social Conditions of Savages, London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
Close   View the register entry >> Tylor 1870 Tylor, Edward B 1870. Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, 2nd edn, London: J. Murray
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Anthropology, Human Species, Ethnography, Fieldwork, Specialization, Disciplinarity, Race, Morality, Evolution, Utilitarianism, Progress, Darwinism, Superstition, Class

    Although pointing out 'certain fallacies' amongst the 'enormous array' of facts gathered by John Lubbock Lubbock, Sir John, 4th Baronet and 1st Baron Avebury (1834–1913) DSB ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and Edward B Tylor Tylor, Sir Edward Burnett (1832–1917) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, Rolleston insists that he must not be 'suspected of hinting that if some of these facts should be set aside on examination the whole argument must be looked upon as thereby vitiated'. He warns that the ethnographer must remain cautious as to the value of the testimony of primitive peoples and of the influence of their own position as an observer: 'It is only a little less difficult to judge of the feelings and views of a savage without being a savage one's self, than it is to judge of the mental processes of one of the lower animals, without being received into its sensorium, and yet escaping identification with it'. Also notes that a 'savage has as little to do with his time as Sir John Chester is represented as having in Barnaby Rudge Dickens, Charles 1841. Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty, London: Chapman and Hall
Close   View the register entry >>'. (38) Insists on 'the absolute necessity of combining linguistic with other physical science' in ethnographic fieldwork, and comments on the 'ill-informed class who hold that every natural historian must necessarily confine his attention to the material and overlook the moral conditions in any problem which he may enquire into'. Although it is 'of course, neither unnatural nor unlikely that any expert should have a tendency to specialism', it is important that 'a real anthropologist [...] come safely out of this temptation'. Lubbock, for example, is 'inclined to account by reference to the unfortunate (moral and social) circumstances in which half-breeds are generally placed, for the abject or other repulsive characteristics which so often have been attributed to or observed in them'. Complains that Lubbock's 'method of accounting for the genesis of the notions of right and wrong, like that of all other utilitarians, actually presupposes their existence!' (39), and notes that on this point 'the dialecticians for once [have] a real victory over the Natural Historian' (40).

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Petermann 1870, Petermann, August 1870. Der Gulfstrom, und Standplunkt der Thermometrischen Kentniss des Nord-Atlantischen Oceans und Landgebiets im Jahre 1870, Gotha: Justus Perthes
Close   View the register entry >> Croll 1870a, Croll, James 1870a. 'Ocean Currents in Relation to the Distribution of Heat Over the Globe', Philosophical Magazine, 39, 81–106
Close   View the register entry >> Croll 1870b Croll, James 1870b. 'Ocean Currents in Relation to the Physical Theory of Secular Changes of Climate', Philosophical Magazine, 39, 180–94
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Subjects:

Oceanography, Exploration, Hydrography, Natural History, Meteorology, Mapping, Climatology, Geology

People mentioned:

August Petermann, Petermann, August (1822–78) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> William B Carpenter, Carpenter, William Benjamin (1813–85) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> John G Jeffreys Jeffreys, John Gwyn (1809–85) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Discusses various theories of the 'influence of ocean currents on the climatic conditions of the globe in distributing the heat received from the sun', and reports James Croll's Croll, James (1821–90) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> claims that 'without ocean currents the earth would not be habitable' (42).

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Hunter 1869 Hunter, Joseph 1869. Hallamshire, The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield in the County of York: With Historical and Descriptive Notices of the Parishes of Ecclesfield, Hansworth, Treeton, and Whiston, and of the Chapelry of Bradfield, a new and enlarged edn by Alfred Gatty, London: printed for the editor
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Subjects:

Industry, Manufactories, Metallurgy, Invention, Railways

People mentioned:

Alfred Gatty Gatty, Alfred (1813–1903) ODNB
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    Observes that the 'invention of cast-steel in the middle of the last century by Benjamin Huntsman Huntsman, Benjamin (1704–76) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>' has 'led to a great expansion of the trade' of Sheffield, and notes the 'immense demand for railway-springs, buffers, and all descriptions of railway-iron, which has lately come upon Sheffield, and led to the establishment of a host of new iron-furnaces' (48).

