Oct. 20, 1887] 



NATURE 



579 



article may be described as an excellent introduction to 

 the history of the Sponj^cs. 



Although the " Encyclopaedia Britannica" has reached 

 its twenty-second volume, the editors are to be congratu- 

 lated on the continued excellence of the articles generally, 

 and it is evidently their intention to complete the series 

 without lowering the quality of the work in the slightest 

 degree. When completed, this edition will be|a great 

 addition to our literature, of which we may without hesi- 

 tation be thoroughly proud. 



THE MOTIVE POWERS OF THE MIND. 

 Psychology : The Motive Powers; Emotions^ Conscience, 

 Will. By James McCosh, D.D., LL D., Litt.D., &c- 

 (London : Macmillan and Co., 1887.) 



THE first part of this volume, constituting more than 

 two-thirds of the work, is a somewhat condensed 

 and slightly modified reprint of the author's volume on 

 "The Emotions," issued some seven years ago by the 

 same publishers. It would, we think, have been well to 

 have stated this f ict. As it stands, there is nothing to 

 show that this volume is not wholly new. It does not 

 appear that the author's views, or the manner of their 

 presentation, have undergone any material change. 



Emotion is considered under four aspects, determined 

 by four elements. First, there is the disposition, inclina- 

 tion, or " appetence," an innate or acquired principle of 

 the mind ; secondly, there is the idea or " phantasm " of 

 ^n object or occurrence fitted to gratify or disappoint an 

 appetence ; thirdly, there is the conscious feeling or ex- 

 citement, with attachment or repugnance, called forth by 

 the phantasm ; fourthly, there is an organic affection or 

 bodily expression of the emotion. 



A good deal of space is devoted to the appetences- 

 Such an appetence is described as " simply a tendency 

 in the mind to crave for an object for its own sake." It 

 is difficult to see wherein it differs from a latent emotion. 

 The possession of an appetence implies the possession 

 of an emotional nature capable of responding in certain 

 ways at the bidding of the appropriate idea or phantasm. 

 But it is questionable whether it is very satisfactory to 

 classify apart from the actual emotions these inherent 

 possibilities of emotion. The appetences are divided 

 into primary and secondary, or derivative. The account 

 of the former begins with the love of pleasure and the 

 aversion to pain. These, says the author, " do not need 

 to be defined, for all sensitive beings know what they are. 

 I rather think," he naively adds, " that all pain originates in 

 a derangement of our organism. But it is not felt as pain 

 till perceived by the conscious soul." The other primary 

 appetences include, in the order named, the sympa- 

 thetic instincts, attachment to relatives, native tastes and 

 talents, the appetites, love of society, love of esteem and 

 commendation, love of power, love of property, the 

 •aesthetic sentiment, and the moral sentiment. " The 

 derivative appetences," we are told, " may and do assume 

 an immense variety of forms, which run into and are 

 tnixed up with each other," and are " woven together in 

 .all sorts of ways, so that it is difficult to unravel the 

 web." It is noteworthy that such unravelling as is to be 

 found comes under the head of the classification of the 

 emotions themselves. 



Writing of " conflicting appetences," the author would 

 almost seem for a moment to have fallen into the slough 

 of determinism. " Passions," he says, " may contend in 

 two ways. First, there may be the operation at one and 

 the same time of two inconsistent propensities {e.g. duty 

 and pleasure). Were the two equally balanced they might 

 counteract each other, and inaction be the statical result. 

 . . . But more frequently both passions act." (This we 

 presume is a loose way of saying that they are not so abso- 

 lutely and equally antagonistic as to produce inaction.) In 

 this case " on the principle of the parallelogram of forces 

 the man follows an intermediate course." Could any 

 determinist have expressed his heresy more clearly? In 

 the third part, however, dealing with the will or " optative 

 power," we find a chapter with the orthodox heading, 

 " The Will has Freedom." And though there is scarce 

 any word therein with which the determinist will feel dis- 

 posed to quarrel, we are led to suppose that Dr. McCosh 

 would maintain that in the action chosen under volition 

 the result is not always determined by the several " appe- 

 tences " called into play by the " phantasm." Into this 

 question, however, he does not enter : he merely con- 

 tends for freedom in the popular sense, which no one 

 denies. 



Under the heading " The Organic Affection," and in 

 the classification of the emotions, the modes of physical 

 expression are set forth with quotations from Darwin, 

 Bell, and Cogan. A short account of the anatomy of 

 expression, by Prof, Osborn, has been added in this 

 edition. 



Regarded as a whole. Dr. McCosh's volume, notwith- 

 standing a certain sketchiness and superficiality, shows 

 not a little insight into the workings of the human mind. 

 It is essentially descriptive. The author does not profess 

 to dig down into origins. " I wish it to be distinctly 

 understood," he says, "that in this treatise I undertake 

 not to determine the origin of motives in the ages past 

 and among the lower animals ; I am satisfied if I can 

 give an approximately correct account of them as they 

 now act in the human mind." The promise to enter little 

 into controversy is fairly redeemed. Even the few con- 

 troversial passages there are had been better omitted, 

 since they deal for the most part with questions of 

 origin, that of the conscience for example, into which as 

 we have just seen, Dr. McCosh wisely does not undertake 

 to enter. C. Ll. M. 



OUR BOOK SHELF. 



Our Neiv Zealand Cousins. By the Hon. James Inglis. 

 (London: Sampson Low, 1887.) 



This is an interesting little book, and at the present time, 

 when so much is said about the relations between the 

 colonies and the mother country, it ought to appeal to a 

 wide circle of readers. Mr. Inglis had a pleasant tour 

 in New Zealand in 1885, and as he had been there twenty 

 years before, he was able to note the progress that had 

 been made in the political and social development of the 

 colony. The results of his observations are presented in 

 a fresh, clear, and lively style, and he will no doubt com- 

 municate to a good many of his readers a little of his own 

 enthusiasm about the condition and prospects of "the 

 new Great Britain of the Southern Seas." 



