706 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The chapter on Animal and Eational Intelli-" 

 gence is a searching examination of the dif- 

 ference between the two kinds, or rather 

 three kinds, for a distinction is made be- 

 tween the intelligence of the higher and that 

 of lower animals. A weakness is found 

 in the argument for evolution of mind; for 

 to prove it "we must open a road from 

 sensory impressions to ideas of objects, and 

 from these to general abstract ideas, and 

 this must be such a road as the higher mam- 

 mals could find for themselves before man's 

 appearance on the earth. Here is the es- 

 sential test of an all-embracing scheme of 

 evolution; to account for interpretation of 

 sensory experience . . . this problem sepa- 

 rates us from much that has been already 

 assured in natural history, strongly favoring 

 evolution." The argument, as to man, is con- 

 tinued in the chapter on Eational Life, where 

 the science of mind is found to outstretch 

 the science of biology, and man's life to be 

 superior to all animal life, possessing powers 

 which are not shared by the animals ; having 

 possibilities and a destiny peculiar to him- 

 self, impossible to organic life, even to the 

 organism which is part of his own being. 

 This conclusion as to the inability of biol- 

 ogy to present a science of human life " is 

 reached by all that biology has to offer by 

 way of explanation." All that has been 

 demonstrated as to the action of the nerve 

 system and of the brain is accepted and 

 turned to full use, but it " carries no ex- 

 planation of the activities of the rational 

 life." 



The lines of investigation pursued do not 

 include any examination of Christianity as a 

 supernatural religion, but only as a spiritual 

 force contributing to the advance of the 

 race, certain of the characteristics of which 

 " have wielded a mighty influence in the 

 course of the ages." 



Summing up his investigations of the the- 

 ories of Darwin, Wallace, and their followers, 

 the author claims that the origin of man is 

 completely severed from the scheme of or- 

 ganic evolution. " Man has his place in a 

 physical system within which all is subject to 

 decay and death ; he has his place in a spirit- 

 ual system, within which is no trace of death, 

 but promise of continuity beyond the present 

 state. Evolution has turned attention on 

 different phases of the origin of existence 



on the earth. It helps us better to see how 

 varied these origins have been." But it is 

 insufficient to account for life itself. It 

 stands " before us an impressive reality in 

 the history of Nature. But this evolution is 

 only a limited cycle, within the greater cycle 

 of Being and its history," and all leads to 

 the conclusion that " there is a power oper- 

 ating continually in Nature, which does not 

 come within range of the observation possi- 

 ble to scientific modes and appliances, yet to 

 which science is ever indirectly bearing wit- 

 ness." 



The Political Value of History. By W. 

 E. H. Lecky, LL. D., D. C. L. New 

 York : D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 5*7. Price, 

 *75 cents. 



This is a reprint of a lecture delivered 

 before the Birmingham and Midland Insti- 

 tute, of which the author is president. The 

 words of such a man as Mr. Lecky, on the 

 value of history as a precedent for guid- 

 ing political policy to-day, can not fail to be 

 of value. The question is one which has 

 by no means always been answered affirma- 

 tively, and one which in recent times has 

 been much argued. 



Mr. Lecky first shows how history arose 

 and what was its original function, and then 

 briefly traces its development as a science 

 down to the present century. That he has 

 taken a judicial attitude is shown by the fol- 

 lowing passage: "Nor will any wise man 

 judge the merits of existing institutions 

 solely on historic grounds. Do not persuade 

 yourself that any institution, however great 

 may be its antiquity, however transcendent 

 may have been its uses in a remote past, can 

 permanently justify its existence, unless it 

 can be shown to exercise a really beneficial 

 influence over our own society and our age. 

 It is equally true that no institution which is 

 exercising such a beneficial influence should 

 be condemned because it can be shown 

 from history that under other conditions and 

 in other times its influence was rather for 

 evil than for good." He dwells on the ne- 

 cessity for understanding the " dominant 

 idea or characteristic of the period " which 

 the student is investigating; "what forces 

 chiefly ruled it, what forces were then rising 

 into a dangerous ascendency, and what forces 

 were on the decline." He speaks of the im- 



