LITERARY NOTICES. 



415 



fulfillment of his own mission as the founder 

 of a new school of philosophy. 



In seeking to rectify past judgments and 

 to form a more just idea of the relative 

 greatness of these two eminent men, we 

 must remember, not only that the father 

 was self-made, while John Stuart Mill had 

 James Mill for a teacher, but we must re- 

 member also that the father had to make 

 himself over again after he had at first been 

 very bady constructed. He was educated 

 as a clergyman in the orthodox school of 

 Scotch Calvinism, and was of course early 

 saturated with the whole order of ideas 

 which belongs to that system. From this 

 he got himself free by a total rejection of 

 the whole body of theological belief that 

 belongs to Christianity. He therefore be- 

 gan the reconstruction of his views and 

 opinions late in life, and had to work them 

 all out for himself. His son, on the con- 

 trary, had the immense advantage of begin- 

 ning early a systematic training in the line 

 which he pursued without a break through 

 life. James Mill was an independent and 

 indeed a masterly thinker in the fields of 

 psychology, of political economy, of logic 

 and the philosophy of government, and he 

 was a pioneer of modern English liberalism. 

 John Stuart Mill ran in upon all these sub- 

 jects, revising, amplifying, and making them 

 his own through the accomplishments of a 

 wider erudition and a more thorough prep- 

 aration ; but if he had possessed more of 

 his father's quality he would have broken 

 loose from more of his father's errors, and 

 the system of thought that is now identi- 

 fied with both names might have been made 

 more enduring than it is. 



Dr. Bain's life of James Mill is a very 

 interesting book. It is interesting in its 

 biographical features and as a delineation 

 of a strong and remarkable character ; and 

 it is also especially instructive as a history 

 of the times, as illustrated by the active 

 and influential career of a man who had 

 much to do with the reshaping of modern 

 liberal opinion in social and political affairs. 

 James Mill was a man of immense intellect- 

 ual activity, as shown not only by the " Anal- 

 ysis. of the Human Mind " and the " History 

 of India," but by a host of lesser produc- 

 tions, such as articles contributed to cyclo- 

 paedias and to many of the leading reviews, 



all of which were able in thought and writ- 

 ten with remarkable clearness and force. 



The Winners in Life's Race; or, the 

 Great Backboned Family. By Ara- 

 bella B. Buckley. New York: D. 

 Appleton & Co. Pp. 36V. Price, 

 $1.50. 



As a popular scientific writer the po- 

 sition of Miss Buckley is now assured. Her 

 knowledge is sound, her judgment trust- 

 worthy, and her power of elementary expo- 

 sition much above the common standard. 

 Her first book, " A Short History of Natu- 

 ral Science," was needed and was well done. 

 The "Fairy Land of Science" was also 

 excellent. " Life and her Children " struck 

 into the new biological path, and gave an 

 interesting account of the invertebrates, or 

 the lower forms of living creatures. The 

 present work is a continuation of it into a 

 higher field, although the present is an in- 

 dependent and self-explanatory work. 



The work we now have from Miss Buck- 

 ley was much demanded. "We wanted a 

 popular book on the vertebrates, the back- 

 boned family from the historic or evolution 

 point of view. This made necessary un- 

 usual qualifications in the writer, and im- 

 plied a knowledge of geology and paleon- 

 tology, as well as natural history. Miss 

 Buckley had been for many years the secre- 

 tary and special student of Sir Charles Lyell, 

 : and had therefore the best opportunities to 

 become familiar with those branches that 

 have now become indispensable parts of 

 biology. Miss Buckley says of the method 

 of her book : 



" I have therefore endeavored to de- 

 scribe graphically the early history of the 

 backboned animals, so far as it is yet known 

 I to us, keep strictly to such broad facts as 

 ought in these days to be familiar to every 

 child and ordinarily well-educated person, 

 if they are to have any true conception of 

 natural history. At the same time I have 

 dwelt, as fully as space would allow, upon 

 the lives of such modern animals as best 

 illustrate the present divisions of the ver- 

 tebrates upon the earth ; my object being 

 rather to follow the tide of life, and sketch 

 in broad outline how structure and habit 

 have gone hand-in-hand in filling every 

 available space with living beings, than to 