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Blanford 1870 Blanford, William Thomas 1870. Observations on the Geology and Zoology of Abyssinia: Made During the Progress of the British Expedition to that Country in 1867–68, London: Macmillan & Co.
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Subjects:

Geology, Physical Geography, Exploration, Meteorology, Imperialism, Zoology, Ornithology

    Noting the enormous differences in the 'fresh-water and marine denudation' of geographically distant areas of the globe (66), Wallace contends that 'it is only by the study of the geology of the intertropical and glaciated regions combined, that we shall be able to obtain an adequate notion of the power of meteorological causes to mould, to furrow, and to destroy the surface of great continents'. He also suggests 'We may indeed expect, that the science of geological interpretation will be much advanced by the observations of the Indian surveyors Geological Survey of India
Close   View the register entry >>, who have the great advantage of studying the denuding action of rain and rivers in a country where these agencies are so much more powerful than they are with us, and where they produce effects far beyond the power of the more placid meteorology of Europe'. (67)

Genre:

Letter

Subjects:

Oceanography, Hydrography, Error

People mentioned:

William B Carpenter Carpenter, William Benjamin (1813–85) DSB
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Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Corssen 1868 Corssen, Wilhelm Paul 1868. Uber Aussprache, Vokalismus und Betonung der lateinischen Sprache, Leipzig: Teubner
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Subjects:

Physiology, Sound, Comparative Philology

    Notes that in Wilhem P Corssen's Corssen, Wilhelm Paul (1820–75) RLIN
Close   View the register entry >> book 'the investigations of physical observers into the laws which govern the formation of vocal sounds, have been to a certain extent made use of', and he is 'chiefly indebted to Brücke's Brücke, Ernst Wilhelm von (1819–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Physiologie und Systematik der Sprachlehre Brücke, Ernst Wilhelm von 1856. Grundzüge der Physiologie und Systematik der Sprachlaute fur Linguisten und Taubstummenlehrer, Vienna: Gerold
Close   View the register entry >>, Helmholtz's Helmholtz, Hermann von (1821–94) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Lehre von den Tonempfindungen Helmholtz, Hermann von 1863. Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen als physiologische Grundlage für die Theorie der Musik, Braunschweig: Verlag von Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn
Close   View the register entry >>, and Max Müller's Max Müller, Friedrich (1823–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> second series of Lectures on the Science of Language Max Müller, Friedrich 1864. Lectures on the Science of Language: Delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in February, March, April, & May 1863, 2nd Series, London: Longmans, Green
Close   View the register entry >>', although in addition Corssen 'might, perhaps, have noticed the remarkable work of Mr. Melville Bell Bell, Alexander Melville (1819–1905) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> on Visible Speech Bell, Alexander Melville 1867. Visible Speech: The Science of Universal Alphabetics; or, Self-Interpreting Physiological Letters, for the Writing of All Languages in One Alphabet, London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.
Close   View the register entry >>' which has done 'more than any work [...] towards laying the foundations of alphabetical science' (81).

Genre:

News-Digest

Subjects:

Photography

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Hartt 1870 Hartt, Ch. Fred. 1870. Scientific Results of a Journey in Brazil by Louis Agassiz and His Travelling Companions: Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil, Boston: Fields, Osgood; London: Trübner & Co.
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Subjects:

Geology, Physical Geography, Glaciology, Discovery, Methodology, Exploration

    Points out differences in the geological practice of Europeans and North Americans like Charles F Hartt Hartt, Charles Frederick (1840–78) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>. Also notes that 'Agassiz's Agassiz, Louis (Jean Louis Rodolphe) (1807–73) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> position as regards the surface geology of Brazil is in fact the counterpart of that which he held many years ago as regards that of Scotland. There he was the first to recognize the true glacial character of the boulder clay, and to solve satisfactorily a problem so oppressive as to have disturbed the slumbers of a leading Scottish theologian and geologist', and even the subsequent correction of some of Agassiz's details 'does not affect his fame as the discoverer of the right method of investigation' (95). Concedes that the 'difficulties attending exploratory journeys in tropical regions explain and largely excuse the want of precision in many parts' of the book (96).

