LITERARY NOTICES. 



5 6 3 



chapters. The first is preliminary, on the 

 physical properties and sources and forma- 

 tion of coal. This is followed by " The At- 

 mosphere," " Fuels," " Analysis of Coal," 

 " Combustion," " Air required for Furnace 

 Combustion," " The Furnace," " Products 

 of Combustion," " Thermal Power of 

 Fuels," "Heat," "The Construction of 

 Furnaces," " Mechanical Firing," " Spon- 

 taneous Combustion of Coal," " Coal-Dust 

 Fuel," "Liquid Fuel," "Gaseous Fuel," 

 " Utilizing Waste Gases from the Furnace," 

 " A. Ponsard's Process and Apparatus for 

 generating Gaseous Fuel." 



Man's Moral Nature : An Essay. By 

 Richard Maurice Bucke, M. D., Medi- 

 cal Superintendent of the Asylum for 

 the Insane, London, Ontario. New 

 York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 200. 

 Price, $1.50. 



TnE author of this book, who ought to 

 know the most about it, indicated its scope 

 and the purpose he had in writing it in the 

 following introductory passage : 



The object of this essay is to discuss the 

 moral nature to point out, in the first place, its 

 general relation to the other groups of functions 

 belonging to, or rather making up, the individual 

 man, and also its relations to man's environ- 

 ment. Secondly, to show its radical separation 

 from these other groups of functions ; then to 

 attempt to decide of what organ it is a function 

 to consider whether it is a fixed quantity, or 

 whether, like the active nature and the intellect- 

 ual nature, it is in course of development. And, 

 if the moral nature is progressive, to try to find 

 out what the essential nature of this progress is 

 upon what basis the progress itself rests the 

 direction of the progress in the past and in the 

 future its causes its history and the law of 

 it and to point out the conclusions which can 

 be drawn from this progress as to the character 

 of the universe in which we live. 



We hardly think, however, that the 

 work can be classed among important con- 

 tributions to the progress of ethical science. 

 It seems to stand, in fact, in the same rela- 

 tion to the constitution of the moral world 

 that the old doctrine of the four elements 

 fire, air, earth, and water stood to the con- 

 stitution of the physical world. There were 

 ingenuity and a crude utility, when nothing 

 was known of nature, in this conception 

 of four elemental constituents by the end- 

 less commixture of which all natural things 

 were accounted for, but it would not be a 

 step forward to revive it now. Dr. Bucke 



takes, as the foundation of his ethical sys- 

 tem, the four simple moral elements faith, 

 love, hate, and fear and, by combinations 

 of these with each other, and with still 

 other ideas, he aims to solve all moral 

 problems and account for all moral phe- 

 nomena. He is a physician, and links his 

 theory with physiological and anatomical 

 science, by assuming that the sympathetic 

 system is the nervous center of the moral 

 nature. He gives woodcuts of the gan- 

 glionic chains, of the cerebro-spinal and 

 great sympathetic nerves, accompanied with 

 an interesting account of their anatomical 

 structure and physiological functions, and 

 he assumes the moral relations of the sym- 

 pathetic system because of its intimate as- 

 sociation with the emotional life. 



The Reign of the Stoics : History, Reli- 

 gion, Maxims op Self-Control, Self- 

 Culture, Justice, Philosophy. With 

 Citations of Authors quoted from each 

 page. By Frederick May Holland. 

 New York : Charles P. Somerby. Pp. 

 248. Price, $1.25. 



Mr. Mill, in his celebrated St. Andrew's 

 defense of classical studies in modern educa- 

 tion, in replying to the charge that there is 

 little valuable information to be got out of 

 old Greek and Latin books, declared that 

 ancient literature contains a great deal of 

 " the wisdom of life " which may be profit- 

 ably studied in these times. He did not say 

 what there was about this wonderful wisdom 

 that should make it necessary, after two 

 thousand years of further experience, and 

 all the vast developments of modern knowl 

 edge, that our youth should be compelled to 

 learn two dead languages in order to arrive 

 at it. Precious, indeed, must be that "wis- 

 dom of life " which is incapable of being 

 transferred from one form of speech to an- 

 other. The compiler of the volume before 

 us quite fails to see Mr. Mill's point, and 

 has gone about the task of importing the 

 said wisdom of the ancients into the English 

 tongue, so that it may be made available by 

 multitudes who know nothing of the classi- 

 cal languages. The first chapter is a kind 

 of historical essay relating to the ancient 

 Stoical moralists. Chapter II. is devoted 

 to religion ; Chapter III. to maxims of self- 

 control ; Chapter IV. to maxims of self- 

 culture ; Chapter V. to maxims of benevo- 



