LITERARY NOTICES. 



75 1 



geoce so rich and powerful, bo eager to give of 

 its abundance, has not left the world more in 

 his debt. He fell dead at the very noon of intel- 

 lectual life, as he would have wished to do, at 

 his desk ; but, from the qualities of which I 

 have spoken, I doubt whether he would ever 

 have been appreciated properly as a thinker 

 outside of a small circle of readers, had his life 

 been prolonged ten or twenty years." 



Freethinking and Plain Speaking. By 

 Leslie Stephen. Pp. 362. New York : 

 G. P. Putnam's Sons. Price, $2.50. 



This is an able vindication of what sure- 

 ly needs to be vindicated the duty of plain 

 speaking. The peril of it is chiefly main- 

 tained by those who are skeptical at the 

 core about things to which they give a pub- 

 lic adhesion. There has been a great ad- 

 vance in the liberty of plain speaking, and 

 almost a corresponding advance in the lib- 

 erality with which it is received. And, 

 with this increasing toleration of it, plain 

 speaking has grown more civil, and no lon- 

 ger means, as too often it used, violent and 

 ill-tempered assaults on decent and cher- 

 ished, though antiquated, theories of life 

 here and hereafter. This book is itself an 

 excellent example of the lesson it inculcates. 

 The first essay is entitled "The Broad 

 Church." It examines the position of those 

 who adopt the formularies of the Church as 

 being the expression of their deepest con- 

 viction, who repeat the creeds, who sub- 

 scribe to the Thirty-nine Articles as often 

 as desired, but who at the same time ex- 

 press their desire to discover and follow the 

 truth, and do actually hold rationalistic 

 views. The various arguments by which 

 this course is sustained are considered, and 

 attention is given to the ingenious devices 

 by which these gentlemen, who are given 

 the fullest credit for honesty and sincerity, 

 endeavor to reconcile the difficulties of their 

 position. The conclusion is reached that 

 the attitude is a perilous one, and that the 

 efforts to maintain it are painful and hu- 

 miliating. We have a good illustration of 

 this in the recent discussion of eternal pun- 

 ishment. 



In the excellent chapter on " Darwinism 

 and Divinity " is shown, among other things, 

 the utter fallacy of the notion that existing 

 creeds are the sole bulwarks of morality. 

 Of course, if it be admitted that God gave 

 the Commandments directly to man ; that 



he proclaimed from Sinai the existence of a 

 heaven and a hell ; and that these are the 

 foundation, instead of the outgrowths, of 

 our moral nature then their overthrow 

 might imperil morality. But this radical 

 ground is seldom taken now, and, if it be 

 conceded that beliefs are generated from 

 within, the argument disappears. The vir- 

 tuous instincts which have contributed the 

 best which is in theology may safely be in- 

 trusted with the care of morality when the- 

 ological dogmas have become obsolete. 



The last essay, called " An Apology for 

 Plain Speaking," is an appeal to those who 

 agree with Mr. Stephen in his conclusions 

 to state their agreement in plain terras, and 

 meets the questions, " Why attack a system 

 of beliefs which is crumbling away quite 

 fast enough without your help ? " " Why 

 try to shake beliefs which, whether true or 

 false, are infinitely consoling to the weaker 

 brethren ? " For the answer to these ques- 

 tions, we must refer the reader to the book 

 itself, commending its closing passage : 

 " Let us think freely and speak plainly, and 

 we shall have the highest satisfaction man 

 can enjoy the consciousness that we have 

 done what little lies in ourselves to do for 

 the maintenance of the truths on which the 

 moral improvement and the happiness of 

 our race depend." 



The Source of Muscular Power. Argu- 

 ments and Conclusions drawn from 

 Observations upon the Human Sub- 

 ject under Conditions of Rest and of 

 Muscular Exercise. By Austin Flint, 

 Jr., M. D. Pp. 103. D. Appleton & Co. 

 Price, $1. 



Dr. Flint here attacks one of the most 

 interesting questions in physiology one 

 which has attracted much recent attention, 

 and given rise to earnest controversy. The 

 issue discussed in this volume was first 

 brought prominently forward and closely in- 

 vestigated by Prof. Liebig nearly forty years 

 ago. It received a new impulse in 1866 by 

 the researches of Professors Fick and Wis- 

 licenus, and the views put forth by these 

 savants have been brought under critical 

 scrutiny in later observations upon the ex- 

 penditure of force by celebrated pedestri- 

 ans. Prof. Flint had a hand in this work, 

 and, after the publication of Dr. Pavy's ex- 

 periments upon Perkins and Weston in 



