558 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that, in a work of the character of the one 

 before us, we think something more should 

 have been said to show exactly what this 

 attitude is, and to exhibit more fully the na- 

 ture of the operations of our minds in believ- 

 ing or disbelieving anything. We consider 

 that here Mr. Sully has carried condensation 

 too far. 



But as the main purpose of our author's 

 work is in its educational applications, so in 

 these lies its chief merit. There is a great 

 deal of interesting observation about the 

 development of the child's mind as regard- 

 ing imagination and reasoning, for example ; 

 and there are many fruitful suggestions re- 

 specting the proper methods to be adopt- 

 ed in promoting the growth of the mental 

 powers and strengthening them. The whole 

 subject of control of the emotions and their 

 various uses is admirably handled. The 

 pleasures of knowledge, the development of 

 aesthetic taste, the erection, maintenance* 

 and following of moral standards all re- 

 ceive ample illustration with many precepts 

 of practical value. "We are glad to see the 

 uses of obedience in childhood, as a means 

 to self-control and to a well-balanced char- 

 acter, so correctly stated. "We are very 

 apt to find either the contention that there 

 should be little exercise of authority on the 

 one hand, or on the other that authority 

 should still be controlling as an end in it- 

 self throughout adult life. The former idea 

 leads to anarchy, the latter to despotism. 

 This is what Mr. Sully says : " As already 

 pointed out, an indispensable step in the for- 

 mation of a sense of duty is the assertion and 

 exercise of authority over the child, the mak- 

 ing him feel that there is a higher will over 

 his which he has to obey. 



u It may safely be contended that obedi- 

 ence in the sense already defined is in itself 

 a moral habit forming, indeed, one chief 

 virtue of childhood. . . . Nevertheless, it is 

 a common and fatal error to regard obedi- 

 ence to personal authority as an end in it- 

 self. The ingredient in childish obedience 

 which constitutes it a moral exercise is the 

 dim apprehension of the reasonableness and 

 moral obligatoriness of what is laid down. 

 And the ultimate end of moral discipline 

 is to strengthen this feeling, and to transfer 

 the sentiment of submission from a person 

 to a law which that person represents and 

 embodies Commands are a scaffold- 



ing which performs a necessary temporary 

 function in the building up of a self-suffi- 

 cient habit of right conduct " (pp. 393, 394). 

 This is very sensible and wholesome doc- 

 trine. 



Altogether, Mr. Sully has produced an 

 excellent book, of unique character in psy- 

 chological works. There is no doubt that 

 it supplies a genuine, not a fanciful need, 

 nor is there any question of the scholarship 

 of the author, or of his fitness to point out 

 practical methods in education. He is him- 

 self an educator, and has the experience of 

 the teacher in addition to the accumulations 

 in knowledge of one who has made of the 

 subject of psychology a life-long study. He 

 has done his work so successfully that our 

 thanks and our praise are very cordially, 

 and, as we believe, deservedly, bestowed. 



Triumphant Democracy : or, Fifty Years' 

 March of the Republic. By Andrew 

 Carnegie. New York: Charles Scrib- 

 ner'sSons. 1886. Pp.509. Price, $2.50. 



Mr. Carnegie has produced a very read- 

 able book, and one of which an American 

 has reason to be proud as the tribute of one 

 of her adopted citizens. The title suggests 

 a panegyric, and the text does not belie it. 

 The unparalleled material progress of the 

 republic is recounted in the most exultant 

 strain, and its political institutions are 

 given unstinted praise. In comparison with 

 those of the mother-country he finds the 

 advantages all with us, and earnestly hopes 

 that it will not be long before England will 

 be remodeled upon our basis. The magic 

 which has transformed a continent and 

 given the world the strongest and wealthi- 

 est of nations he finds in the political 

 equality of the citizens, and this is the 

 thing he deems needful for England if she 

 is to keep abreast of her young and power- 

 ful rival. He writes in no spirit of antago- 

 nism to England in recounting the triumphs 

 of the English-speaking people upon this 

 side of the Atlantic, but only wishes for her 

 a future as pleasing. The relation of mother 

 and child is the one he continuously holds up, 

 and the drawing closer together of all Eng- 

 lish-speaking communities expresses his 

 most ardent wish. 



The volume would have unquestionably 

 gained in value had Mr. Carnegie written in 

 a more critical spirit, but it is perhaps just 



