54 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Comparative Psychology ; or, The Growth 

 and Grades of Intelligence. By John 

 Bascom. New York : G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons. Pp. 291. Price, $1.50. 

 This small but thoughtful volume de- 

 serves to be very cordially commended to the 

 students of psychological science. Though 

 a controversial work, it is free from narrow- 

 ness and the usual effects of partisan dis- 

 cussion, and it is written by a thinker who 

 can appreciate views with which he disagrees, 

 and freely acknowledges his indebtedness to 

 the party with which he is, nevertheless, at 

 radical issue. Of the two great schools of 

 philosophy, the intuitional and the empirical, 

 one holding that mental faculties are imme- 

 diate a priori gifts to intelligent creatures, 

 and the other that they are results of de- 

 velopment through experience, the author 

 of this volume holds with the first ; but he ac- 

 knowledges that it has been written to eluci- 

 date problems and carry out inquiries " that 

 would hardly have been suggested but for 

 the empirical philosophy." The object of 

 the book is admirably stated in the following 

 extract from the author's preface : 



" The advocates of the empirical philosophy are 

 wont to criticise the intuitional philosophy in two 

 respects: first, as overlooking the relation between 

 the mature mind and the mind of the infant be- 

 tween rudimentary and developed powers; and, 

 second, as overlooking the still more important con- 

 nection between the intelligence of to-day and that of 

 remote previous periods, between the intelligence of 

 man and that of animals, and of the earlier human life 

 from which it has been derived We grant these 

 points to be well taken, especially the latter. With- 

 out tracing the history of intelligence, we are not 

 prepared to decide what is primitive and what is 

 acquired ; what is original material and what is the 

 deposit of growth. The empiricist cannot be fully 

 and fairly met without traveling with him these 

 spaces of evolution, and determining at least their 

 general facts and laws. This I have undertaken in 

 the present volume. It is my purpose to test the 

 nature and extent of the modifications put upon hu- 

 man psychology by its relations in growth to the 

 life below it ; and, in doing this, to reach a general 

 statement of each stage of development." 



A philosophical writer of our time could 

 hardly occupy himself with a more pertinent 

 problem than is here presented. It has been 

 the reproach of the a priori method that it 

 has ignored the subject of mind in its lower 

 or comparative manifestations. It has nei- 

 ther worked from the base of fundamental 

 organic conditions, nor has it systematically 

 recognized them, and for this reason the 

 method was probably losing its hold upon 



the scientific mind of the period. Clearly 

 aware of this deficiency, Dr. Bascom has ad- 

 dressed himself to the task of supplying it, 

 and his book will do much to rescue the 

 subject from the reproach into which it had 

 fallen. 



Wisconsin Geological Survey. Report 

 for 1877. By J. C. Chamberlin, Chief 

 Geologist. Madison : Atwood print. Pp. 

 95. 



The survey of Wisconsin is now com- 

 pleted, and the results will soon be in read- 

 iness for publication. The final report will 

 form three volumes, with maps, of which one 

 volume, with atlas, has already appeared. 

 During the season of 1877, eleven survey- 

 ing parties were in the field. The survey 

 suffered a serious loss by the accidental 

 death of Mr. Moses Strong, an enthusiastic 

 young mining engineer, of brilliant attain- 

 ments, who lost his life by the capsizing of 

 his canoe while ascending the rapids of the 

 Flambeau River. 



State Regulation of Vice : Regulation 

 Efforts in America. The Geneva Con- 

 gress. By Aaron M. Powell. New 

 York: Wood & Holbrook. Pp. 127. 

 Price, $1. 



Mr. Powell does not believe in the state 

 regulation of vice, and gives his reasons in 

 this book. The subject is considered from 

 the point of view of the philanthropist and 

 reformer, rather than from that of social 

 science. 



Mineralogy. By J. H. Collins, F. G. S. 

 With 579 Illustrations. New York : G. 

 P. Putnam's Sons. Pp.206. Price, $1.50. 



This little manual is remarkable for the 

 profuseness and neatness of its crystallo- 

 graphic illustrations. It is designed for 

 practical working miners, quarrymen, field- 

 geologists, and the students of the science 

 classes in connection with the department 

 of science and art in England. 



Geographical Surveys west of the 100th 

 Meridian, in Charge of Lieutenant G. 

 M. Wheeler, Engineer U. S. Army. 

 Part II., Vol. IV. Paleontology. Let- 

 ter-press, pp. 365, with 83 Plates. Wash- 

 ington : Government Printing-Office. 



The present installment of Lieutenant 

 Wheeler's Report consists of a memoir, by 



