We thought that the increasing complexity of scientific research had
made it inadvisable for any modern writer to take all science for his province. The contrary is proved, however, by Mr. W. C. D. Dampier-Whetham's amazingly omniscient History of Science (Cambridge University Press, 18s.). In this admirably planned and written volume Mr. Dampier-Whetham traces the evolution of scientific thought and research from the dawn of history in Babylonia, and Egypt, through the ingenious speculations of the Greeks and past the blind alleys of the Middle ages, to the discoveries and theories of the present year. It is needless to say that Mr. Dampier-Whetham is a very high authority on physical science, but it is something of a revelation to find him equally sure as a guide in biology and other departments of thought. The ease with which he handles his immense subject is truly remarkable. Science is his wash-pot, and over philosophy has he cast his shoe. He has done very much more than merely to fulfil his modest aim in rewriting Whewell's well- known book of a century ago ; he here presents, in the most lucid and attractive fashio'n, " a complete outline of the development of scientific thought." it would not be excessive to pay Mr. Dampier-Whetham the compliment which pleased Macaulay best of all, and to say that there is not a single sentence in his book which needs to be read twice before it can be understood. This is not to assert that there are not many sentences, and indeed pages, which require and deserve long revolution in the mind, but that is due to the profundity of the subject—not to any lack of clearness in its presentation. * * * *
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