Genre:

News-Commentary

Subjects:

Exploration, Physical Geography, Ethnology, Race, Imperialism, Discovery

    Reports that with the explorations of Georg A Schweinfurth Schweinfurth, Georg August (1836–1925) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> and Samuel W Baker Baker, Sir Samuel White (1821–93) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>, 'and if, above all, there shall be added to this the long pent-up store of African knowledge which Dr. Livingstone Livingstone, David (1813–73) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> now jealously guards, Inner Africa will no longer be counted among the unknown parts of the globe, and the time of great discoveries will be nearly at an end' (97).

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Belcher 1870 Belcher, Lady 1870. The Mutineers of the Bounty and their Descendants in Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands, London: J. Murray
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Subjects:

Sociology, Experiment, Heredity, Breeding, Race, Christianity, Politics, Population

    After describing the main events of the famous mutiny of 1789, Wallace notes that 'it is to the subsequent careers of the mutineers and their descendants—the well-known Pitcairn Islanders—that we are most attracted', as it is 'so rarely that social problems can be subjected to anything like a critical experiment, owing to the impossibility of eliminating the disturbing influence of adjacent populations'. In the condition of complete isolation formerly enjoyed by the islanders 'Many curious problems were [...] in process of solution. The little community consisted almost entirely of half-breeds; would any signs of sterility appear, or could they permanently continue the race? They necessarily soon came to marry almost wholly with blood relations; would this cause disease or deterioration? In the mixed race would the characteristics of the white or of the brown progenitors ultimately prevail, and which special features of each would maintain themselves longest?'. However, these questions cannot be answered adequately now that many of the islanders have been removed to Norfolk Island, the home of 'a missionary college for Melanesian converts'. (108) Also examines the political situation of the islanders, and concludes that there are 'many problems in physical, social, and political science which increasing population will soon force upon them' (109).

Genre:

Reportage

Subjects:

Astronomy, Observation, Spectroscopy

People mentioned:

Richard Abbay Abbay, Richard (1844–1924) WBI
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    Reports that as yet 'it is impossible to form any definite idea as to the additions to our knowledge of the constitution of the sun which may result from this expedition'. The 'sketches which have been made of the corona appear to differ greatly from one another even in the case of observers at the same place, a circumstance which seems to indicate that some of the details are subjective', although with the 'sketches having a general resemblance to one another [...] it is clear that some portion of the phenomenon is objective, though the differences between the sketches made by different parties seem to point to our atmosphere as being to some and indeed to a great extent instrumental in its production'. (117)

Genre:

Letter

Subjects:

Astronomy, Observation, Spectroscopy, Meteorology

Genre:

Extract

Publications extracted:

Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d'Italia Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d'Italia (1861–1900+) COPAC
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Astronomy, Observation, Spectroscopy, Meteorology

Genre:

Reportage

Subjects:

Astronomy, Observation, Spectroscopy, Meteorology

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Wallace 1870 Wallace, Alfred Russel 1870. Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection: A Series of Essays, London: Macmillan & Co.
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Subjects:

Darwinism, Theory, Exploration, Population, Descent, Natural Law, Biology, Ornithology, Amateurism, Creation, Human Species, Heredity, Instinct

