Abstract
(1) ALL who have enjoyed Sir Ray Lankester's popular essays published in the Daily Telegraph under the title “Science from an Easy Chair,” will be glad to have a third instalment of them in permanent form; those to whom they are new are to be envied. The mood of the essays expresses the conviction that while science is for foresight and the practical mastery of things, it is also, for our delight, “in this world of unending marvels and beauty.” Far from echoing the old moan that increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow, the author declares that science “satisfies man's soul.” To accept this generous appreciation it may be necessary, however, to include with “science” the attendant feelings and imaginings which are usually kept at a stern arm's length off. What are the characteristics of these masterly essays, when we get beyond their obvious qualities of learning and lucidity, experience and insight? The first is that Sir Ray Lankester, like Huxley before him, is able to show us the interest and significance of common things. Thus there are illuminating chapters on the sand and pebbles and shells of the sea-shore, on a piece of amber, on sea-anemones and jelly-fish, shrimps and barnacles, on daddy-long-legs, on Christmas trees, and more besides. It is the function of art and poetry to idealise what we see and do every day; but science also has its share (for there are really no hard and fast compartmental rôles in life) in snowing us the significance of the commonplace, and fine examples of lucid exposition of difficult, though near-at-hand, subjects will be found in the essays on the blood and the lymph.
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References
â"œDiversions of a Naturalist.â” By Sir Ray Lankester . Pp. xv + 424 (London: Mcthuen and Co., Ltd.) Price 6s.
â"œThe Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays.â” By Prof J. Joly . Pp. xv + 307. (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1915.) Price 10s. 6d. net.
â"œBirds and Man.â” By W. H. Hudson . Pp. 306. (London: Duck worth and Co., 1915.) Price 6s. net.
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Scientific Exposition at its Best 1 . Nature 96, 342–344 (1915). https://doi.org/10.1038/096342e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/096342e0