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dividual members; while the selfishness, which in early times prevented the existence of any higher organization than the family, was also incompatible with individual freedom. This is the exact reverse of the state of things which we find in organic evolution. In organic development, individual life is more and more submerged in corporate life. In social development, corporate life is more and more subordinated to individual life. The highest organic life is that in which the units have the least possible freedom. The highest social life is that in which the units have the greatest possible freedom.

Thus we have at last reached the conclusion in quest of which we set out. Supplementing the previous formula, in which organic and social life were seen to agree, by our present formula, in which they are seen to differ, we obtain the fundamental law to which social changes conform. The result, it will be seen, is the reverse of that reached by Comte, whose ! ultimate state of society is one in which individual liberty no more exists than it does in the cells of a vertebrate animal. Nor does it interpret progress as the necessary consequence of an inherent tendency, but it recognizes it as determined by complex conditions, which must all be fulfilled before it can be realized. And lastly, by practically showing that historic phenomena can be reduced to orderly sequence, it confirms the result which I have sought elsewhere (Fortnightly Review, September, 1868) to demonstrate independently, that social changes, as well as physical changes, are within the sphere of immutable law, concerning which Hooker has said, with no less truth than sublimity, that "her seat is the bosom of God, and her voice the harmony of the world."

JOHN FISKE.

ART. VIII. —1. Vesuvius. By JOHN PHILLIPS, M. A. Oxford. 1869. 12mo.

2. Histoire Complète de la grande Eruption de Vésuve de

1631. Par H. LE HON. Bruxelles. 1866. 8vo.

3. Reise der Oesterreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859. Geologischer Theil, Erster Band, Erste Abtheilung, Geologie von Neu-Seeland. Von DR. FERDINAND VON HOCHSTETTER. Wien. 1864. 4to. 4. Voyage Géologique dans les Républiques de Guatemala et San Salvador. Par MM. A. DOLLFUS et E. DE MONT-SERRAT. Paris. 1868. 4to.

5. The Natural System of the Volcanic Rocks. By BARON F. RICHTHOFEN. Extracted from the Memoirs of the California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco. 1868. Pamphlet.

WE have placed at the head of this article the titles of a few of the many volumes devoted chiefly to the subject of volcanoes which have issued from the press during the past few years. To give a complete list of the volumes and papers in which the phenomena of volcanism have been described and discussed, even if only the productions of the last five years were to be included in it, would require many pages. On the subject of the volcanic island of Santorin alone, at least six different works were published during the year 1868. One author, Le Hon, gave, in 1866, a complete history of an eruption of Vesuvius which took place two hundred and thirtyeight years ago; while several other writers, some of them known as geological authors and others not, have taken advantage of the recent period of activity of that interesting volcano to serve up portions of the mass of the old material in a new form, adding in some cases new facts of value to the previously existing stock, but generally relying for their chances of success rather on elegance of typography, or other extrinsic circumstances, than on scientific accuracy or originality of ideas. The reason of the exceptional activity in this department of book-making is partly that the volcanoes themselves — at least several of those best known-have been unusually active, and partly because the fashion of illustrated and sen

sational books on scientific subjects has been set, and of all the subjects which geology presents there is none which so excites the popular mind as the phenomena of volcanoes and earthquakes.

Earthquakes are events simply fearful; there is nothing about them which is not appalling in its nature. They come without warning, and leave nothing but dismay and ruin behind. Even the minor shocks are terrible, and more alarming in proportion to the number of times they have been experienced. It is only in California that an attempt has been made to pooh-pooh an earthquake; but even there the hollowness of the derision was but too evident. In an earthquake-shaken country the time that elapses between the instant when one perceives that an earthquake wave is approaching and that when its first effect is felt is one into which a thousand apprehensions can be crowded. Then, if ever, one feels the utter insignificance of man as an integral part of creation. The blow may fall lightly and leave no sensible trace behind; or, on the other hand, it may crush and overwhelm. The regulating screws of the horrid machinery are invisible. There is no reason why one should await with more calmness the approach of an earthquake shock than, with his head on the anvil, the falling of a steam-hammer, not knowing beforehand at what point the ponderous mass is to be arrested by the engineer in charge of the machine.

