i88i.J Analyses of Books. 109 
In the important chapter on Morality the author remarks that 
the “ significance of Evolutionism for morals is to be found not 
so much in the circumstance that it leads to certain isolated 
dodtrines as in the elimination of everything unnatural or anti- 
natural which it introduces into the consideration of ethical 
questions.” The recognition of man’s true place in Nature is 
the last and decisive blow at the mediaeval-monastic system of 
life, and consequently at asceticism in its every manifestation. 
Among the more special ethical consequences of Evolutionism 
must be reckoned a new code as regards our treatment of the 
lower animals. If we still, as a painful necessity, are com- 
pelled to sacrifice life to our safety and in the pursuit of know- 
ledge, the time will assuredly come when we shall be ashamed 
of the very word “ sport,” as expressing the inflidtion of pain 
and death for amusement. 
An ethical dodtrine implicated is the so-called freedom of will 
— the assumption that the voluntary adtions of mankind are not 
subjedt to the law of causality. The author shows that every- 
thing which endears to us the idea of liberty is in reality un- 
affedted by philosophic determinism. It has repeatedly been 
pointed out in the “Journal of Science ” that our right to elimi- 
nate beast or man dangerous to human society is all the stronger 
if the offender pleads necessity. 
An important consequence of the dodtrine of development is 
that well-being is recognised as the objedt of life, and that 
adtions are considered good or evil in so far as they promote or 
frustrate this great end — a criterion substantially agreeing with 
that of Herbert Spencer. The author remarks that the funda- 
mental error of eudaemonism or egotism raised to a system lies 
in its negledt of the sympathetic emotions which centre in 
others. 
The last and perhaps the most important sedtion, the relation 
of Evolutionism to religion, scarcely falls within our province. 
The author remarks that Natural Science is hostile to all tele- 
ology which views the “ mechanism of Nature” as something 
foreign and external. It would be a lamentable contraction of 
our spiritual wealth if we renounced the part played by religion 
in life. But the author is convinced that the gloria in excelsis 
will resound through the ages so long as a human nerve quivers 
in response to the sublime. 
We must here conclude our brief survey of this important 
treatise. We consider that the author has brought to his task 
learning equally wide and accurate, and that he has thrown a 
welcome light on some of the most complicated questions of the 
day. To quote the significant passages with which his pages 
are crowded would be to translate the work in extenso . 
