702 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



If tins is something to be ashamed of, 

 where is that which we should admire ? 

 The proper answer to give to those who 

 love to point out the fallibility of scien- 

 tific theories (as if elsewhere there were 

 theories that were infallible !) is that it 

 is better to follow any theory that, so 

 far as our knowledge extends, affords 

 an explanation of facts, than to make 

 crude assertionc reposing on no theory 

 whatever. At the same time let us 

 take home to ourselves the lesson that 

 science is progressive ; that the thought 

 of to-day can not assume to bind the 

 thought of to-morrow; and while we 

 still prefer any rational theory to an ir- 

 rational lack of all theory, let us not by 

 any undue dogmatism give occasion to 

 the enemies of progress to blaspheme. 

 Science, with all the confessions it has 

 to make of past errors, and all its ad- 

 missions of probable present errors, is 

 going bravely on. Its very errors have 

 been relative truths, and its service has 

 at all times been the service of truth. 

 Can those who delight and exult in the 

 errors of science say as much for the 

 service, whatever it may be, in which 

 they are engaged ? 



We noticed, not very long ago, an 

 extract from the article on " Brain- 

 forcing in Childhood," contributed by 

 Dr. Hammond to the pages of this 

 magazine, doing duty apparently as an 

 original article in the columns of the 

 " Public School Journal " of Mount 

 "Washington, Ohio. In the January 

 number of the " Canada Educational 

 Monthly," published at Toronto, On- 

 tario, there appeared two of our own 

 editorial articles, one entitled " Culture 

 and Character," the second " Encroach- 

 ments of the State." The first is duly 

 acknowledged, the second is not. It is 

 quite possible that neither of the jour- 

 nals mentioned borrowed the unac- 

 knowledged matter directly from our 

 columns, but it is evident that the jour- 

 nal which J}rst borrows without ac- 



knowledgment does a very dishonest 

 thing, destroying as it does the lawfully 

 acquired property of another journal in 

 the original matter published by it. 

 We rejoice at every sign of public no- 

 tice which the " Monthly " receives, 

 and make our contemporaries welcome 

 within reasonable limits to whatever in 

 our columns they may desire to repro- 

 duce ; only, we should like them al- 

 ways to do us the justice of acknowl- 

 edging what they take. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Origins of the English People and of the 

 English Language. Compiled from the 

 Best and Latest Authorities. By Jean 

 RoEMER. New York : D. Appleton & 

 Co. Pp. 658. Price, $3.50. 



In this book political and literary his- 

 tory are combined, each being treated with 

 a nearly equal degree of minuteness, in such 

 a manner that a fair view of the subject is 

 presented from both sides, and the mutual 

 influence and reactions of the ethnic and 

 linguistic development of the English peo- 

 ple are plainly exhibited. The author's vin- 

 dication of this course — if he needed any 

 vindication for doing his work as completely 

 as he could — ^may be found in the opening 

 sentences of his preface : " The history of 

 a language is, in a great measure, the his- 

 tory of the people who speak it, and of 

 those who have spoken it. It is the history 

 of the many populations, different in origin, 

 manners, and in speech, who have at various 

 epochs occupied the soil conjointly, some- 

 times in friendly but more often in hostile 

 relations, until people of another race, more 

 powerful than any, have crushed them all, 

 and, taking possession of the land, have 

 divided it among themselves, exterminating 

 all who resisted them, and allowing the 

 rest to live only on condition of their being 

 quiet and doing all the work." The English 

 people and language are a conspicuous ex- 

 ample of the product of such a series of 

 revolutions as is here described. The course 

 to be followed in tracing the English lan- 

 guage to its sources involves, therefore, a 

 critical inquiry into the origin, character, 

 and distribution of the various races of 

 men — Celts, Romans, Saxons, Danes, and 



