LITERARY NOTICES. 



367 



tencies of that unfathomable mystery 

 we call matter, we are again heighten- 

 ing our view of the action of the Divine 

 Cause ? Vitality is manifested in mat- 

 ter, under the operation of law, just as 

 truly as gravity or cohesion ; order is ad- 

 mitted, at any rate, as a Divine institu- 

 tion. Suppose, then, we admit that life is 

 a part of that order, and is ruled as 

 other things around us are ruled, how 

 is that going to vacate the universe of 

 its Divine control ? But it is not only 

 not true that Prof. Tyndall, who is cer- 

 tainly the best judge of what he thinks, 

 has ever declared his belief in atheism, 

 but it is not true that his Belfast address 

 implies it ; and this his most intelligent 

 and candid Christian critics have again 

 and again acknowledged. He has nev- 

 er taken the position imputed to him 

 even constructively. He has taken no 

 position from which he has retreated. 

 Who, then, has "backed out? " those, 

 of course, who have made the charge, 

 and then withdrawn it. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Outlines op Cosmic Philosophy, based on 

 the Doctrine of Evolution, with Criti- 

 cisms on the Positive Philosophy. By 

 John Fiske, M. A., LL. B. In two 

 volumes. Vol. I., 465 pages ; Vol. II., 

 523 pages. Price $6.00. J. R. Os- 

 good & Co. 



This long-expected work has at last 

 made its appearance, and comes forth with 

 such completeness that those who have 

 been impatient of .its delay will be glad 

 that the author has taken the time needed 

 to do justice to a formidable undertaking. 

 In these two solid volumes of nearly a 

 thousand pages, we have an exposition of 

 the most advanced phase of philosophic 

 thought, reduced to a comprehensive sys- 

 tem, and presented in a style of rare feli- 

 city and attractiveness. Mr. Fiske com- 

 bines the accomplishments of the scholar 

 with the discipline of the logical thinker, 

 and a large acquaintance with the modern 

 aspects of knowledge, and thus qualified he 

 has taken up the teachings of such men as 

 Comte, Mill, Spencer, Darwin, Bain, Wal- 



lace, Lewes, Hamilton, Huxley, and many 

 others, who have figured as leaders of 

 thought in recent years, and, reexpound- 

 ing them with his own original additions, 

 has given us a view so clear, comprehen- 

 sive, and systematic, that its publication be- 

 comes an event in the progress of philoso- 

 phy. But he is far from regarding the con- 

 tributions of these various philosophers as 

 of equal importance. Mr. Herbert Spencer 

 he considers the colossus of modern think- 

 ers the peer of Newton, and the man who 

 more than any other is directing the course 

 of inquiry in the present age. His system 

 he adopts with but slight reserve, and re- 

 marks in his preface : " Without imply- 

 ing that Mr. Spencer should be held re- 

 sponsible for every thing that is maintained 

 in the following pages, I believe that the 

 system here expounded is essentially his, 

 and that such supplementary illustrations 

 as I have added are quite in harmony with 

 the fundamental principles which he has 

 laid down." 



But, while Mr. Fiske has been predom- 

 inantly influenced in his thinking by the 

 views of Mr. Spencer, and has produced a 

 work which will have great value to the stu- 

 dents of that philosopher, as presenting his 

 doctrines in new aspects, and with fresh il- 

 lustrations and applications, yet it is more 

 than this it is plainly the product of a 

 course of thinking and study which has 

 gathered materials from other regions of in- 

 quiry than those to which the English phi- 

 losopher has chiefly devoted himself. We 

 have here, not the work of a naturalist or 

 a biologist, but rather of a literary writer, 

 a student of history, philosophy, and theol- 

 ogy, who, without presuming to speak with 

 authority on matters of physical science, 

 has still acquired an extensive familiarity 

 with the methods upon which sound scien- 

 tific conclusions are reached, and has de- 

 rived from the various departments of nat- 

 ural knowledge no inconsiderable aid in 

 forming and verifying his theory of things. 

 Thus, while following Mr. Spencer's lead 

 throughout the first half of the second or 

 synthetic portion of the work, it is when he 

 arrives at the chapters which deal with soci- 

 ety (Part II., Chapters XVIII.-XXII.) that 

 he is evidently most at home, applying, as he 

 does, the generalizations of biology to the 



