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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The last chapter sketches the rise and prog- 

 ress of intellect, and pictures its probable 

 future. The theories of evolution and nat- 

 ural selection form the ground-work of the 

 plan. The author acknowledges his in- 

 debtedness to others for his facts, but is 

 entitled to some credit for originality in 

 the conception and arrangement of the 

 work. The style is vigorous, and entices 

 the reader into more than a cursory pe- 

 rusal. 



The Structure op Animal Life. By Louis 

 Agassiz. New York : Scribner, Arm- 

 strong & Co. 128 pages, 8vo. Price, 



$1.50. 



This book comprises a series of six lect- 

 ures, delivered in 1862, before the Brook- 

 lyn Institute, and first pubUshed in 1865, 

 but now reissued, the former editions hav- 

 ing passed out of print. The lectures were 

 delivered for the purpose of showing that 

 there is " order in Nature ; that the animal 

 kingdom, especially, has been constructed 

 upon a plan which presupposes the exist- 

 ence of an intelligent being as its author," 

 and the " scientific grounds of the working 

 of a Providence in the world." In the last 

 respect, the view advanced is that the pres- 

 ent diversity of animal life, or species, has 

 not resulted from the influence of outward 

 circumstances upon a few primarily simple 

 forms, but from the direct and continually- 

 repeated workings of a Divine Will or 

 Providence; in other words, that the diver- 

 sity has resulted from Divine creations. 

 The arguments adduced to prove this part 

 of the theory are grounded upon the 

 fact that geologic revelations show certain 

 low forms of animal life to have existed in 

 former periods, in greater diversity than 

 at present. The first lecture presents the 

 plan of the animal kingdom as exhibited in 

 its four great divisions ; the second presents 

 the relative standing of each division to the 

 other, and of the various members of each 

 division; the third proves the antiquity of 

 animal life by the existence of coral-reefs ; 

 the fourth gives an outline of the geological 

 history of the earth. The remaining two 

 lectures are devoted to proving the theory 

 of an intervening Providence. The book 

 is full of interesting facts, and eminently 

 adapted to the theology of the day. 



Present Status of Social Science : A Ee- 

 view, Historical and Critical, of the Prog- 

 ress of Thought in Social Philosophy. 

 By Robert S. Hamilton. New York : 

 H. S. Hinton, 744 Broadway. 332 pages. 

 Price, $2.00. 



A well-executed book, upon the sub- 

 ject here designated, would be very valuable : 

 the present one seems to be not up to the 

 requirement. Upon a class of questions 

 which, of all others at present agitating the 

 scientific Avorld, are the freshest and the 

 newest, this is an old book. It was pre- 

 pared for publication seven years ago, and 

 was not even then up to the times. An ex- 

 ample of the antiquated and unreliable char- 

 acter of the work is afforded by the author's 

 treatment of the most eminent thinker of 

 the time on problems of social science. Mr. 

 Herbert Spencer is judged as a sociologist 

 by his views developed in " Social Statics ; " 

 how fairly will appear from the fact that '' So- 

 cial Statics " was Mr. Spencer's first work, 

 published twenty-four years ago. And not 

 only this, but he was himself so dissatisfied 

 with it that he would not consent to its re- 

 publication in this country, without incor- 

 porating a preface w^hich indicated that his 

 views had undergone important modifica- 

 tion. It was, in fact, from the incomplete- 

 ness of the basis of this discussion for a true 

 sociological science that Mr. Spencer was 

 led to devote himself for twenty years to 

 the development of a system in which the 

 foundations of sociology should be more 

 deeply and securely laid in 'the sciences of 

 life and mind, and the laws of Nature, in 

 their latest and highest interpretations. 



Mr. Hamilton's book ranges wide over 

 the field of social philosophy, and discusses 

 the views of many men in relation to it, 

 but, with much information, there is a vague 

 speculation, and more of criticism than his- 

 tory. Of social science, as a simple gener- 

 alization of social phenomena, or a body ot 

 principles based upon facts of observation, 

 like other sciences, he seems to have but an 

 obscure conception, as is evinced by the fol 

 lowing statement of the problems of social 

 philosophy : " What are the causes or laws 

 which determine the social destiny of the 

 individual, which determine m the long-run, 

 and in the absence of extraordinary dis- 

 turbing causes, whether he shall be pros- 

 perous or the contrary; whether he shall 



