Books in Brief. 



481 



are r«prints from Punch, and have amusing discus- 

 sions upon all sorts of subjects, one of the most 

 characteristic being the making of a Christmas number 

 in which the author and the editor sketch out, with 

 various small fights, the compilation of the story. 

 As they go off the editor complains that the author's 

 story does not fit the pictures, and it is too late to get 

 new ones done. The author states that he cannot work 

 to order, and the two part, the editor making the 

 remark that " It is rotten weather for August " ! 

 In " London Lavender " we have Mr. Lucas in his 

 best form. This piquant series of "Miscellanies" 

 related by Mr. Falconer, who is now settled with 

 Naomi in a comfortable flat, are as racy or as obscure 

 as were ever those related in " Over Bemerton's." Old 

 acquaintances come forward, and new ones make 

 their appearance, so that a list of them has to be given 

 for fear the reader will go astray. The last comer is 

 Lavender herself, the little daughter of Falconer and 

 Naomi. Fun, sentiment, pathos, and information are 

 given in turns, and we reach " The F.nd " with regret. 



Sew Chronicles of Rebecca of Sunnybrook 

 Farm. A Child's Journey with Dickens. 

 By Kate Douglas Wiggin. (Hodder and 

 Stoughton. IS. each net.) 



Kate Douglas Wiggin has two charming contributions 

 to this month's publications, one being " New 

 Chronicles of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," which 

 needs no recommendation. The other is a little booklet 

 telling of the passion of love for Dickens which she 

 had as a little child, and her meeting with him during 

 his tour in America. 



PSYCHOLOGY, &c. 



Main Currents of Afodern Thoupht: A Study of 

 the Spiritual and Intellectual Movements of 

 the Present Day. Bv Rudolf Eucken. 

 Tran.slated by Meyrick Booth, B.Sc, Ph.D. 

 (Jena). (T. Fisher Unwin. 12s. 6d. net in 

 Great Britain.) 



This translation by Meyrick Booth of Professor 

 Kucken's great work will be welcome^ by all who 

 revel in the depths of philosophic thought, or who 

 study the religious idea as separate from dogma. His 

 argument is that only the recognition of an indepei. 

 dent spiritual life will remedy the incompleteness of 

 the attempts at a synthesis of life, or remove their 

 contradictions. The translator's and author's prefaces 

 are an interesting prelude to the subjects discussed, 

 such as Tmmanenlal Idealism, Religion, Naturalism, 

 Socialism, Individualism, etc. Of old the Churches 

 settled onre and for all, and without doubt, the 

 thoughts of men and women upon the spiritual life, 

 but the coming of the scientific spirit, challenging the 

 dogmas ui>on which the authority of the Churches was 

 founded, has resulted in complete tinsettlemcnt in 

 many minds. Professor Kucken thinks he has found 

 Ihe right viltition for their problems. 



Psychology : A Neiv System. By Arthur Lynch, 

 M.P. (Stephen Swift. 2 vols. los. fid. 

 each net.) 



In these two imporlnni volumes the author claims to 

 put forward a new system of psychology, based on 

 the study of the fundamental processes of the human 

 mind. Psychology he defines as being concerned with 



the inward processes of the mind, as distinguished 

 from external things and their external interactions, 

 and, psychology being a science which should be made 

 as exact as conditions permit, he seeks to discover 

 something comparable to a law from which all de- 

 velopments of the subject may be in due order evolved. 

 The enunciation and solution of the basic problem 

 is the task which the author has set himself. Book I. 

 contains the formulation of the fundamental — that is 

 to say, the nonanalysable processes, which Mr. Lynch 

 postulates are twelve in number : (i) immediate 

 presentation, (2) conception of unit, (3) memory, 

 (4) association, (5) agreement, (6) generalisation, (7) 

 feeling of effort, (8) impulse, (g) hedonic sense, (ro) 

 sense of negation, (11) conception of time, (12) con- 

 ception of space. Book II. gives illustrations of the 

 applications of the principles, and Book III. discusses 

 the development of psychology in its historical aspects 

 and in its future possibilities. The author states his 

 positions with force and lucidity, and has sought to 

 lighten, where possible, the austerity of his subject by 

 drawing his illustrations from current positive science 

 rather than from schematic forms. 



Forces that Help. By Florence Northcroft. 

 (Allenson. is. 6d. net.) 



.\ pleasant series of talks for men and women, remind- 

 ing the reader of the " little drops of water " idea. 

 We learn, for instance, that Marconi was indebted to 

 a Scotsman for the germ of his discovery; Mcxjdy, to 

 a little unknown praying woman for a great out- 

 pouring of grace. The advice given is charmingly 

 put and of value. 



Thoughts are Things. By W. W. Atkinson. 

 (Fowler, is. net.) 



One of those invaluable little manuals, for which 

 praise is superfluous, showing that within ourselves are 

 to be found the most valuable of qualities and 

 possessions. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



The German Emperor and the Peace of the 

 World. By A. H. Fried, with a Preface 

 by Norman Angell. (Hodder and Stough- 

 ton. 6s.) 



A most useful work on one of the most important 

 topics by the holder of the Nobel Peace Prize. " At 

 the present time," says Mr. Fried, " the Kaiser sup- 

 ports the theory, si vis faifm -para bellum; he is 

 opiHised to war, but is of the opinion that peace can be 

 maintained only by exerting to the full the defensive 

 forces of the State. In a speech delivered at Bremen, 

 in 1005, he said : — ' When I came to the Throne I swore 

 that, after the heroic times of my grandfather, bayonets 

 .and cannon would, so far as lay in my |viwer, be put 

 aside, but th it these bayonets would be held sharp 

 and these cannons ready, so that when cultivating our 

 garden and extending our beautiful house, we should 

 not be disturbed by envy and jealousy from outside.' " 

 Many times has the F.mperor s(>oken of a '" Peace 

 Alliance" .as possible among civilised r.accs ; more 

 than that, he has shown himself to be an advocate of 

 the organisation of European Slates for the advance, 

 mcnl of peace, no one nation being in a position of 

 superiority, but each bound together by common 

 interests and common actions. To this desire Mr. 

 Angell .and Mr. Fried bear witness, and their testimony 

 should help lo a belter mutual understanding. 



