LITERARY NOTICES. 



513 



cer points out the unequal values of 

 logic and different branches of mathe- 

 matics for this purpose. 



As the first division takes into ac- 

 count only ideal relations, the second 

 division takes up relations among re- 

 alities. It includes concrete things, 

 and gives rise to a division which Mr. 

 Spencer, therefore, calls the abstract- 

 concrete sciences. These are mechan- 

 ics, phyeics, and chemistry. They deal 

 with the laws of forces as manifested 

 by matter, but when artificially sepa- 

 rated from one another. Mechanics, 

 physics, and chemistry have, for their 

 object, to generalize the laws of rela- 

 tion of their several phenomena, when 

 disentangled from those actual condi- 

 tions of Nature in which they are mu- 

 tually modified. For example : " In 

 works on mechanics, the laws of mo- 

 tion are expressed without reference 

 to friction and resistance of the me- 

 dium. Not what motion ever really 

 is, but what it would be, if retarding 

 forces were absent, is asserted. If any 

 retarding force is taken into account, 

 then the effect of this retarding force 

 is alone contemplated : neglecting the 

 other retarding forces." This group 

 of sciences introduces a new order of 

 ideas which call out a different form 

 of mental exercise. They deal with 

 causation, and have great value in 

 giving "distinctness and strength to 

 the consciousness of cause and effect." 

 By familiarizing the mind with num- 

 berless simple and separate cases of 

 the action of forces, " they make it im- 

 possible to think of any effect as aris- 

 ing without a cause, or any cause as 

 expended without an effect ; and they 

 make it impossible to think of an effect 

 out of proportion to its cause, or a 

 cause out of proportion to its effect." 



Mr. Spencer's third division com- 

 prises what he terms the concrete 

 sciences, or the real, as contrasted 

 with the wholly or partially ideal sci- 

 ences. They include astronomy, geol- 

 ogy, biology, and psychology, which 

 vol. in. 33 



consider phenomena in their totalities 

 or aggregates. These sciences, being 

 far more complex than the preceding, 

 and presenting their various phenom- 

 ena in combination, are suited to cul- 

 tivate the synthetical habit of mind, 

 and to familiarize it with complex 

 causation. Mr. Spencer shows that, 

 while the concrete sciences cannot be 

 made to give the mental discipline of 

 the simpler groups, they are indis- 

 pensable to exercise the mind upon 

 the fundamental conceptions of con- 

 tinuity, complexity, and contingency 

 in causation, and which are of the 

 highest importance in the judgment 

 of common affairs. 



The authorities cited above, and 

 which might have been greatly multi- 

 plied, establish the fact, beyond cavil, 

 that there is a profound deficiency in 

 the discipline of the current classical 

 system of study; and they all agree 

 that the introduction of science is 

 alone competent to afford a remedy. 

 Mr. Spencer has shown not only how 

 comprehensive and varied is the dis- 

 cipline which the sciences are capable 

 of yielding, but he has pointed out the 

 radical insufficiency of limited portions 

 of science for that complete mental 

 training which it is the object of the 

 higher education to give. In the in- 

 terests of mental discipline, therefore, 

 we are compelled to demand a recon- 

 struction of the curriculum of " liberal 

 culture," with not merely more of sci- 

 ence in it, but with such an organized 

 scheme of scientific studies as will ac- 

 complish the end desired. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects. 

 By H. Helmholtz, Professor of Physics 

 in the University of Berlin. Translated 

 by E. Atkinson, Ph. D., F. C. S., Pro- 

 fessor of Experimental Science, Hoff 

 College. With an Introduction by Prof. 

 Ttndall. New York : D. Appleton & 

 Co., 1873. 



This is, in several respects, the most 

 important scientific publication of the sea- 



