132 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 213. 



but seem here to have entirely different does not correetly represent the scheme it 



connotations. From his language at this shows at least that the scheme cannot be 



point the following tabular arrangement understood in its present form. Even 



seems justified : should this presentation be accepted in its 



Constituents. Categories, Essentials. 



1. As number develops into class unity 



2. As space " " form extension 



3. As motion " " force speed 



4. As time " " causation persistence 



becomes kind 

 " figure 

 " velocity 

 ' ' state 



Varieties. 

 and plurality series 

 " position structure 

 ' ' path inertia 



event 



5. As judgment 



conception consciousness 



choice inference. 



No names are given to the series 

 represented by the fourth and sixth col- 

 umns of this table. The first, third and 

 fifth columns are those respectively of the 

 constituents, the essentials and the vari- 

 ables. The second column would corre- 

 spond to the categories had he not trans- 

 ferred the first term, kind, to the fourth 

 column, and put ' class ' in its place. Per- 

 haps the reverse was intended, and this 

 would seem every way more logical. Mak- 

 ing this change we would have as one of the 

 new series : (1) class ; (2) figure ; (3) veloc- 

 ity j (4) state ; (5) recollection, and as the 

 other: (1) series ; (2) structure ; (3) inertia ; 

 (4) event; (5) inference. 



Twenty of these cosmic series of philo- 

 sophic principles have now been enumer- 

 ated. Others could probably be worked 

 out of the text even as it stands, and the 

 author is doubtless conscious of many more. 

 It may be well to repeat that all these cor- 

 relations are stated in the form of simple 

 discussions and the tabulation has been 

 made from these. Gaps are often left that 

 must be supplied from remote parts of the 

 book, and in a few cases terms are wanting 

 and have had to be selected from the obvious 

 meaning of the context. The author will, 

 therefore, probably criticise these condensa- 

 tions or perhaps repudiate many of them 

 altogether. The only apology that can be 

 made is that this seemed the only way of 

 putting the contents of the book into a form 

 which could be readily grasped, and if it 



main aspects it seems doubtful whether it 

 will convey a clear idea to all minds. The 

 terminology is so different from anj' hitherto 

 employed that attention is constantly ar- 

 rested on the words at the expense of the 

 meaning. The practice of neoterism has 

 been aptly compared to putting cannon 

 balls inside of bales of cotton whereby their 

 force and eflectiveness are destroyed. The 

 strongest writers are not those who use the 

 greatest number of new words, and such a 

 style as Huxley's abundantly proves that 

 the English language, clumsy genetic pi'od- 

 uct as it is, is capable of conveying the 

 deepest scientific and philosophic truth and 

 of expressing the highest and finest shades 

 of thought. The golden rule is never to 

 introduce a new w^ord when an old one will 

 serve the purpose. Major Powell's method 

 reverses this, and he seems never to use a 

 word that has a popular acceptance if he 

 can find a synonym, however rare, or can 

 coin a new term. His use of demotic for 

 social, already pointed out, is simply one 

 example in a hundred that might be named. 

 More confusing still, perhaps, is his employ- 

 ment of old words in new senses, as, for 

 example, his use of aj>p7-ehension as a mental 

 faculty, Yfith its opposite misapiwehension, 

 both of which are in common use with 

 definite though highly derivative significa- 

 tions. His category hind, in place of the 

 Kantian quality, conveys to the average 

 mind scarcely any idea at all. 



We know what his answer to all this 



