IITERARY NOTICES. 



559 



mucli as premature production of re- 

 sults. They often have occasion to 

 smile at the confidence with which 

 mere theorizers undertake to tell the 

 world what the whole significance of 

 their work is. 



The methods of science are, as we 

 have said, the labor-saving devices of 

 the human mind. They are the choicest 

 and most precious results of the travail 

 of the human intellect upon the phe- 

 nomena of its environment. Not to 

 know something of them is, in a wide 

 sense, one of the worst forms of self- 

 ignorance, for the intellect that has 

 worked out and established these meth- 

 ods is not any individual intellect, but 

 the intellect of the race. "We are all 

 entitled to our share in what the race 

 has accomplished. And shall we su- 

 pinely and ingloriously consent to be 

 ignorant of the intellectual triumphs 

 that the race has won? The man of 

 culture must have a consciousness of his 

 own best self, and must have it in his 

 power to live his best habitually, and 

 not be dependent upon critical occa- 

 sions to reveal what his capacities are. 

 The function of culture is to redeem us 

 from the sway of chance, and make us 

 fully masters of ourselves. We see, 

 then, what it must be, from the point 

 of view of culture, to know the ways of 

 Science, and to be able to trace her 

 shining footsteps along some of the 

 grander patlis of discovery. We see, 

 too, what, from the same point of view, 

 it must be not to know anything of all 

 this, but to live in a world the phe- 

 nomena of which never reflect back 

 the light of law into the understanding, 

 or convey any clear suggestion of the 

 conquests which the human mind bas 

 achieved. To think that, not so long 

 ago, this condition of mind was thought 

 by many, yes, by most, quite compati- 

 ble with " culture " ! Times are chang- 

 ing, fortunately, and we trust that few 

 men of intelligence are now to be found 

 who would dispute our definition of 

 culture as a certain provisional com- 



pleteness of the human mind in the 

 sum and development of its faculties, 

 or who would deny that, to constitute 

 such completeness, a liberal scientific 

 training is wholly indispensable. Each 

 of the points on which we have touched 

 would admit, as every one can see, of 

 much expansion ; but we thought it 

 well to present the general argument 

 for once in this very summary form, 

 reserving the liberty of returning to the 

 subject and treating it in more detail 

 as occasion may serve. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Principles of Political Economy. By John 

 Stuart Mill. Abridged, with Critical, 

 Bibliographical, and Explanatory Notes, 

 and a Sketch of the History of JPolitical 

 Economy, by J. Laurence Laughlin, 

 Ph. D., Assistant Professor of Political 

 Economy in Harvard University. A 

 Text-Book for Colleges. New York : D. 

 Appleton & Co. Pp. 658. Price, $3.50. 



Probably the ablest systematic work 

 produced by the modern English school of 

 political economy is the comprehensive trea- 

 tise of John Stuart Mill. It has been a good 

 deal used in the colleges, but is in several 

 respects imperfect as a text-book. Its two 

 volumes are inconvenient, and the treatment 

 unsuited for class-room purposes. Besides, 

 it was published more than thirty years ago, 

 and the progress of the science within that 

 time has been such that certain parts of 

 Mill's work will bear considerable abridsr- 

 mcnt, while other parts require modification 

 and further development. Professor Laugh- 

 lin, of Harvard University, has accordingly 

 undertaken the task of revising the work, 

 reducing it to a sinele volume and makins 

 various additions to it, which give greater 

 prominence to important questions of the 

 present time. The author also exercised his 

 discretion in introducing such illustrations 

 as shall better fit it for the use of American 

 students, and he has also enriched it with a 

 bibliography that will give it a special value 

 for educational purposes. As this edition of 

 Mill's "Political Economy" is now beyond 

 doubt the best college text-book upon the 

 subject, it is desirable that we should indi- 



