IMPORTANT BOOKS 



BY 



JOHN FISKE. 



OUTLINES OF COSMIC PHILOSOPHY, based on the Doc- 

 trine of Evolution. With Criticisms on the Positive 

 Philosophy. 2 vols. 8vo, pp. 465, 523, $6.00. 

 Mr. DARWIN, after reading this work, wrote as follows 



to Mr. Fiske : 



"You must allow me to thank you for the very great interest 

 with which I have at last slowly read the whole of your work. . . . 

 I never in my life read so lucid an expositor (and therefore thinker) 

 as you are ; and I think that I understand nearly the whole, though 

 perhaps less clearly about cosmic theism and causation than other 

 parts. It is hopeless to attempt out of so much to specify what 

 has interested me most, and probably you would not care to hear. 

 It pleased me to find that here and there I had arrived, from my 

 own crude thoughts, at some of the same conclusions with you, 

 though I could seldom or never have given my reasons for such 

 conclusions." 



This work of Mr. Fiske r s may be not unfairly designated the most 

 important contribution yet made by America to philosophical liter- 

 ature. . . . His theory of the influence of prolonged infancy upon 

 social development (Part II., chap, xxii.) entitles Mr. Fiske -B work 

 to be considered a distinctly important contribution to the theory 

 of the origin of species, and of the origin of man in particular. 

 Academy (London). 



His most important suggestion, that of the influence of the long 

 period of feeble adolescence upon man's social development, is, we 

 think, a permanent contribution to the development theory. No* 

 tion (New York). 



He recognizes Mr. Spencer as his teacher and guide ; but he has 

 moulded the doctrines of his master into a popular form, sur- 

 rounded them with fresh and vivid illustrations, pointed out their 

 bearing upon great practical questions of the day, and amply sup- 

 plied the reader with materials for forming an intelligent judgment 

 with respect to their merits. Mr. Fiske is himself a thinker of rare 

 acuteness and depth ; his affluent store of knowledge is exhibited 

 on every page ; and his mastery of expression is equal to his sub- 

 tlety of speculation. GEORGE RIPLEY, in Tribune (New York). 



Mr. Fiske's work ... is the first important contribution made 

 by America to the evolution philosophy, . . . and is well worth the 

 study of all who wish to see at once the entire scope and purport of 

 the scientific dogmatism of the day. Saturday Review (London). 



