June 27, 1907] 



NA TURE 



197 



ably with the best philosophical books of recent years. 

 At its best the exposition of the subject is very clear 

 and engaging, and gives evidence of much reading 

 and sound study. If it errs at all, it is perhaps in 

 occasional over-subtlety. .An excellent running 

 analvsis is given in the table of contents. 



Where all is so excellent and thorough, a short 

 notice can do little more than indicate the point of 

 view. The first part of the volume deals with the 

 direct explanation of the mind, i.e. the explanation 

 of experience in terms of itself. The second considers 

 Sympathetic and x-Esthetic Intelligence, and contains 

 valuable chapters on Imitation, Fellow-feeling and 

 Individuation (with a good note on Einjiililung on 

 p. 141.)). and Absorption in the Object. The Growth 

 cf Intelligence in its two forms. Perceptual and Con- 

 ceptual, is the subject of the third part, and in the 

 last we return to an extension of the direct explan- 

 ation of experience, and to the indirect explanation 

 or explanation in physical terms. 



U'e note one or two small points, (i) Mr. Mitchell 

 rounds on the materialist position thus > — 



" The capacity of the brain has to be inferred from 

 the capacity to experience. . . . Whatever is possible 

 to the mind is possible to the brain." 



(ii) \\'hi!e not accepting the ordinary man's use of 

 the term "mental faculty," and not accepting the 

 division into faculties as though they were physical, 

 the author has a refreshing bluntness and honesty in 

 dealing with the term faculty itself. He has no 

 objection to its use as properly defined, and complains 

 that too often writers on psvchology have thought 

 that, so long as they avoided the term faculty, they 

 could ask any number of indefinite questions — as to 

 whether feelings depend on thoughts, or whether 

 reason is the slave of passion — and could, in fact, 

 substitute for faculties " a miscellaneous collection 

 of experiences in every kind, of processes conscious 

 and unconscious, and even of laws, as combining to 

 make experience or causing it somehow." " I think 

 it a needless penance," he adds, " to use the word 

 ' disposition ' in the sense that everyone would be 

 willing to give to ' facultv ' if he understood." 



THE IMPERIAL G.iZETTEER OF INDIA. 

 The Imperial Gazetteer of India. The Indian Empire, 

 Vol. i., Descriptive. New edition. Pp. xxxi + 568. 

 (Oxford : The Clarendon Press, 1907.) Price 6s. 

 net. 



THE completion of the census in iqoi necessitated 

 a revised issue of " The Imperial Gazetteer of 

 India," of which two editions had already appeared, 

 both compiled by the late Sir W. Hunter. Hunter, 

 while in charge of the statistical department, had 

 gained considerable knowledge of the country and its 

 people, and in one subject, the history of the British 

 occupation, was a competent authority. It is true that 

 he inclined to overestimate the importance of his 

 labours, and that he failed to give due credit to the 

 district authorities who provided the raw material on 

 which his compilation was based. At the same time 

 he performed an invaluable service in popularising 

 NO. 1965, VOL. 76J 



India for European readers. It became clear, how- 

 ever, that the Gazetteer was beyond the capacity of 

 any single man, and that it was necessary to divide 

 the subjects among a body of specialists. In the 

 present issue, which will be nearly double the size 

 of the last edition, little remains of Hunter's work 

 e.xcept the final historical chapter. 



During the quarter of a century which has passed 

 since the last edition appeared, much has been done 

 to extend our knowledge of the country. It is signifi- 

 cant that in its physical aspects it is now officially 

 assumed to include those outlying territories over 

 which the Government has extended its control, even 

 to the southern limits of Persia, Russia, Tibet, and 

 China. The progress in the natural sciences is 

 marked by Sir G. Watt's unwieldy "Economic Dic- 

 tionary," Sir J. Hooker's " Flora," the " Manual of 

 the Geology of India," the series of monographs on 

 the fauna edited by Mr. Blanford, and a great mass 

 of special literature. Scientific anthropology was in 

 its infancy in Hunter's day ; Dr. Grierson's linguistic 

 survey was not even dreamed of ; meteorology had not 

 begun to gather its materials from beyond the Indian 

 Ocean ; hvgiene had not yet been confronted with, 

 the problem of Oriental plague. Lastly, in the 

 domain of religion, the translation of the sacred books 

 had only just begun, and little attention had been 

 given to the not less important subject of the beliefs 

 and superstitions of the peasantry. 



In the present edition of this great work these stores 

 of new learning have been summarised and inter- 

 preted. Four introductory volumes are devoted to a 

 series of lucid articles on the various scientific and 

 administrative questions to which reference is made 

 in the body of the work. The first volume contains 

 ten articles. It opens with a chapter on the physical 

 aspects of the country by Sir T. Holdich. The 

 natural sciences are represented by a chapter on 

 geology by Mr. T. Holland, one on meteorology 

 prepared from materials supplied by Sir J. Eliot, while 

 the veteran Sir J. D. Hooker deals with botany and 

 Mr. W. T. Blanford with zoology. The chapter on 

 ethnology and caste is a summary of the views ex- 

 pressed by Sir H. Risley in his last census report; 

 that on language is the work of Dr. Grierson. Mr. 

 W. Crooke is responsible for religions, Mr. E. A. 

 Gait for sociology, and Dr. A. E. Roberts for public 

 health and vital statistics. 



The volume is thus made up out of a series of 

 essays, each the work of an expert, and each provided 

 with an adequate bibliography. In some eases, 

 as that of geology, the treatment is more technical 

 than will suit the general reader, but the review 

 within narrow limits of space of a wide and intricate 

 subject rendered this inevitable, and the serious 

 student is the gainer. Many of the articles, however, 

 are eminently readable; in particular. Sir T. Holdich. 

 dealing with Mr. Holland's materials, has so inter- 

 preted the story of rock, mountain, and river that he 

 has produced a fresh and graphic picture of the 

 physical aspects of the country and of the environment 

 of its people. 



The gazetteer, which is issued in excellent form 



