74 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of the scope and purpose of Dr. Royce's 

 work. Of its value as a contribution to 

 speculative thought we are not qualified to 

 speak. Cut, turning to Chapter I, in which 

 the author puts the grave question, " What, 

 then, is religion ? " we do not find the an- 

 swer so clear and satisfactory as seems 

 required in stating the fundamental idea of 

 a religio-philosophical system. Religion, ac- 

 cording to our author, is something impor- 

 tant, vaguely associated with ethics. He 

 says : " So much, at all events, seems sure 

 about religion. It has to do with action. It 

 is impossible without some appearance of 

 moral purpose." Again : " A religion adds 

 something to the moral code, and what it 

 adds is, first, enthusiasm." And again : "But 

 in fact religion always adds another element. 

 Not only does religion teach devotion to a 

 moral code, but the means that it uses to 

 this end include a more or less complex 

 theory of things. Religion says not merely, 

 do and feel, but also believe. . . . These three 

 elements then go to constitute any religion." 

 On this basis, which is at any rate suffi- 

 ciently comprehensive, and by the help of 

 the great lights of German philosophy 

 Kant, Ilegel, Schopenhauer, Lotze, and oth- 

 ers Dr. Royce builds his system, and in 

 the opinion of able critics he has built to ex- 

 cellent purpose. 



The French Revolution. By IIippolyte 

 Adolphe Taine. Translated by John 

 Durand. Vol. III. New York: Henry 

 Holt & Co. Pp. 509. Price, $2.50. 



The present volume gives the history 

 of the revolutionary government, including 

 the Reign of Terror. The author expresses 

 himself in his preface as regarding the lead- 

 ers in the movements of the time in the 

 same light as he would the crocodiles of 

 the ancient Egyptian temples dangerous 

 animals, brutes rolling about on a purple 

 carpet, but worshiped in their day. Of his 

 own kinds of "crocodiles" he has studied 

 the details of the structure, the play of the 

 organs, their habits, their modes of living, 

 their faculties, and their appetites. Of the 

 thousands of specimens he had at hand, he 

 has selected a few for special treatment, of 

 which the three largest seem, of their kind, 

 truly remarkable, and those in which the 

 divinity of the day might well incarnate 



himself. The bills of butchers, as well as 

 housekeeping accounts, authentic and regu- 

 larly kept, throw sufficient light on the cost 

 of this cult. We can estimate how much 

 the sacred crocodiles consumed in ten years, 

 we know their bills of fare daily, tbeir fa- 

 vorite morsels. Naturally, the god selected 

 the fattest victims, but his voracity was so 

 great that he likewise bolted down, and 

 blindly, the lean ones, and in much greater 

 number than the fattest. Moreover, by vir- 

 tue of his instincts, and an unfailing effect 

 of the situation, he ate his equals once or 

 twice a year, except when they succeeded in 

 eating him. This cult certainly is instruc- 

 tive, at least to historians and men of pure 

 science." We are told also that " this vol- 

 ume, like the others that have gone before 

 it, is written solely for amateurs of moral 

 zoology, for naturalists of the understand- 

 ing, for seekers of texts and of proofs for 

 these and not for the public, whose mind is 

 made up, and which has its own opinion on 

 the Revolution." 



The Morals of Christ. By Austin Bier- 

 bower. Chicago ; Colcgrove Book Com- 

 pany. Pp. 200. Price, 50 cents. 



" In announcing his morality," says the 

 author, " Christ took three departures from 

 other systems one from the Mosaic, one 

 from the Pharisaic, and one from the Graeco- 

 Roman. ... In departing from the Mosaic 

 morality, he sought to develop morality from 

 its primitive rudeness and simplicity ; in 

 departing from the Pharisaic morality, he 

 sought to recall it from a ritualistic diver- 

 gence to the proper subjects of morality ; 

 and, in departing fiom the Graeco-Roman 

 morality, he sought to substitute the tender 

 for the heroic virtues." The author's pur- 

 pose in this essay is declared to be to set 

 forth the morality of Christ as a departure 

 from these three representative types, " it 

 being this triple departure, more than any- 

 thing absolute, on which he put his chief 

 emphasis, and which, more than anything 

 original, characterized his system." 



The History of the Present Tariff. 1860- 

 1883. By F. W. Taussig. New York : 

 G. P. Putnam's Sons, Pp.111. Price, 



75 cents. 



This volume is intended to give a nar- 

 rative of the growth of the protective sys- 



