844 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



all the incidents which had a part in shaping 

 Mr. Spencer's career, and in directing his 

 thoughts to the course they took, are plainly 

 set down, with the several stages in the de- 

 velopment of his scheme, and the order in 

 which its different parts were conceived or 

 brought forth. Two chapters are then de- 

 voted to Mr. Spencer's earlier work to the 

 preparation for the Synthetic Philosophy 

 and to the Synthetic Philosophy it- 

 self. Here pains are taken to place in its 

 proper light Mr. Spencer's connection with 

 the modern doctrine of evolution, and to 

 show him to be the originator of it ante- 

 dating Darwin and all others many years in 

 the conception and first publishing of it, as 

 we have often shown in the Monthly. These 

 chapters deal to a considerable extent with 

 the abstract and metaphysical aspects of 

 Mr. Spencer's w^ork, but only as a necessary 

 introduction to what is to follow ; for it is 

 not the author's purpose to consider the 

 philosophy as an abstract conception or a 

 piece of metaphysical rationalistics, but 

 rather to demonstrate it as a scheme of life 

 and of reigning natural law; and he does 

 this with a success that is nothing less than 

 remarkable. This is, in fact, one of the 

 most important characteristics of the vol- 

 ume. No pains are spared to make promi- 

 nent the practical element in Mr. Spencer's 

 philosophy, to exhibit the bearing of his 

 writings on current problems, and to show 

 how the system fits to all the various re- 

 lations of the world's growth and the exi- 

 gencies and duties of life. Of all men's, 

 Spencer's thought has been most potent in 

 shaping and directing the intellectual move- 

 ment of the latter half of the century ; and 

 it has been so by reason of the immediate 

 bearing of his teachings not only on the 

 everyday questions that occupy men's minds, 

 but also on those larger problems which are 

 pressing on all sides for solution. Every 

 man of whatever calling or aim who reads 

 them attentively will find in them what will 

 aid him in the pursuit of his profession or 

 his object. This bearing appears through- 

 out in Mr. Hudson's book, and especially in 

 the chapters on the Spenccrian sociology 

 and on the ethical system and the religious 

 aspect, not because of efforts to exhibit it 

 for such efforts are wholly absent but logic- 

 ally and naturally, as a part of the thing 



itself. Mr. Hudson is at some pains to ex- 

 plain the exact meaning of Mr. Spencer's 

 " Unknowable," and to correct the impres- 

 sions that have been industriously cultivated 

 by prejudiced antagonists that he is a materi- 

 alist or an agnostic in any atheistic sense ; a 

 pains which is supererogatory as to persons 

 who will carefully read what Mr. Spencer 

 says, but may be necessary as to those who 

 come to his writings burdened with the end- 

 less reiteration of misrepresentations. Those 

 who read this little book can hardly fail to 

 be impressed with the great importance and 

 wholesome character of Mr. Spencer's writ- 

 ings, and to desire to know more of them. 



Folk Tales of Angola. Fifty Tales, with 

 Ki-Mbundu Text, Literal English Transla- 

 tion, Introduction, and Notes. Collected 

 and edited by Heli Chatelain. Boston 

 and New York : Houghton, Miiflin & Co., 

 for the American Folklore Society. Pp. 

 315, with Map. Price, $3. 



The author visited Africa as pioneer and 

 linguist of Bishop Taylor's self-supporting 

 missions. In his studies of the native lan- 

 guage he found that all the dialects spoken at 

 Loanda and Angola and those of the adjoin- 

 ing districts formed one language, and that 

 that language the Ki-Mbundu was worthy 

 of the founding of a literature. He published 

 some elementary books in it, and by the aid 

 of an intelligent native was able to take 

 down a large number of folk tales, riddles, 

 songs, and proverbs, of which the present 

 volume is only a first installment of what he 

 intends to publish. After comparing the 

 whole material, the author has found that 

 many of the myths, favorite types or char- 

 acters, and peculiar incidents which have 

 been called universal, can also be traced 

 through Africa from sea to sea, and that 

 African folklore is not a tree by itself, but 

 a branch of one universal tree. Though 

 Portuguese and Arabian influence is evident 

 in many of the stories, still the bulk of the 

 tales is purely native. African folklore is 

 especially rich in animal stories or fables. 

 The folklore of the Bantu appears to be re- 

 markably homogeneous and compact, while 

 the Nigritic folklore, after the exotic ele- 

 ments connected with Islam are eliminated 

 from it, is found to be virtually the same. 

 The mythologies and superstitions of the 

 various tribes are easily reducible to one 



