LITERARY NOTICES. 



7°5 



wholly a wild, inhospitable tract, inhabited 

 by wandering savages, but that the northern 

 part, at least, is a grazing country, with set- 

 tlements and white inhabitants, much like 

 the adjoining districts of the Argentine Re- 

 public. He will learn also something about 

 the natural products of the land, its climate, 

 life among the settlers, the Indians, the wild 

 animals, and most of all, for the author is an 

 ornithologist, about the birds. In the culti- 

 vated valley of the Rio Negro there are birds 

 in plenty — mocking-birds, several varieties of 

 finches, wood-hewers, swallows, and among 

 larger fowls the upland geese, owls, vultures, 

 condors, ostriches, swans, and flamingoes- 

 Mr. Hudson does not write like a teacher nor 

 like a restless searcher after discoveries, but 

 rather like one telling of a pleasant vacation ; 

 hence it is safe to predict for him many de- 

 lighted readers. The book has been fully 

 and pleasingly illustrated by Alfred Hartley 

 and J. Smit. 



Evolution and Man's Place in Nature. By 

 Henry Calderwood, LL. D., F. R. S. E., 

 Professor of Moral Philosophy, Univer- 

 sity of Edinburgh. New York and Lon- 

 don: Macmillan & Co., 1893. Pp. 349. 

 Price, $2. 



In the opening chapter of this work Prof. 

 Calderwood says that " the general accept- 

 ance of Darwin's theory of evolution gives 

 force to the demand for discussion of this 

 problem." The author uses the sentence 

 just quoted as a reasoii for writing the book. 

 He accentuates that sentence by stating, on 

 page 2, that " whatever limitations are to be 

 assigned to the theory, we must at least 

 grant that a law of evolution has had con- 

 tinual application in the world's history " ; 

 and he adds that in the matter of elucidating 

 the phenomena "the researches of Charles 

 Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace have led 

 the way." 



It is not easy to understand how such a 

 man as Prof. Calderwood could have fallen 

 into the too common error of attributing 

 priority to Darwin in connection with the 

 doctrine of evolution. Herbert Spencer pub- 

 lished his essay on the Development Hy- 

 pothesis in 1852; in 1855 the Principles of 

 Psychology, an application of the doctrine of 

 evolution to mental phenomena, followed 

 from the same pen; and, finally, in 1857, or 

 two years before the appearance of Darwin's 

 vol. xliii. — 51 



Origin of Species, Mr. Spencer published 

 Progress : its Law and Causes, which was 

 devoted to the discussion of universal evolu- 

 tion. 



Nevertheless, Prof. Calderwood's work is 

 an ably argued treatise on the subject, and 

 oddly enough, in the chapters on Sensory and 

 Rational Discrimination and Rational Life, 

 he quotes from the earlier works of Mr. 

 Spencer to substantiate his own attempted 

 refutation of the Darwinian theory. At the 

 outset he asks, " How has he (man) found 

 his place on the summit of existence, and 

 what has he done since coming to his herit- 

 age ? " Then follows a chapter on the char- 

 acteristics of human life, in which the con- 

 trasts between organic and rational life are 

 treated ; the author asserting that intelli- 

 gence alone makes man the master in Na- 

 ture ; that in human activity " dualism of 

 function is complete" — i. e., both rational 

 and organic life — whereas "evidence fails 

 when we look for independent action" of in- 

 telligence in animals." And he continues : 

 " We do not find that any of them " (animals) 

 " in their natural state rise above interpre- 

 tation of signs." 



The chapter on Sensory and Rational 

 Discrimination presents forcible argument 

 demonstrative of this duality of function 

 culminating in man's possession of rational 

 power, by virtue of which " every member 

 of the race goes forth on his way as a free 

 man, taking possession of his inheritance in 

 the earth. For every man who does not lose 

 his way in darkness or through blinding 

 passion ... a rich possession is waiting, 

 quite above supply of the common require- 

 ments of organic life. Science is his serv- 

 ant, literature is his property, philosophy is 

 his guide in higher thought, revelation be- 

 comes his inspiration. Under warrant of 

 abundant evidence, we distinguish two worlds 

 in Nature — the world of matter and the 

 world of mind ; a world visible to the eye, 

 a world invisible to organism — visible only 

 to rational insight. . . . Thinkers of quite 

 opposite schools are agreed that there is no 

 possible science of Nature which does not 

 distinguish between the material and the 

 spiritual, between that which is known by 

 sense and that which is known in conscious- 

 ness. Nature's testimony admits of no doubt 

 as to the reality of these separate spheres." 



