48: 



NA TURE 



[February 25, 1909 



in the good I desire for myself, so I am conscious 

 that it is only a minor element in the good I believe 

 it my duty, say, as a father to promote for my child ; 

 and, as I saj', I believe this conviction to be shared 

 by the generality of high-minded men who are not 

 pre-committed to any particular scheme of moral 

 philosophy. 



It may, no doubt, be said that the view is a mis- 

 taken one, but at least it is there, and it is a serious 

 defect in a proposed analysis of actual morality that 

 it leaves no way of accounting for the fact. Where 

 Prof. Westermarck, if I may say so without presump- 

 tion, goes wrong is in directing his attention primarily 

 to the kinds of emotion which accompany moral judg- 

 ments instead of attempting to study just the general 

 character of the conduct upon which the judgments 

 are passed. As Mr. Bradley put it long ago, with 

 reference to J. S. Mill's account of poetry, " Anything 

 in the way of shallow reflection on the psychological 

 form rather than an attempt to grasp the content." 

 It is the same undue preoccupation with psychological 

 form as opposed to ethical content, as it seems to me, 

 which makes Prof. Westermarck 's attempts to trace 

 and forecast the development of moral belief and 

 practice disappointing. He has little that is suggestive 

 to say about the actual development of the moral 

 ideal within the history of civilisation ; indeed, about 

 the oldest and perhaps the most influential of still 

 existing moral institutions, the Christian Church, he 

 always writes with a lack of appreciation which might 

 fairly have been blamed in an eighteenth-century 

 illumine, though one would have expected that, in its 

 Catholic form, it would have appealed to him in virtue 

 of its "cosmopolitanism." The chief prophecy he 

 makes as to the future is that " the altruistic senti- 

 ment will continue to expand." Whether this is a 

 prophecy of good I .-im not sure. \o doubt it is, if 

 it means that devotion to a common good is to become 

 a more prominent factor in all our action. If it 

 means that devotion to definite organisations for social 

 life is to be replaced by aimless amiability towards the 

 human race in general, there may be reason to doubt 

 whether the substitution would be in the direction of 

 genuine progress. A. E. Taylor. 



POPULAR ELECTRICITY. 

 Electricity Present and Future. By Lucien Poincard. 



Translated by Jasper Kemmis. Pp. viii-l-315. 



(London: Sisley's, Ltd., n.d.) Price ys. 6d. net. 

 ' I 'HE title of this book is certainly a misnomer, and 

 -L any reader expecting therefrom to find the 

 volume largely occupied with a prophecy of the future 

 development of electricity is destined to be disap- 

 pointed. Had the book been called " Electricity Past 

 and Present," the subject-matter would have been 

 much more correctly indicated, as a fair amount of 

 historical matter is combined with the description of 

 the present state of applied electricity. Regarded 

 simply as a popular exposition of this state, the work 

 has much to recommend it, but it is, perhaps, hardly 

 fair to the author's intentions to look on it simply 

 in this light. From the preface one gathers that the 

 NO. 2052, VOL. 79] 



intention has been to trace the tendencies observable 

 in recent developments in electrical engineering, and 

 to produce a work, to use the author's own words, 

 " not unworthv a place in a collection of studies in 

 scientific philosophy." Candidly, we must admit that 

 we are not impressed with the " scientific philosophy " 

 of the book, unless, indeed, it is philosophy to show 

 how the simpler forms of machines and apparatus 

 have been modified to suit the varied requirements of 

 modern industry. 



The first part of the book is occupied with theor- 

 etical matters, the main outlines of the theory of mag- 

 netism and of induction being clearly expounded. 

 Then follow two chapters on generating machines and 

 motors, a fairlv long chapter on the transmission of 

 energy, and finally two short chapters on electro- 

 chemistry and electric lighting. These chapters form 

 the main portion of the book; they are clearly written, 

 and give a clear and interesting account of the sub- 

 jects with which they deal. We cannot help thinking 

 that the addition of a few simple diagrams and illus- 

 trations would greatly assist the explanations of some 

 of the more complicated points; the reader whose 

 knowledge of electrical technology is not very exten- 

 sive is likely to find some of the passages difficult to 

 follow. Indeed, we think the whole book, excellent 

 though it is in many respects, would be greatly 

 improved by simplification and a frank abandonment 

 of the philosophic aims which have helped to inspire 

 it, and which have given rise, we think, to such 

 defects as it possesses, .\mongst such defects may be 

 noted certain peculiarities of style which are appar- 

 ently attempts to give the book a literary value, but 

 which, in our opinion, have just the reverse effect. 

 To quote one or two examples, we read, on p. 38, 

 " M. Warburg justly claims the distinction of having 

 been the first, in 1880 ..." when we suppose all that 

 is meant is that M. Warburg has the distinction, 

 &c. On the same page a sentence referring to Swing's 

 work on hysteresis is immediately follow ed by a para- 

 graph opening, " This same Ewing studied in all 

 their complex details these phenomena." Why not say 

 Ewing studied these phenomena in all their complex 

 details? Instances could be multiplied ;dniost inde- 

 finitely, but we will content ourselves w ith one other 

 quotation. On p. 27 we read : — 



" However, notwithstanding the high respect enter- 

 tained for the ventures of this great scientist (Fara- 

 day), whose experiments were the most original and 

 productive that science had seen in the nineteenth 

 century, and notwithstanding the lucidity of his 

 'Experimental Researches in Electricity,' one cannot 

 but feel surprised, even shocked, at the methods he 

 employed in describing matters which arc not in con- 

 sonance with the conventional forms of mathematical 

 symbols." 



We are not quite sure what is the meaning, 

 if any, of the last sentence, and whether it is the 

 "methods" or the "matters" which offend; but 

 assuredly the criticism is most unjust, and the author 

 (or is it the translator?) could not do better than 

 study that simplicity of language which enabled 

 I'araday to confer such " luciditv " on his writings. 

 .\fter all, M. Poincan' is attempting a similar task in 