    Suggests that the essays collected in Alfred R Wallace's Wallace, Alfred Russel (1823–1913) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> book are 'interesting not only in their relation to the great theory, but also from the light which they throw on the gradual development of a remarkable man'. Although the researches on species of Wallace and Charles R Darwin Darwin, Charles Robert (1809–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'culminate in very divergent results—an example ready to hand of the Darwinian law of the divergence of character', it is 'also worth noting that both enquirers received their first impulse towards a successful solution of the problem from Malthus's Malthus, Thomas Robert (1766–1834) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> celebrated work On Population Malthus, Thomas Robert 1798. An Essay on the Principle of Population, as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society: With Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and Other Writers. London: J. Johnson
Close   View the register entry >>'. Praises Wallace for having earlier taken 'a stand in the most definite manner on the basis of the theory of descent, which had been so completely stamped out since the time of Lamarck Lamarck, Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de (1744–1829) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>', and notes that it 'required considerable boldness to undertake a problem, regarded at the time by almost everyone as unscientific, beneath the tropical sun of the Sunda Islands'. (138) Insists that Wallace's essay on the tendency of varieties to depart indefinitely from the original Type and Darwin's On the Origin of Species Darwin, Charles Robert 1859. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, London: John Murray
Close   View the register entry >> 'form together the one fountain-head from which the theory of natural selection has flowed, so we may recognise side by side with the mighty development of Darwin a perfectly independent position for Mr. Wallace' (138–39). Indeed, Wallace's work, particularly on instinct and birds, will 'open a new field of biology, as well for laymen as for trained enquirers'. Furthermore, Wallace in his book 'maintains with great emphasis that there are very important facts in Nature for whose explanation' the principle of natural selection 'does not suffice, and will never suffice'. (139)

Genre:

Notes

Subjects:

Physiology, Comparative Philology

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Wallace 1870 Wallace, Alfred Russel 1870. Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection: A Series of Essays, London: Macmillan & Co.
Close   View the register entry >>

Subjects:

Human Species, Anthropology, Race, Controversy, Darwinism, Evolution, Progress, Neurology, Physiology, Error, Physiological Psychology

People mentioned:

J L René A E Claparède Claparède, J L René Antoine Edouard (1832–71) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>

    Notes how in addressing the controversial issue of the 'unity or plurality of the human species', a 'question [...] which is usually discussed rather in a dogmatic than a critical spirit, and with more passion than knowledge, Alfred R Wallace Wallace, Alfred Russel (1823–1913) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> 'succeeds in steering clear of these dangers', and 'concedes the point to those who recognise a single origin for mankind' while 'furnishing a line of argument' that will at the same time 'satisfy' the opponents of this position. Wallace's main argument is that the 'endless struggle for existence gradually ceases amongst the members' of human communities, retarding 'the progress towards greater perfection in mere bodily organization', but allowing 'progress' to pass 'over gradually from the physical to the intellectual; the body remains unchanged in outward form, whilst the mind, and those organs like the brain which are essentially concerned with its activity, alone develop'. Dismisses Wallace's contentions that 'the brain of the savage has always been found too large for its intellectual functions' and that this fact is 'explicable merely on the supposition that man had from the beginning a large quantity of brain in order to enjoy the later requirements of civilisation', because they 'fly in the face of plain physiological fact' regarding the relation between brain size and intellectual capacity. Indeed, 'elephants and whales have larger brain volume (and therefore on this theory ought to have superior capacities) than Cuvier Cuvier, Georges (1769–1832) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> or Napoleon Napoleon I, Emperor of France (1769–1821) CBD
Close   View the register entry >>'. (159) Concludes that 'we hold that none of the facts hitherto mentioned are sufficiently established to justify so important a step as the introduction of a new principle of explanation' to supplement that of natural selection (160).

