ii6 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



feet that he has no. means of distinguishing 

 after a certain interval between the literal 

 and metaphorical application of words. 

 With respect to anthropomorphic deities, 

 Mr. Spencer argues that they are ancestors 

 whose qualities are idealized and expanded. 



"Ancestor -worship has never before 

 been turned to such advantage in the inter- 

 pretation of so many facts ; and the ease 

 with which the theory works gives it a cer- 

 tain charm. We see no reason, however, 

 why Mr. Spencer should exclude every oth- 

 er cause in the production of early mythol- 

 ogies. The influences he has defined may all 

 act as he describes ; but they do not neces- 

 sarily exhaust the sources of the religion 

 of savages. He is as nearly angry as it is 

 possible for so calm a thinker to be with 

 ' the mythologists,' who represent uncivil- 

 ized man as mistaking the names given to 

 the forces and objects of Nature for the 

 names of living beings. But surely this is 

 not more strange than the process he him- 

 self has expounded, since in both cases the 

 savage ends by finding in the outward world 

 qualities which exist only in his own imagi- 

 nation. If he is unreasoning enough to 

 suppose that the sun is his ancestor be- 

 cause his grandfather was so called, we 

 need feel no surprise at his regarding the 

 sun as alive merely on account of the effects 

 it daily produces ; and so of the moon, the 

 dawn, or the wind. Mr. Spencer will not 

 admit that the savage has any tendency to 

 ascribe life to what is inanimate ; but chil- 

 dren constantly do so, and he insists that 

 children and savages have a strong intel- 

 lectual resemblance. We are not arguing 

 for the theory which has been so persistent- 

 ly, if not always judiciously, advocated by 

 Mr. Max Miiller and Mr. Cox ; we only say 

 that within certain limits it may also be 

 true. Religious phenomena are so compli- 

 cated that it is improbable we shall be able 

 to explain them by the modifications of any 

 single principle. 



" In several very interesting chapters 

 Mr. Spencer uses the analogy between so- 

 cieties and organic bodies to illustrate the 

 truth that ' social evolution forms a part of 

 evolution at large.' He then passes to the 

 domestic relations, in connection with which 

 he discusses the many different forms of 

 marriage and of maniage-ceremonies. To 



persons who believe that man has an intui- 

 tive perception of right and wrong in the 

 relations of the sexes there could be no 

 more suggestive study than that of exogamy 

 and endogamy, promiscuity, polyandry, 

 polygyny, and monogamy. Mr. Spencer 

 does not so much argue against the intui- 

 tive theory as oppose to it the process 

 by which, as a matter of fact, our present 

 moral conceptions have been produced. 

 This is, indeed, the characteristic of the 

 whole work. Its method is throughout 

 constructive ; but for that reason it is much 

 more effective in destroying popular doc- 

 trines regarding the origin and growth of 

 many vital ideas than any amount of mere- 

 ly negative argument." 



Electricitt and the Electric Telegraph. 

 By George B. Prescott. 564 Illustra- 

 tions. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 

 Pp. 978. Price, $5. 



In this elaborate volume we have the 

 detailed story of the telegraph, in a form 

 suitable both for the instruction of general 

 readers and for the guidance of those prac- 

 tically engaged in the art. The illustra- 

 tions are copious and well executed, and all 

 the curious complications of telegraphic 

 mechanism, and the mysterious ways of 

 electricity that are made available to the 

 great end of the rapid transmission of intel- 

 ligence, are described clearly and fully by 

 the author. Mr. Prescott has been at great 

 pains to bring forward the valuable contri- 

 butions of foreign nations, especially the 

 Germans, who have done more in teleg- 

 raphy than they have had credit for, and 

 his work may be commended for its com- 

 prehensiveness as well as that thorough- 

 ness of treatment which is indispensable to 

 a first-class manual upon the subject. 



Lessons in Electricity. At the Royal 

 Institution. By John Ttndall, F. R. S. 

 New York : D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 

 113. Price, $1. 



For entering into physics through the 

 experimental gateway, and by the use of 

 simple apparatus, electricity has special ad- 

 vantages. Its experiments are simple, the 

 effects distinct and striking, and the theo- 

 retical pathway to principles not difficult 

 to follow, and well suited to exercise the 

 reasoning powers. Dr. Tyndall has there- 



