5i8 



NATURE 



[September 29, i. 



analysis of volition, and the demonstration of the con- 

 tinuity of reasoning in logic and ethic are substantial 

 contributions to speculation. It is probably in the sphere 

 of practice and in especial in ethic and religion that Dr. 

 Hodgson finds the true task of consciousness as some- 

 thing other than the fly upon the wheel of real condition- 

 ing. At any rate the denial of efficiency to conscious- 

 ness and the attribution of real activity to the organism 

 as such, to the conscious being and not to his conscious- 

 ness, has not emptied morality of content. Conscience 

 and personality have their meanings, and very full and 

 rich ones in the new system. Conscience as self- 

 consciousness in selective attention is no doubt wholly 

 conditioned by the neuro-cerebral system, but it is the 

 sole criterion of morality, its preferences are perforce 

 imperatives, its judgments as to the anticipated efifect of 

 actions upon character are final in scorn of consequence. 

 No system of prudence will satisfy Dr. Hodgson, but 

 only a moral responsibility for character which requires 

 free-will. 



His treatment of this well-worn topic is somewhat un- 

 convincing. Inward determination or self-determinism 

 is freedom, and in this sense even the inorganic is par- 

 tially free, and in each higher organisation of matter 

 such freedom is intensified. And we are not to think 

 that laws of nature '" compel"; there is no necessity in 

 the order of real conditioning. 



So far, so good. But is this enough ? The de facto 

 presence of real alternatives in the order of real con- 

 ditioning is what is required to justify responsibility on 

 Dr. Hodgson's theory, and he will not allow himself to 

 make fallacious inferences from sense of effort and so 

 forth. Does he not tacitly rest the case on the belief 

 that otherwise pleasure and pain, desire and volition, the 

 whole contents of consciousness as such are illusion and 

 inutility ? In acknowledging only " apparent design" in 

 nature, and resolving the teleological into the aesthetic 

 judgment, he precludes himself from this escape. The 

 influence of Kant's later critiques is all the more obvious 

 from Dr. Hodgson's antagonism to the earlier. 



Out of the moral consciousness arises the religious. 

 And of this Dr. Hodgson is at pains to show the com- 

 petence and limits. 



The fourth book on " The Real Universe " is really a 

 Religionsphilosophie. Approached in a characteristically 

 analytical way. Matter or adverse occupancy of space 

 by coherence of parts is composite even in its minima. 

 It must therefore have been produced by non-material 

 real conditions. Either this or the "aseity" not yet 

 proven of matter. It is upon these unseen realities, which 

 through matter their product work in the organism and 

 condition consciousness, that faith fastens. Upon them 

 it projects, in a way satisfying only to the practical reason, 

 those conclusions which religion derives from ethic and 

 completes ethic by. Among other vaticinations in this field 

 consciousness stumbles pathetically upon a theory of an 

 organism formed by the neuro-cerebral system with the 

 growth of character, an organism perchance disengage- 

 able at death and capable of a future life with those it 

 has loved and lost — the theory of the authors of "The 

 Unseen Universe." But Dr. Hodgson is severe with 

 himself and will not take any surmise for metaphysical 

 truth. 



NO. 1509, VOL. 58] 



The strength or the weakness of the system lies in the 

 refusal to attribute agency to consciousness. Where, if 

 it does nothing, and the neurosis all, lies the use of 

 consciousness ? and yet if we introduce final causes, 

 what becomes of Dr. Hodgson's system ? Or is its 

 sole use the speculatively unjustifiable self-projection 

 into the unseen which characterises the ethico-religious 

 consciousness ? 



But beyond the significance of any single doctrine of 

 " The Metaphysic of Experience," or even of its central 

 doctrine, is that of its method. Many of its results 

 must hold good, but, were it otherwise, the book would 

 live, because of the unflinching sincerity which is its 

 keynote. H. W. B. 



AN INTRODUCTION TO GEOLOGICAL 

 SCIENCE. 

 Geology for Beginners. By W. W. Watts, M.A., F.G.S. 

 Pp. xvii -f 352. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 

 1898.) 



TH E progress of science demands from time to time new 

 text-books by fresh workers, and in the handy little 

 volume before us we have presented to us the leading facts 

 and principles of geology concisely explained and well 

 illustrated by the light of the most recent researches. 

 The author himself, one of the most energetic of observers 

 and teachers, and with a varied experience both in the 

 field and laboratory, has made excellent use of his oppor- 

 tunity, and in this " Geology for Beginners " he has given 

 to the earnest student one of the best introductions to 

 the science ever published. There are other works on 

 elementary geology which will prove more fascinating to 

 general readers, who seek to become acquainted only 

 with the principles of the science ; but those who desire 

 to master the subject must enter into details, and they 

 will do well to follow step by step the instructions given 

 by our author. 



From the study of a few selected examples of rock at 

 home, he leads us to the study of rocks and rock-structures 

 out-of-doors. We are then taught to observe the wear 

 and tear of rocks by various agencies, and to understand 

 the formation of gravels, sands, and clays, including in 

 course of time the mode of origin of crush-conglomerates. 

 The action of compressed air on sea-coasts, and many- 

 other little matters, not usually explained in text-books, 

 are introduced to our notice. In all information relating 

 to mineralogy and petrology^ to metamorphism and 

 earth-movements, the author's statements are clear, and 

 as full as need be for an elementary student. Each 

 chapter is divided into paragraphs with bold headings, 

 and at the end there is a recapitulation which is followed 

 by a series of questions. The author has planned his 

 work on the revised syllabus of the Science and Art 

 Department, and the questions which he quotes are those 

 which have been set by that Department and by the 

 Oxford and Cambridge Schools' Examination Board. 



Throughout the volume the subjects are illustrated by 

 diagrams, by photographs of hand-specimens and micro- 

 scopic slides of rocks, and by photographs of natural 

 exposures of rocks. In the chapters relating to the 

 successive geological periods there are numerous figures 

 of fossils. In most cases the names of the genera only are 



