The Constitution of the Universe (The Theory of Inter sistence), dedicated to my Subscribers

Abstract

MOST secretaries of local scientific societies (as well as many other people) have experience of the man who possesses the type of mind exemplified in o this book: a mind as attracted by scientific hypothesis as a moth to a flame, and as wanting in discretion as the moth. The author is a mining engineer in India, and in his preface writes not without some modest sense of his temerity in composing this book and inducing a number of friends to finance its publication. A few words of apology, however, and particularly the confession that it has been written hastily and without opportunity to consult proper scientific literature, will scarcely excuse so hardy a piece of presumption. No man occupied with practical affairs, especially if his work is based on the application of physical science, like mining, would fail to adopt an attitude of severe disapproval towards an amateur who, while confessedly ignorant, proposed to reverse all the conclusions arrived at by men experienced in these affairs, and to substitute wholly new theories and methods; yet most practical arts are relatively simple, compared with the vast and complex structure of modern science, which these amateurs are eager to raze and rebuild. It is, indeed, remarkable that this obvious consideration should not prevent men, often capable and successful in their own work, from embarking on so foolish an enterprise, and imagining that they

The Constitution of the Universe. (The Theory of Inter sistence), dedicated to my Subscribers.

By Louis Stromeyer. Pp. xx + 255 + xv. (Bangalore: Higginbothams, Ltd., 1922.) n.p.