LITERARY NOTICES. 



417 



same time interesting problems of anthro- 

 pology." The author defines marriage as a 

 more or less durable connection between 

 male and female, lasting till after the birth 

 of the offspring. The lowest animals among 

 which traces of such a connection are found 

 are the turtles. With the birds it is an al- 

 most universal institution, while among the 

 mammals it is restricted to certain species. 

 In the lower animals reproduction is timed 

 with reference to the season of plentiful food- 

 Bupply, and, as there are seasons of plenty 

 and scarcity of the food of man, the author 

 bcHeves that in primitive times there was a 

 human pairing season. Some of the lowest 

 race? actually have such a season at the 

 present time, and certain peoples of a little 

 higher grade have yearly nuptial festivals, 

 while in civilized countries it has been found 

 that more children were born at one or two 

 periods in the year than at other times. The 

 view that primitive men and women lived in 

 promiscuous sexual relations is opposed by 

 Dr. Westermarck, who sees no ground for 

 this hypothesis in the customs of uncivilized 

 tribes of the present time. Passing on to 

 the mode of contracting marriage, the author 

 gives a wealth of information concerning 

 customs of courtship among various peoples 

 and also concerning the related subjects of 

 means of attraction and the liberty of choice. 

 By a chapter on sexual selection among ani- 

 mals he leads up to a consideration of the 

 same process in the human species, his 

 treatment of this subject being one of the 

 points to which Mr. Wallace calls especial 

 attention in the introduction The author 

 maintains that man in the choice of a mate 

 prefers the best representatives of his par- 

 ticular race because a full development of 

 racial characters indicates health, while a 

 deviation from them indicates disease. The 

 production of the instinct which esteems 

 beauty above ugliness is ascribed to natural 

 selection. " According to Mr. Darwin," says 

 Dr. Westermarck, "racial differences are 

 due to the different standards of beauty, 

 whereas, according to the theory here in- 

 dicated, the diiferent standards of beauty 

 are due to racial differences." The prohibi- 

 tion of marriage between kindred is almost 

 universal, but, as our author shows, all sorts 

 of differences exist as to the unions that are 

 regarded as incestuous by different peoples. 



VOL, XL.— 31 



His study of this matter has brought him to 

 the conclusion that it is not the relationship 

 but living in the same household that causes 

 the repugnance to marriage between kindred, 

 and that this feeling by no means results from 

 observed bad effects of in-breeding. Among 

 the other subjects examined in this work are 

 marriage by capture and marriage by pur- 

 chase, marriage-rites, polyandry, polygyny, 

 and divorce. A copious list of authorities 

 quoted and an excellent index are appended. 

 The treatise is marked throughout by evi- 

 dences of thorough study, clear insight, and 

 sound reasoning. 



INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SEfilES, 

 VOLUME XVIIL 



A Text-Book in Psychology. By Johann 

 Friedrich Herbart. Translated by 

 Margaret K. Smith. New York : D. 

 Appleton & Co. Pp. 200, Price, $1. 



The work of Herbart now presented to 

 English readers in a translation from the 

 revised edition of 1834 is described by the 

 author as " an attempt to found the science 

 of psychology on experience, metaphysics, 

 and mathematics." For a quarter of a cent- 

 ury, beginning in 1809, Herbart occupied 

 the chair at the University of Konigsberg 

 that had previously been filled by the cele- 

 brated Kant. In directing a pedagogical sem- 

 inary, or normal school, which he founded, 

 he applied philosophy to the art of educa- 

 tion. The central thought of the present 

 treatise, as is pointed out by Dr. Harris in 

 the editor's preface, concerns the act of 

 apperception. The book thus constitutes a 

 sequel to the writings of Pestalozzi. For, 

 while Pcstalozzianism enforces the impor- 

 tance of perceiving fully and accurately by 

 the senses what is to be learned, the Her- 

 bartian pedagogics is occupied mainly with 

 the second step in the learning process — the 

 recognizing of what is perceived as identical 

 with or similar to something that has been 

 perceived before. An impression stored in 

 the mind by a former experience may be out 

 of consciousness at a given moment, but may 

 be brought up into consciousness by some 

 kindred idea. Herbart's theory concerning 

 these phenomena represents ideas as con- 

 nected in groups, and the forces with which 

 they interact upon each other he represents 

 by mathematical formulas. 



The foregoing are among the funda- 



