Der Untergang der Erde und die kosmiscken Katastrophen

Abstract

AT various times and by authorities of very varied reputation, but at tolerably frequent intervals, we are invited to consider the problems that are connected with the origin or the decay of the cosmos. It is doubtful in which category the present volume should be placed; the author, indeed, writes decay on his cover, but his pages have more to do with formation and development. The main thought running through the book is to declare the existence of a cycle of events, which may be accompanied with catastrophes of greater or less severity, but tending always to recovery and restoration. This is no new thought, and until some epoch-making discovery such as that of the spectroscope or the principle of the conservation of force widens and directs the issues of scientific investigation, it is difficult to understand how anything new can be written on the cosmogony as a whole. Dr. Meyer presumably thinks differently, and, with the pen of a ready writer, he is willing to rearrange, in a very pleasant manner, the few facts that have been collected, and to repeat the views of the original thinkers and workers on this fascinating subject. Occasionally, Dr. Meyer wanders slightly from recognised lines, and is then, as we think, neither so accurate nor so interesting as when he keeps on the well-trodden paths that his predecessors have followed. If, however, this rearrangement had been nicely managed, we could have forgiven the author much. If he had unfolded before us a panoramic view, in which the development of the cosmos could be traced continuously and uniformly, or had pictured for us the gradual cessation of the phenomena with which we are familiar, we could have welcomed his book as a contribution to popular scientific literature. But in this respect we do not think Dr. Meyer has done himself justice. The successive chapters of his book have too much resemblance to articles in a popular magazine, and may possibly have done duty in that capacity. Each chapter may read pleasantly enough, but the author has not nicely welded his material and dovetailed his story together. As evidence of the traces of magazine writing, we may quote the following passage (p. 201):—

Der Untergang der Erde und die kosmiscken Katastrophen.

Von Dr. M. W. Meyer. Pp. viii + 380 (Berlin: Allgemeiner Verein für deutsche Litteratur, 1902.)