LITERARY NOTICES. 



707 



of the plan proposed, to Mr. Donisthorpe's 

 book, merely observing that, in point of prac- 

 tical suggestiveness, we consider the two 

 chapters last mentioned worth a score of such 

 books as " Looking Backward." We do not 

 say that every difficulty has been fully met ; 

 but we do say that Mr. Donisthorpe has pro- 

 pounded a scheme which is not necessarily 

 Utopian, and which seems to contain great 

 promise of good. Surely, on the face of it, 

 it is evident that society must some day dis- 

 cover some better principle than that ac- 

 cording to which the laborer of to-day pro- 

 fessedly gives the least amount of work for 

 the largest amount obtainable in wages, and 

 the capitalist the smallest amount in wages 

 for the largest amount obtainable of work. 

 Such a principle means war, means waste, 

 means wide-spread social demoralization ; 

 and it must, if society is to endure, be suc- 

 ceeded at no distant day by some true prin- 

 ciple of accommodation and harmony, in 

 virtue of which it shall become the interest 

 of the laboring classes to promote the crea- 

 tion of wealth by faithful and intelligent 

 work, and the interest of the capitalist class 

 to extend the fullest measure of justice to 

 those whose labor fructifies their capital. 



The closing chapter of the book contains 

 a most effective criticism of socialism in re- 

 ply to a Mr. J. L. Joynes, who, if we remem- 

 ber rightly, was a co-laborer with Mr. Henry 

 George in England. It is satisfactory, in 

 these days of crude theories and doleful 

 vaticinations, to meet with a book written in 

 as sober and withal as cheerful and hopeful 

 a spirit as this of Mr. Donisthorpe's. We 

 wish very much that the more helpful por- 

 tions of it could be presented to the public 

 in briefer and more popular form ; but, as it 

 is, we trust that the book, as a whole, will 

 be read and pondered by all who are inter- 

 ested in social problems. 



Introduction to the Study of Philosophy. 

 By William T. Harris. Comprising 

 Passages from his Writings, selected 

 and arranged, with Commentary and Il- 

 lustration, by Marietta Kies. New 

 York : D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 287. 

 Price, $1.50. 



This compilation has been made in order 

 to adapt for class use the teachings con- 

 tained in the miscellaneous philosophical 

 works and articles of Dr. Harris. Many of 



the passages have been taken from the 

 " Journal of Speculative Philosophy," others 

 from the editor's prefaces to volumes in the 

 " International Education Series," from Dr. 

 Harris's lectures at the Concord School of 

 Philosophy, and from his articles in various 

 educational journals. The illustrations sup- 

 plied by Miss Kies are such as she has used 

 with her classes of girls at Mount Holyoke 

 Seminary. The opening chapters deal with 

 " Methods of Study," the " Presuppositions 

 of Experience," and the " Philosophy of 

 Nature." The rest of the volume deals with 

 man as a self-active individual, taking up in 

 successive sections sense-perception, repre- 

 sentation, reflection, the syllogism, the abso- 

 lute idea or the reason, the emotions, and 

 the will. The concluding chapter discusses 

 the immortality of man. " Philosophy as 

 presented by Dr. Harris," says Miss Kies in 

 her preface, " gives to the student an inter- 

 pretation and explanation of the phases of 

 existence which render even the ordinary 

 affairs of life in accordance with reason ; 

 and, for the higher or spiritual phases of 

 life, his interpretations have the power of a 

 great illumination." 



Problems of the Future, and Essays. By 

 S. Laino. London : Chapman & Hall. 

 Pp.409. Price, 3s. 6c?. 



It is characteristic of man to take pleas- 

 ure in measuring his strength against obsta- 

 cles. In the youth of the individual or the 

 race, he delights in athletic contests ; in the 

 prime of life, he enjoys the struggle to obtain 

 subsistence and comforts for his family, and 

 the rewards of social eminence ; and at a 

 more advanced period the study and more or 

 less perfect solution of intellectual problems 

 afford him satisfaction. The world, or at 

 any rate the Anglo-Saxon race, may be said 

 to have reached its maturity, and intellectual 

 problems are exciting our interest and en- 

 gaging our powers as never before. There 

 have been a few philosophers in every age 

 since the beginning of history, but scientific, 

 social, and religious questions are now occu- 

 pying the minds of many who do not claim 

 to be philosophers. " There is a large and, 

 I believe, rapidly increasing class," says Mr. 

 Laing in his introduction, "who have al- 

 ready acquired some elementary ideas about 