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Darwin 1871a Darwin, Charles Robert 1871a. The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, London: John Murray
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Subjects:

Reading, Popularization, Natural History, Sex, Genius, Human Species, Descent, Evolution, Darwinism, Morality, Utilitarianism, Gender, Language, Ornithology, Entomology, Instinct, Natural Law

    Observes that Charles R Darwin's Darwin, Charles Robert (1809–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> latest book is 'one of the most remarkable works in the English language' (183) and 'will prove almost equally attractive to the naturalist and the general reader', being 'throughout written in the author's clearest style'. In addition, many of the non-specialist 'readers of this book', accustomed to 'the reticence with which the sexual relations of animals have been treated in popular works', will 'be astonished to find that a new and inner world of animal life exists, of which they had hitherto no conception', and this 'new branch of natural history is one of the most striking creations of Mr. Darwin's genius, and it is all his own'. Wallace provides a 'sketch in outline' of the book's main facts and arguments, before discussing 'certain points which seem open to criticism'. (177) Praises Darwin's views on the origin of the moral sense as an 'advance in the history of the utilitarian philosophy', although noting that on their logic 'intemperance and licentiousness are never counted as vices, because they do not immediately concern any one but the individual and his family' (178). Before beginning his criticism of Darwin's views, Wallace announces 'I am glad to have this opportunity of showing to what extent a study of his facts and arguments have modified my opinions' (180) as well as indicating where 'Mr. Darwin adopts the views of the present writer' (178). The Descent, according to Wallace, 'consists of two books mixed together' and a 'rearrangement could easily be effected in a future edition, and would have many advantages', while much of the writing is 'certainly not in accordance with our author's usual precision of language', although Darwin's imprecise use of the term 'Instinct' is 'no doubt mainly due to the poverty of our language' (180). Also questions Darwin's 'argument that the female exerts a choice, and has the power of rejecting any particular male', as 'this hardly seems to follow, for it may well be maintained that when the more active male seizes a female she cannot escape, and that she has no means of rejecting him and practically never does so' (179). Wallace's main criticisms relate to the efficacy of the principle of sexual selection in cases other than birds, as well as the evolution of the human species. Throughout all of the different orders of insects, for instance, 'there is no direct evidence whatever of sexual selection as regards colour', and instead Wallace attributes variations in insect colours to 'unknown laws'. From his researches on 'many islands of the Malay Archipelago' he suggests that there exists 'some local modifying influence which is certainly not sexual selection' but which is nevertheless 'capable of differentiating the sexes'. (182) Similarly, contends that 'the superiority of man to his nearest allies', and in particular 'the almost infinite capacities of his brain', are 'too great to be accounted for by the struggle for existence of an isolated group of apes in a limited area', and must rely on 'unknown causes which may have aided in the work' (183).

Reprinted:

Wallace 1871a Wallace, Alfred Russel 1871a. Mr. Wallace and Mr. Darwin: A Review and Criticism of Mr. Darwin's "Descent of Man", New York: August Brentano
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See also:

Desmond and Moore 1991 Desmond, Adrian and Moore, James 1991. Darwin, Michael Joseph
Close   View the register entry >>, 581–82

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Grote 1870 Grote, John 1870. An Examination of the Utilitarian Philosophy, ed. by Joseph Bickersteth Mayor, Cambridge: Deighton, Bell; London: Bell and Daldy
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Subjects:

Utilitarianism, Philosophy, Morality

People mentioned:

John S Mill, Mill, John Stuart (1806–73) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Jeremy Bentham Bentham, Jeremy (1748–1832) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Leroy 1870 Leroy, Charles George 1870. The Intelligence and Perfectibility of Animals From a Philosophic Point of View: With a Few Letters on Man, London: Chapman and Hall
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Subjects:

Naturalists, Animal Behaviour, Instinct, History of Science, Evolution, Heterodoxy, Religion, Natural History, Materialism, Darwinism, Heredity, Human Species

People mentioned:

Georges L Leclerc, comte de Buffon Buffon, Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de (1707–88) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

