554 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ing of acceptance, and that the criti- 

 cisms of theologians and other ama- 

 teurs, however well meant, are apt to 

 be beside the mark. 



AGNOSTICISM. 

 Peof.Max MtJLLEK contributes to the 

 Nineteenth Century for last December 

 an article the title of which is, Why I am 

 not an Agnostic. Just what the true defi- 

 nition of agnosticism may be we should 

 not care to venture an opinion; bnt 

 what interests us chiefly in Prof. Miil- 

 ler's article is the extreme similarity 

 between the position he takes up and 

 that of Mr. Herbert Spencer as set forth 

 in First Principles. " If,"' he says, " we 

 have to recognize in every single object 

 of our phenomenal knowledge a some- 

 thing or a power which manifests it- 

 self in it, and which we know, and can 

 only know, through its phenomenal 

 manifestations, we have also to ac- 

 knowledge a power which manifests it- 

 self in the whole universe. . . . That 

 it is, we know ; what it is by itself, that 

 is out of relation to us, of course we 

 can not know ; but we do know that 

 without it the manifest or phenomenal 

 universe would be impossible." This is 

 the Spencerian philosophy exactly, and 

 is also the philosophy, we do not doubt, 

 of a large portion of the thinking world 

 of to- day. Mr. Spencer has never pro- 

 fessed himself an agnostic. Apart from 

 the objections urged by Prof. MilUer, 

 he would probably consider the term 

 one of far too uncertain meaning to 

 serve for a definition of any views 

 which he may hold, whether of a posi- 

 tive or of a negative character. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Woman's Share in Piumitivf. Culture. By 

 Otis Tui-roN Mason. New York: 1). 

 Appleton & Co. Pp. 295. Price, $1.75. 



This is the first volume of an anthropo- 

 logical series under the editorial direction 

 of Prof. Frederick Starr, of the University 

 of Chicago; the works of which, intended 



to be of popular interest, will be in every 

 case written by authorities who will keep 

 scientific accuracy in the foreground. The 

 present e?say sets forth woman's share in 

 the culture of the world by her works, and 

 shows that her achievements have been in the 

 past worthy of honor and imitation and have 

 laid the foundation for arts of which all are 

 now justly proud. The idea is rejected in 

 the very beginning that women are treated 

 with systematic cruelty or are degraded, in 

 any nation, however savage ; for " it is not 

 reasonable to suppose that any species or 

 variety of animals would survive in which 

 the helpless maternal half is subjected to 

 outrageous cruelty as a rule," and the taste 

 and skill women show in the arts that fall to 

 their province are against such a supposi- 

 tion. On the other hand, a division of duties 

 generally prevails, which, though it may not 

 accord with the artificial, conventional sys- 

 tem of European society, is usually adapted 

 to the circumstances of the tribe, and is not 

 inequitable. In the list of spheres of work, 

 woman is introduced first as the food-bringer, 

 finding supplies in the stores of Nature, tak- 

 ing care of them and preparing them for 

 consumption. In this field she set agoing a 

 multiplicity of industries in prehistoric times, 

 and became of necessity an inventor of ex- 

 periments, tools, and processes. Next she 

 appears as a weaver, making baskets and 

 the native cloth and mats, and spinning, 

 netting, braiding, sewing, and embroidering, 

 and for each of these tasks having again to 

 find material and to invent and fashion suit 

 able tools. Having to deal with the game 

 killed by the man and to apply all the ma- 

 terial to the best use, she becomes a skin- 

 dresser. A bewildering list is given of the 

 animals whose skins native American women 

 knew how to dress ; and, " if aught in the 

 heavens above or on the earth beneath, or 

 in the waters, wore a skin, savage women 

 were found on examination to have had a 

 name for it, and to have succeeded in turn- 

 ing it into its primitive use for human cloth- 

 ing, and to have invented new uses undreamed 

 of by its original owner." Here, again, were 

 new tools to be invented. "Women were 

 the first ceramic artisans, and developed all 

 the technique, the forms, and the uses of 

 pottery." In this work and in her textile 

 fabrics woman has had opportunity to de- 



