112 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Bagehot's analysis of the English Constitu- 

 tion will be helpful to this end ; and we 

 doubt if there is any other volume so useful 

 to our countrymen to peruse before visiting 

 ^England. It will enable Americans to under- 

 stand many things that at first perplex and 

 disgust them in an old historic country, 

 where all that most impresses the mind is 

 so different from what we are accustomed 

 to here. 



" It remains further to say that Mr. 

 Bagehot's work has a charming readable- 

 ness that would not be suspected from its 

 title or subject. It is written with an easy 

 liveliness, a vivacious wit, and a felicity of 

 style, that place it high in the scale of lit- 

 erary excellence. 



" The studies of character of Brougham 

 and Peel, that are appended to the present 

 edition, and have not before appeared in 

 this country, will be read with avidity, as 

 they not only serve to throw additional 

 light upon the modern politics of England, 

 but give us an interesting insight into the 

 intellectual life of two of the most conspicu- 

 ous men who have figured in public affairs 

 during the past generation." 



THE SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY. 



TnK Principles op Sociology. By Her- 

 bert Spencer, Author of " First Princi- 

 ples of Biology," "Principles of Psy- 

 chology," etc., etc. Vol. I., pp. 734. 

 New York : D. Appleton & Co. Price, 

 $2.50. 



The sixth volume of Spencer's " Synthet- 

 ic Philosophy " is now before us. This great 

 work was entered upon with many doubts 

 as to its merits if executed, and many more 

 as to whether it would ever get done at all. 

 It has, however, moved slowly forward for 

 the last fifteen years, against obstacles, both 

 internal and external, which would have 

 ordinarily brought such an enterprise to a 

 stand long ago. The author's imperfect 

 health has been a serious and constant im- 

 pediment; the expensiveness of the under- 

 taking has greatly imperiled its continu- 

 ance; and the carelessness, stupidity, and 

 downright perversity of reviewers, or those 

 who undertook to interpret the system to 

 the public, have been little calculated to 

 inspirit the author in the progress of his 

 work. Instead of welcoming with sympa- 

 thy and intelligent encouragement a great 



effort like this to effect a higher unity of 

 the different departments of knowledge, 

 which modern science has begun to make 

 possible, Mr. Spencer has been treated 

 rather as if he had committed some grave 

 offense against the interests of mankind. 

 We have still large classes who look upon 

 science with jealousy, and especially resent 

 any effort to make it the basis of philoso- 

 phy, or to develop it into a comprehensive 

 and authoritative body of thought; and 

 these classes have opposed and vilified 

 from the commencement Spencer's work 

 without scruple or reserve. It is gratify- 

 ing to note that this unworthy feeling is 

 giving way in many quarters, and is re- 

 placed by a growing disposition to do jus- 

 tice to his views ; but in other quarters the 

 old tactics of depreciation and misrepre- 

 sentation are still pursued. We refer to 

 the latest example. Our readers will re- 

 member that a year or two since the British 

 Quarterly Review opened its columns to a 

 very unmanly and vindictive assault upon 

 Spencer, which had no excuse even under 

 the largest license of decent reviewing. 

 That there was some animus in the writer's 

 mind quite apart from the fair and legiti- 

 mate purpose of such work, was obvious 

 enough at the time ; but, if there could have 

 been any doubt about it, that doubt is dis- 

 pelled by the recent course of this Quaj-terly. 

 In its January issue it contained another 

 elaborate article professing to be a review 

 of Spencer's " Sociology ; " but the reader 

 will hardly credit the statement that this 

 work was not even referred to in the article. 

 It was nothing less than an attack upon 

 the old "Social Statics," a book published 

 twenty-six years ago, and having in its 

 preface to the later reprints an explicit 

 warning to all readers that it does not con- 

 tain a true representation of Mr. Spencer's 

 present views. T!ie course of the Quarterly 

 was all the more outrageous, when it is re- 

 membered that Mr. Spencer had stated in 

 this preface that the subject discussed in 

 "Social Statics" would be reconsidered and 

 placed upon a broader basis in the " System 

 of Philosophy" upon which he has been at 

 work since 1860. The writer in the Review 

 added, in a note at the end of his article, 

 that at the time it went to press the volume 

 of Spencer's "Principles of Sociology" was 



