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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Physiological J^sthetics. By Grant Al- 

 len, B. A. Pp. 283. New York : D. 

 Appleton & Co. Price, $1.50. 



Prof. Allen dedicates this book to Her- 

 bert Spencer as " the greatest of living phi- 

 losophers," and, as might be expected from 

 this, he treats his subject from the point of 

 view of Spencer's philosophy and the law 

 of evolution. This is only another exem- 

 plification of the power of a great princi- 

 ple, whenneivly introduced into thought, of 

 modifying old beliefs and methods of study. 

 Mr. Bain took up the investigation of the 

 human mind more closely from the physio- 

 logical side than had been before attempted 

 in any general exposition ; but he could not 

 link psychology to physiology without bring- 

 ing it more completely into the current of 

 scientific progress. Hence, when the doc- 

 trine of evolution was accepted, physiolo- 

 gy underwent a philosophical change which 

 was so powerfully felt in psychology that 

 Prof. Bain had to revise his methodical 

 works to bring them into harmony with it. 

 As aesthetics is occupied with a certain or- 

 der of human feelings, its roots must be 

 found in physiology, and Prof. Allen's book 

 is an attempt to trace out the connection. 

 We shall review this work more fully in the 

 future, but may here remark that it has 

 been received with great interest and very 

 cordial approval abroad. There are vari- 

 ous opinions as to the completeness of his 

 analysis, and the sufficiency of some of his 

 reasonings, but it is agreed that he has 

 opened the subject in a broad aspect, and 

 in a direction that must be pursued by fu- 

 ture thinkers. The London Examiner thus 

 refers to the work in the opening of its re- 

 view : 



"Amons? the branches of human activity 

 which the growing science of physiology is des- 

 tined to illuminate, the fine arts certainly have 

 a place. In proof of this we need refer only to 

 the work of a single living physiologist, H. Helra- 

 holtB. Of the importance of this thinker's phys- 

 iological contributions to the theory of musical 

 art it is unnecessary to speak. It may not be so 

 widely known that this same physiologist has 

 recently published an instructive essay, illus- 

 trating the bearing of optical science on the art 

 of painting. This invasion of the region of 

 sesthetics by natural science will be regarded as 

 an evil by all those who suppose that this terri- 

 tory should be infolded in a mist of super-subtile 

 metaphysical fancy. To those, however, who 

 ask for a clear and well-defluing daylight in all 

 domains of inquiry, the new direction of physi- 



ological labor will be welcome. If anything Is 

 likely to supply a firm objective basis for aesthetic 

 rules it is physiological science. Mr. Grant Al- 

 len distinctly recognizes this, and his volume is 

 a valuable attempt to add to the physiological 

 foundations of art. 



" Our author begins with a timely protest 

 against the unscientific idea, apparently coun- 

 tenanced by Mr. Raskin, that the pleasures of 

 art are not susceptible of exact explanation. 

 He holds that aesthetic enjoyments, like aU other 

 pleasures, may be brought under simple prin- 

 ciples or laws of nervous action. Moreover, he 

 goes further, and, by help of the new science of 

 organic evolution, seeks to explain how it is that 

 our nervous system has become so constituted 

 as to respond in a pleasurable or painful man- 

 ner to the various sensory stimuli. In this way 

 he hopes to arrive at a complete answer to the 

 question regarded as insoluble by Mr. Ruskin, 

 ' Why do we receive pleasure from some forms 

 and colors, and not from others ? ' 



"The physiological method of study cannot 

 as yet be safely carried into the discussion of 

 art-eftects beyond the simple sensations of tone, 

 color, etc. The physiological conditions of the 

 more complex delights of intellect and emotion 

 are not as yet accessible. It is a question, in- 

 deed, whether as yet the physiological method 

 is adequate to explaining all the sesthetic pleas- 

 ure of tone and color, and their combinations. 

 This, however, is the task which Mr. Allen sets 

 before himself. He devotes the greater part of 

 his space to the elementary pleasures of art, 

 illustrating these, as is fitting, by a general 

 review of the phenomena of pleasure and pain 

 in the lower bodily regions and in the various 

 senses. Following most recent writers on the 

 subject, he connects pain with the destructive or 

 injurious action of an organ, pleasure with the 

 normal action corresponding to the amount of 

 energy stored up at the time." 



Bulletin of the Geological and Geo- 

 graphical Survey of the Territories 

 (Havden's). Volume III., No. 1. Pp. 

 185." With Plates. Washington : Gov- 

 ernment Printing-Office. 



In this number of the " Bulletin " are 

 contained twelve papers, mostly on subjects 

 anthropological and entomological. Among 

 them is one by the Rev. M. Eells, on the 

 Twana Indians of the Skokomish Reserva- 

 tion, in Washington Territory. This is an 

 instructive account of the condition of a 

 tribe of Indians in the transition state from 

 savagism to semi-civilization. 



Recent Progress in Sanitary Science. By 

 A. R. Leeds. Pp. 22. Salem : printed 

 at the Salem press. 



The progress made in sanitary science 

 during recent years consists, according to 



