LITERARY NOTICES. 



559 



nally, there are ten pages of interesting 

 notes, giving items of psychological impor- 

 tance. 



Since the publication of " Mind " was 

 commenced, no periodical has appeared of 

 such fair promise for the promotion of psy- 

 chological knowledge and inciuiry. Professor 

 G. Stanley Hall has made his mark in this 

 department of science, and is thoroughly 

 equipped for the work of conducting such 

 a journal. We wish the enterprise every 

 success, and believe that it will receive a 

 cordial support from all those who arc com- 

 petent to judge of the valiie of a scientific 

 pursuit of psychological study. 



The Science of Politics. By Walter 

 Thomas Mills. New York: Funk & 

 Wagnalls. 1887. Price, $1. 



This book is not exactly what its title 

 would seem to indicate. The author defines 

 political science as the science of the state 

 and also of citizenship, but the latter is the 

 exclusive subject of this work. It does not 

 treat of the functions of the state or of its 

 historical evolution, but of the practical du- 

 ties of the citizen, especially with regard to 

 political parties. Hence, it is practical 

 rather than philosophical, and for that very 

 reason will probably interest a larger num- 

 ber of readers. The style is journalistic, 

 and the book is cut up into a large number 

 of short chapters, so that it reads like a se- 

 ries of newspaper articles. 



The author's views on the subject of 

 parties are, for the most part, those of the 

 best public opinion of the country at the 

 present time. He holds fast to the doctrine 

 that a political party exists solely to carry 

 into effect some recognized principle or prin- 

 ciples which its members believe in, and 

 consequently that when a party refuses to 

 act on principle it has no longer any reason 

 to be. He is no believer in the doctrine 

 that a man must always indorse the action 

 of his party, whether he approves it or not ; 

 and he has a clear sense of the despotism 

 of party managers and of the mischief 

 they often do. He shows that a party is 

 not, like the state itself, a permanent or- 

 ganization, but a temporary one, and that 

 when a party has outlived its usefulness it 

 ought to perish and give way to a new or- 

 ganization that will deal with the problems 



of the day. He is, perhaps, a little too ready 

 to break off from established parties be- 

 cause of disagreement with tliem on a single 

 issue, the particular issue that he is inter- 

 ested in being that of prohibiting the sale 

 of liquors. But he shows throughout his 

 book the preference of public ends to pri- 

 vate and partisan ones which is now happily 

 characteristic of the best 3'oung men of 

 America. In short, while there is little in 

 the book that will be new to the political 

 philosopher or the instructed statesman, 

 there is much that will be useful to ordi- 

 nary voters if they should study it. 



We are sorry to find the book disfigured 

 by a great number of misspellings, such 

 as " weich " for which, " squarly " for 

 squarely, " Leiber " for Liebcr, and so on, 

 some pages having two or three words mis- 

 spelled. Such blunders are not creditable 

 to either author or publisher. 



The Gnostics and their Remains, Ancient 

 AND Medieval. By C. W. King. New 

 York : G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 466. 

 With 15 Plates. 



The author's original work upon Gnostic 



remains was published about 1864, and met 



I with strong commendation or reprehension, 



! according as it fell in with or contradicted 



cherished notions. The most really compli- 

 mentary criticism to his own mind was the 

 assertion made by one reviewer that he had 

 displayed in the work more the spirit of a 

 Gnostic — that is, of " one addicted to knowl- 

 edge " — than of a Christian. lie claims to 

 have continued to pursue his investigation 

 with the motive thus described, of studying 

 the subject for the solo purpose of under- 

 standing the truth. New and extremely 

 valuable sources of information have come 

 to his hand since the publication of the first 

 edition, to which no previous author had ac- 

 cess : in the shape of the tract the " Befuta- 

 tion of All Heresies," by an author, per- 

 haps Origen or Hippolytus, who was inti- 

 mately acquainted with the doctrines he ex- 

 posed, and illustrated them by many ex- 

 tracts from the Gnostic literature, then copi- 

 ous enough ; and of the " Pistis Sophia," the 

 only one left of the once numerous Gnostic 

 Gospels, and a most important book for his 

 own purpose. Mr. King's especial field of 

 research is the archaeological side of the 