    Commends the publication of some little-known letters 'written in the second half of last century' (198), and suggests that 'in publishing an English edition of the work the translator has brought a useful contribution to the history of the development of scientific thought'. Based on his observations of the behaviour of animals at 'Versailles and Marly' (199), Charles G Leroy Leroy, Charles George (1723–89) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>, who wrote 'partly under the pseudonym of "The Naturalist of Nuremberg"', proposed that the 'faculty which is ordinarily called instinct is in reality a form of intelligence or reasoning', and is thus capable of 'improvement and of perfectibility within certain limits' (198). However, to really 'appreciate the boldness and originality' of Leroy's views, 'it is necessary to throw oneself back into the state of the development of thought in his day' (198–99), for 'Just as now the evolutionist is told that the theory of a continuously acting creative power is opposed to the teaching of Scripture, so a century ago orthodoxy required of scientific men the belief that man was the only being possessed of even the least degree of mental power'. Rejecting the doctrines of 'the French materialists', Leroy instead 'anticipated views respecting the relationship between the mental faculties of man and those of the lower animals which have not been fully developed until our own day'. Indeed, his views were in advance of 'the prevalent idea among naturalists with regard to instinct [...] within the last thirty years', and bear an interesting relation to those of 'Mr. Darwin Darwin, Charles Robert (1809–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>', who 'When he published his theory that instinct is nothing but the experience of former generations inherited and constantly improved' found that 'the idea was a novel one to the greater part of the educated public' even though Leroy had made similar arguments 'Nearly a century ago'. (199)

Genre:

Obituary

Subjects:

Scientific Practitioners, Mathematics, Truth, Methodology, Invention, Philosophy

People mentioned:

Augustus De Morgan De Morgan, Augustus (1806–71) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>

Publications cited:

De Morgan 1842 De Morgan, Augustus 1842. The Differential and Integral Calculus: Containing Differentiation, Integration, Development, Series, Differential Equations, Differences, Summation, Equations of Differences, Calculus of Variations, Definite Integrals,—with Applications to Algebra, Plane Geometry, Solid Geometry, and Mechanics. Also, Elementary Illustrations of the Differential and Integral Calculus, Library of Useful Knowledge, London: R. Baldwin
Close   View the register entry >>

Genre:

Reportage

Subjects:

Exploration, Hunting, Oceanography, Meteorology, Navigation, Physical Geography, Amateurism, Declinism

    Complains that, unlike the sailors of the Norwegian fleets, 'since the early part of this century when the Scoresbys [William (1760–1829) Scoresby, William, Sr. (1760–1829) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> and William (1789–1857) Scoresby, William, Jr. (1789–1857) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >>] gained their fame in arctic exploration, it does not appear that any single observation tending to advance our scanty knowledge of the geography or meteorology of these northern regions has been placed on record by any British whaler' (200).

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Morley 1871 Morley, John 1871. Critical Miscellanies, London: Chapman and Hall
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Subjects:

Positivism, Progress, Scientism

    Suggests that although John Morley Morley, John, Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838–1923) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> is 'a very independent adherent' of the tenets of Auguste Comte Comte, Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier (Auguste) (1798–1857) DSB
Close   View the register entry >>, the 'primary importance of these full and thoughtful essays is that they are applications of a doctrine which the majority of educated men regard, perhaps with better reason, with something of the angry contempt with which Marcus Aurelius regarded Christianity, and which in spite of their contempt is making progress which they ought to find alarming' (213). Also details Morley's views on 'the healing effects of science approached in the positive spirit' (215).

