SKETCH OF ALEXANDER BAIN. 361 



pies and Discussions of Important Principles and Usages," intended 

 as a help to the thorough mastery of English. Prof. Bain contributed 

 the articles on " Logic " and " Mental Philosophy" to " Chambers's 

 Encyclopaedia," and contributed editorial notes to the recent edition 

 of the works of James Mill. Prof. Bain was for many years the inti- 

 mate friend and confidant of George Grote the historian, and -was 

 made by him heir in reversion (after Mrs. Grote's death) of all his copy- 

 rights. In connection with Prof. Croome Robertson, he edited Mr. 

 Grote's posthumous work on " Aristotle," and he also edited Grote's 

 "Minor Works," and prefixed to the edition an elaborate estimate of 

 the character and writings of the historian. In connection with Dr. 

 Taylor he is now engaged in a thorough revision of Arnott's "Phys- 

 ics," bringing it up to date, so that a new edition of this valuable and 

 favorite work may be soon expected. He received the degree of 

 LL. D. in the University of Edinburgh in 1860. 



As a philosophic thinker, the influence of Prof. Bain is now very 

 widely felt. He has made a powerful impression upon the mental 

 science of the age by accepting the results of modern physiology and 

 treating methodically of thought and emotion in connection with their 

 physical concomitants. Though not disregarding the value of intro- 

 spection, or the study of psychical phenomena in the changes of con- 

 sciousness, he couples with this method the vigorous study of mental 

 effects on their physical side, considering that there can be no mental 

 science worth the name that does not carry its analysis down to the 

 material conditions under which mind is manifested. The recognition 

 of the corporeal nature as so fundamental a factor in mental science 

 naturally drew his attention to the theory of organic development by 

 which the higher organisms are explained on the principle of their 

 derivation from the lower. This theory carries with it the necessary 

 implication that the psychical nature of man, his intellectual faculties, 

 emotions, and sentiments, are also derivative from lower conditions, 

 and are only to be explained through the principle of descent. In the 

 last edition of "The Emotions and the Will" this view is conse- 

 quently adopted. 



We give the readers of the Monthly an excellent likeness of Prof. 

 Bain, probably the first that has appeared in this country. He is a 

 man of slight stature, but of an active nervous temperament, a free 

 and admirable talker, full of wit and anecdote, and a lively story- 

 teller. He is broad and liberal in his opinions, and holds advanced 

 views on the subject of education and university reform. 



