LITERARY NOTICES. 



631 



Mr. Sully proceeds to the optimistic philoso- 

 phers of the last century, who endeavored, 

 by metaphysical subtilty, to argue the ex- 

 istence of evil out of the universe. Of this 

 school, Leibnitz, Shaftesbury, and Pope, 

 may be taken as the leaders. The French 

 eclaircissement brought a new idea to the 

 front, that of human perfectibility, personi- 

 fied in Condorcet and Godwin. It was hoped 

 that, after all, evil might not be inherent in 

 the nature of things, but might prove a mere 

 excrescence, due to the social errors of man- 

 kind. This creed found its most eloquent 

 exponent in the poet Shelley ; and, extrava- 

 gant as were its first enthusiastic develop- 

 ments, Mr. Sully justly traces to its influence 

 the modern belief in progress as an actual 

 fact, present and prospective. In the so- 

 cial amelioration promised by the apostles 

 of evolution, and especially by Mr. Herbert 

 Spencer, our author rightly sees " the one 

 vital type of optimism in our age." The 

 kernel of the work is reached when we come 

 to the survey of Schopenhauer's philosophy, 

 and the account of his disciple, Hartmann, 

 whose system is very fully analyzed. Their 

 deliberate conviction, arrived at by an osten- 

 tatiously logical and stringent method, con- 

 sists in the belief that " life is a uselessly 

 interrupting episode in the blissful repose 

 of the non-existent." With the careful 

 exposition of their teaching, the historical 

 portion of Mr. Sully's volume closes. The 

 larger and critical division consists of a sys- 

 tematic dialectic against the whole argu- 

 ment of German pessimism, as represented 

 by these its greatest lights. Into this part 

 of his work, which is lengthy, and closely 

 reasoned, we can only briefly follow him. 

 Mr. Sully begins by clearly setting forth the 

 problem in dispute. He then attacks the 

 superstructure of Hartmann from its meta- 

 physical basis, which he shows to be ver- 

 bal, illusory, and self-contradictory. Its 

 scientific basis is next examined from the 

 physical and the psychological standpoints ; 

 and from both it is found to be wanting. 

 Finally, the author sums up his own view in 

 three somewhat lengthy chapters, which ex- 

 hibit him as holding a middle course between 

 the two extremes. While he rejects the 

 untenable theory of the absolute optimists, 

 he cannot agree that any groundwork for 

 pessimism as a reasoned principle exists in 



the facts under consideration. His own 

 platform is summed up in the single expres- 

 sion meliorism, suggested to him by George 

 Eliot. In this creed he finds an incitement 

 to practical effort which falls in with the 

 natural longings of humanity and the teach- 

 ings of modern evolutionism, but which is 

 wanting either to the satisfied theological 

 optimist or to the blankly-despondent Ger- 

 man pessimist. In the hopes of our com- 

 mon humanity we have a refuge alike from 

 the selfish acquiescence of the pietist and 

 the petty troubles of individual existence. 



As a whole, the work exhibits all Mr. 

 Sully's characteristics in their fullest form. 

 It is rather long-winded, a trifle dull, and 

 somewhat apt to stray from the plain paths 

 of common-sense into the hazy realm of 

 metaphysics and casuistical subtilty. But, 

 on the other hand, it is full of varied and 

 accurate learning, judicial impartiality, and 

 studied moderation. Great pains have been 

 taken to bring it up to date in every respect, 

 some works being actually noticed or quoted 

 which must have appeared while the volume 

 was passing through the press. And as an 

 exhaustive account of all that has been writ- 

 ten or thought upon its subject at all peri- 

 ods, ancient or modem, it may be thoroughly 

 recommended alike to the psychological stu- 

 dent and to the general reader. 



The Ancient Life-History of the Earth. 

 A Comprehensive Outline of the Princi- 

 ples and Leading Facts of Pakeontologi- 

 cal Science. By H. Alleyne Nichol- 

 son, M. D., D. Sc, Professor of Natural 

 History in the University of St. Andrew's. 

 D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 407. Price, $2.00. 



The subject of this book is one of grow- 

 ing scientific interest. Only within the 

 present century has it been revealed that 

 the earth has been laden with life for untold 

 ages, until its crust has become a vast tomb, 

 and even thick and extensive rock-strata 

 are made up of the skeletons of creatures 

 of extreme minuteness. The present life 

 of the globe is but the last term in an al- 

 most infinite series of generations, that have 

 so varied in form and character, as we go 

 back in time, that they serve to mark off 

 the geological epochs. 



A group of absorbing questions now 

 clusters around this great fact of the ancient 

 life-history of the earth, and there is much 



