402 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ENTERTAINING VARIETIES. 



Charles Darwin paid a splendid compliment to John Fiske in a letter 



he wrote him after reading the " Cosmic Philosophy." This is part of what he 

 said : " You must allow me to thank you for the very great interest with which 

 I have at last slowly read the whole of your work. I have long wished to read 

 something about the views of the many great men whose doctrines you give. 

 I never in my life read so lucid an expositor (and therefore thinker) as you are ; 

 and I think that I understand nearly the whole, though perhaps less clearly 

 about cosmic theism and causation than other parts. It is hopeless to attempt 

 out of so much to specify what has interested me most, and probably } 7 ou would 

 not care to hear. It pleased me to find that here and there I had arrived, from 

 my own crude thoughts, at some of the same conclusions with you, though I 

 could seldom or never have given my reasons for such conclusions." It was but 

 natural that Mr. Fiske should feel that he owed something to the memory of his 

 departed frieud for this beautiful tribute to his own labors, and he has well 

 repaid it in his article upon Charles Darw T in in the June "Atlantic Monthly." 

 This paper is not only a cordial and highly appreciative eulogy of the character 

 of the great naturalist, but it is probably the most " lucid exposition " that has 

 yet been given of the special doctrines that will in future be associated with the 

 eminent name of Darwin. 



The Word of a Khan. Hulaku, the grandson of the great Genghis 



Khan, exceeded even the first Caliphs in religious respect for the sanctity of 

 his word, and it is said that he invariably refused to make a promise "till the 

 possibility of fulfilliug it became absolutely indubitable." In the winter of 1257 

 he laid siege to the city of Bagdad, and, after planting his battering-rams, de- 

 manded an unconditional surrender, with the threat that both the Caliph and 

 his subjects would be made to repent it if the gates were not opened before 

 night. The defenders hesitated, but on the following day the Tartars erected a 

 lofty gallows-tree, and the frightened Caliph preferred to come to terms. The 

 magnificence of his gifts seemed to soften the heart of the conqueror, for the 

 ominous scaffold was removed ; but, after a private consultation with his cap- 

 tains, Hulaku concluded that, after all, something or other must be done to 

 redeem his word. So, after enjoying the hospitality of the Caliph for a day or 

 two, they marched him to headquarters, and, instead of hanging him, sewed him 

 up in a leathern bag and dragged him across-lots till " every joint and bone in 

 his body was pounded as in a mortar " ; and, instead of burning the inhabitants 

 with their city, they brained eight hundred thousand of them, and flung them 

 into the Tigris, till the river was actually choked with corpses. Andrew Crichton 

 (" History of Arabia," vol. ii, p. 45) adds that the number of the slain did not 

 even include the victims of the neighboring villages! 



Happiness. "Happiness," says Leibnitz, "results from the attain- 

 ment of any greatly desired or greatly needed object." " Happiness is health," 

 says Helvetius. " And luck," adds Diderot. The harmonious development of 

 our mental and physical faculties : Spurzheim. Peace with God : Eckart. Nil 

 admirari : Horace. Moral freedom: Campanella. Victory: Simonides. A 

 cheerful disposition: Pestalozzi. Self- approval : Fichte. The enjoyment of 