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Conway 1871 Conway, Moncure Daniel 1871. The Earthward Pilgrimage, London: John Camden Hotten
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Subjects:

Secularism, Christianity, Natural Law, Religion, Theodicy, Positivism

    Explains that Moncure D Conway Conway, Moncure Daniel (1832–1907) CBD
Close   View the register entry >> believes that 'we may infer from the love and thought within us analogous facts throughout the universe; their relation however to the universe we cannot ascertain. However, the laws of the universe are great and good, and by sympathy with these we ourselves become good and strong'. In the 'new terrestrial Jerusalem [...] dimly sketched' by Conway there will be 'as few laws as possible, except laws of Nature', and Sidgwick notes that this 'democratic Eden is a curious contrast to Comte's Comte, Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier (Auguste) (1798–1857) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> ordered Utopia'. (216)

Genre:

Reportage

Subjects:

Exhibitions, Industry, Steam-power, Machinery, Engineering

Institutions mentioned:

London International Exhibition (1871) International Exhibition (1871), London
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Genre:

Notes, Rejoinder, Serial

Subjects:

Anatomy, Physiology, Sound, Comparative Philology, Controversy

People mentioned:

Ernst W von Brücke, Brücke, Ernst Wilhelm von (1819–92) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Hermann von Helmholtz, Helmholtz, Hermann von (1821–94) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> Friedrich Max Müller, Max Müller, Friedrich (1823–1900) ODNB
Close   View the register entry >> Alexander M Bell Bell, Alexander Melville (1819–1905) WBI
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Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Godman 1870 Godman, Frederick Du Cane 1870. Natural History of the Azores or Western Islands, London: John Van Voorst
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Subjects:

Geology, Naturalists, Darwinism, Natural History, Zoology, Botany, Taxonomy, Mapping, Meteorology, Entomology, Biogeography, Evolution, Monographs, Publishing

    Explains that the peculiar position of the Azores in relation to Europe and America gives them 'especial interest for the naturalist since Mr. Darwin Darwin, Charles Robert (1809–82) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> has shown how valuable is the evidence such islands afford for the derivative origin of species'. Indeed, what is 'most striking' about the Azores is 'the wonderful amount of similarity between the productions of these remote islands and those of Europe' and the enormous divergence of their animal and plant life from American species. Rather than supporting 'the theory of a former continental extension uniting these islands to Europe', the 'enormous preponderance of European species' can instead be explained by the fact that 'the Azores lie in a region of storms from all points of the compass; and that every year these storms bring numbers of birds from Europe, and no doubt also numbers of insects'. (266) The 'curious and difficult problem' posed by the existence of a 'considerable number of 'wingless beetles' on the islands which could not have been transported across the ocean is removed if we 'suppose that these wingless Atlantic groups are the descendants of very remote winged ancestors, who were among the earliest immigrants to all these islands; and these, being subjected to similar conditions, all became apterous' (266–67). Praises Frederick D C Godman Godman, Frederick du Cane (1834–1919) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> for 'a book which should form a part of every naturalist's library', and commends the publisher for the 'useful innovation of issuing it with cut edges' (267).

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Krempelhuber 1867 Krempelhuber, August von 1867–69. Geschichte und Litteratur der Lichenologie von den ältesten Zeiten bis zum Schlusse des Jahres 1865, 2 vols, Munich: Dr. C. Wolf & Sohn
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Subjects:

Publishing, Monographs, Wonder, Botany, Nationalism, Natural History, Specialization, Disciplinarity

    Expresses amazement at 'one of the most marvellous examples of German industry which has ever issued from the press', which addresses '1392 pages' to 'a subject which is of very limited interest even to botanists'. Also notes that in August von Krempelhuber's Krempelhuber, August von (1813–82) RLIN
Close   View the register entry >> massive tome 'what is not always the case with continental writers, English sources [...] have been carefully explored and registered' (267), although it is 'curious that the one which has met with the least justice is that which is due to the author of this notice' (267n.). Protests that 'Excessive subdivision is one of the greatest evils which can befall any branch of natural history, and indisposes many to the study who might otherwise be useful labourers, especially as it has a tendency to draw off attention from those general views which are after all of main importance' (267).