Volcanoes, on the other hand, give in almost all cases some previous warnings of their intention to change their usual quiescent state for one of destructive activity. Their disastrous effects can often be to a large extent avoided by flight. It is only very rarely that an eruption is so sudden and violent as to overwhelm and destroy without previous and oft-repeated warnings. Again, eruptive volcanic action is usually prolonged over many days or weeks, or even months, and the phenomena exhibited are usually—if the eruption is on a large scale — of surpassing grandeur, from a picturesque as well as from a scientific point of view. Perhaps there is no scene offered by any play of nature's forces so wonderfully attractive as that of a great volcanic eruption, especially when seen by night. The combination of every conceivable element of the picturesque

and the sublime afforded by the great outbreaks of Kilauea, as reported by the few who have had the good luck to witness some of them, may be mentioned as an instance in point.

No wonder, then, that the subject of volcanoes has always been an attractive one to the general, as well as to the scientific, traveller and writer, and that such a great number of volumes have been published, and are still publishing, treating either of volcanoes in general or of particular eruptions or periods of eruptive activity. The work of the veteran Oxford professor, John Phillips, the title of which is placed at the head of the list preceding this article, is one of the most noticeable of those possessing a somewhat popular character. Within the limits of three hundred and fifty pages it gives a succinct history of Vesuvius and of the adjacent volcanic region so much visited by travellers, and is on all points exact and clear. The illustrations of the volume are numerous and effective, although not elaborate, and very far from sensational. The book is exactly what was desirable as a guide to travellers of scientific tastes, and may be consulted with profit and pleasure by the professional geologist. It contains, besides, a catalogue of Vesuvian minerals. There is also a chapter devoted to the theory of "volcanic excitement,” subject on which much has been written, especially of late, but in regard to which it must be admitted that we have still much to learn.

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The work of M. Le Hon, placed second on our list, is especially valuable as containing a large map, which appears to have been carefully constructed, and which exhibits all the flows of lava from Vesuvius between the years 1631 and 1861. This is the only map which professes to give with any approach to exactness the position of these masses, and evidently it could not have been produced without considerable labor and without numerous excavations. The description of the eruption of 1631 is carefully compiled, and gives a good idea of this the most devastating of all the modern outbreaks of Vesuvius. By this eruption it is probable that at least four thousand persons lost their lives in various ways, while more than forty towns and villages were destroyed, the pecuniary

losses being estimated at twenty millions of ducats, an enormous sum at that time.

The volcanic phenomena of a far distant but exceedingly interesting region - New Zealand—are brought to our notice for the first time in a comprehensive manner by Dr. Hochstetter, in two separate works, one, in royal 8vo. form, of a popular character, entitled simply "Neu-Seeland"; the other, a volume of the series published by the Austrian government as the official account of the voyage of the frigate Novara, made in the years 1857-59. The first-mentioned work was published by Cotta, in 1863, with every luxury of adornment, and is one of the most attractive books-half scientific and half narrative-ever issued. The quarto official volume is also beautifully printed and illustrated, and is largely devoted to a description of the New Zealand volcanoes, as well as of the wonderful geysers, hotsprings, and solfataras which form so peculiar and attractive a feature of the island, and which are admirably represented in the chromo-steel plates of the popular volume and the chromolithographs of the other. These indicate a type of geological scenery resembling that of the geysers of Iceland, but on a grander scale, and with the peculiar added beauty of a wonderfully interesting and abundant vegetation. Dr. Hochstetter's books are rich in information about a new and remarkable region, but they are very little encumbered with generalities or theoretical views.

Almost equally magnificent in its typography and style of publication is the work placed fourth on our list, — an official publication of the French government, issued from the Imprimerie Impériale, as an instalment of the results of the scientific mission instituted by the Emperor for exploring Mexico at the time when his unfortunate military expedition to that country was planned. In carrying out this exploration, MM. Dollfus and Mont-Serrat-neither of them a geologist of reputation - spent a little over two years in that region, eight months of it in Central America. The results of their investigations have been laid before the public in the form of a ponderous quarto, in which, as in many other works of French savans which treat of the geology of parts of our continent, there is but little that is new, while, on the other hand, it con

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