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Peschel 1870 Peschel, Oscar 1870. Neue Probleme der vergleichenden Erdkunde als versuch einer Morphologie de Erdoberflache, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot
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Subjects:

Comparative Anatomy, Comparative Philology, Physical Geography, Nomenclature, Natural Theology, Climatology, Glaciology, Geology, Vulcanology, Chemistry, Exploration

People mentioned:

Karl Ritter, Ritter, Karl (1779–1859) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> James D Dana Dana, James Dwight (1813–95) DSB
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Publications cited:

Ritter 1822–59 Ritter, Carl 1822–59. Die Erdkunde im Verhaltniss zur Natur und zur Geschichte des Menschen: oder allgemeine vergleichende Geographie, als sichere Grundlage des Studiums und Unterrichts in physikalischen und historischen Wissenschaften, 21 vols, Berlin: G. Reimer
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    Suggests that 'just as comparison in anatomy leads the way to arguments on the origin of species, as philology aids in proving the unity of the great branches of the human family', so the researches of Oskar F Peschel Peschel, Oskar Ferdinand (1826–75) WBI
Close   View the register entry >> seek 'to show how the form of each particular portion of the outer world, each landscape, bears in itself a record of the contests and changes which it has suffered, and how, from a survey of the distribution of resembling forms, some light may be thrown upon the causes by which these have been originated' (286). Reports that, as Carl G C Bischof Bischof, Carl Gustav Christoph (1792–1870) DSB
Close   View the register entry >> has demonstrated, 'Chemistry reveals a more probable cause' than 'the force of earthquakes or volcanic power' for the production of 'a power adequate to produce the phenomena of mountain elevation for which comparative geography seeks to find an explanation' (286–87). Contends that in the past 'Speculation on the causes of the varied features of the landscape, drawn from the study of one region or of one continent alone, could at best have been guesses at truth', and that now the 'comparative method' in geography is 'progressively increasing in value [...] as the exploration of the globe proceeds year by year' (287).

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Squier [1870] Squier, Ephraim George [1870]. The Primeval Monuments of Peru Compared with Those in Other Parts of the World, [Salem: Essex Institute Press]
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Subjects:

Discovery, Archaeology, Anthropology

    Asserts that 'All sciences of recent foundation, such as American archæology is, have always some surprise in store for the man who will try them cautiously and conscientiously'. Although they might at first seem 'dry and unfruitful [...] after a while they disclose suddenly unknown treasures, and reward their students with unexpected discoveries'. (291)

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Ellis 1869 Ellis, Alexander John 1869. On Early English Pronunciation: With Especial Reference to Shakspere and Chaucer, Containing an Investigation of Writing with Speech in England from the Anglosaxon Period to the Present Day, 2 parts, Early English Text Society Series, London: Asher & Co. and Trubner
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Subjects:

Comparative Philology, Physiology, Sound

    Describes the 'Two methods of remedying the evil' of the want of a 'definite system of notation' for 'speech-sounds', 'which we may distinguish as the traditional and the physiological' (294). Commends the use of 'a physiological alphabet such as the "Visible Speech" Bell, Alexander Melville 1867. Visible Speech: The Science of Universal Alphabetics; or, Self-Interpreting Physiological Letters, for the Writing of All Languages in One Alphabet, London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.
Close   View the register entry >> of Mr. Bell Bell, Alexander Melville (1819–1905) WBI
Close   View the register entry >>', in which 'the traditional letters are entirely rejected, and a regular system of symbolizing the physiological formation of each sound is employed; the reader only has to follow the directions given by the shape of the letter itself, and he will accurately reproduce the sound, even if it be one he has never heard before' (294–95). Concludes that 'We have little doubt that the real alphabet of the future is Mr. Bell's "Visible Speech"', and even 'the want of means for printing it' is 'a difficulty which is a temporary one, and could soon be remedied' (296).

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Watson and Kaye eds. 1868–69 Watson, John Forbes and Kaye, John William, eds. 1868–69. The People of India: A Series of Photographic Illustrations, with Descriptive Letterpress, of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan, 5 vols, London: India Museum
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