will yield to persuasion there is nothing in such a mode of address
that will be convincing. This is a case in which, as Pascal says,
"there is enough light for those who desire to see, and enough
obscurity for those who want a pretext for not seeing.... Perfect
clearness might help the understanding, but it would injure the will."
There is, therefore, room on the scientific foundation for the
idealism of Dr. Crozier, and for many other forms of idealism. It is
for each one of us to construct his own ideal, and, having constructed
it, to live by it. "If any man's work abide he shall receive a
reward."
_RACIAL GEOGRAPHY._
The interesting papers contributed to this magazine by Prof. William
Z. Ripley, which, we are glad to say, will soon be published in a more
permanent form, indicate very clearly the remarkable progress that has
been made of late years in the scientific study of human origins.
Formerly legend and tradition were the only sources of light upon
prehistoric times; and the sagacious Thucydides dismissed all
speculation respecting those ages with the curt remark that he did not
think the people who lived then amounted to much, any way. No doubt he
was nearer right in this opinion than were those who peopled antiquity
with demigods and heroes; still there was much of interest to be
gleaned respecting the prehistoric past if only right methods of
research had been used. This was too much to expect in his day; and,
indeed, it is only in very recent times that the study of human
origins has been placed upon anything like an adequate scientific
basis. A reference to Mr. Ripley's work will show how numerous are the
lines of investigation now pursued. Language, which at one time was
considered an all-important test of origin, has fallen from its high
position; and theories which, on the strength of linguistic evidence,
were very widely entertained, have lost their authority. Particularly
has this been the case with the so-called "Aryan" theory. It was
simple and beautiful and interesting, but as observations accumulated
it became more and more untenable, until finally it had to be
discarded.
The problems which the anthropologist and ethnologist attack are
indeed of the highest degree of complexity. If our predecessors went
astray therein, we ourselves are only feeling our way very cautiously
and somewhat uncertainly. We have not yet reached an era of victorious
generalizations. Professor Ripley well indicates the difficulties of
the research. Things will go well for a considerable time along
certain lines of observation until the facts come to be gleaned in
some special field, and then the result will perhaps be just the
opposite of what theory required. In a brachycephalic region, for
example, where craniological and other tests call for a population of
short stature, the stature will reveal itself as much above the
average. In a region where, looking at race characteristics as
elsewhere established, the tendency, say, to suicide should be
particularly low, it is found by statistics to be particularly high.
The ethnologist finds his path strewn with endless difficulties of
this nature, and yet he is not discouraged. The truth lies somewhere,
and he knows that a vigorous and courageous sifting of the facts will
be sure to bring it to light, if not to-day, to-morrow. We gather from
Professor Ripley's pages a strong impression of the confident patience
with which the true man of science attacks his problems; he is sure
that his _methods_ are right, and that in the end they must triumph.
The interesting points of view which the study of racial geography
presents are numberless. This is particularly shown in Professor
Ripley's chapter on Modern Social Problems. In this chapter the writer
acknowledges, as he does elsewhere, that theories of race and of
heredity have sometimes been pushed too far. He demands a due
recognition of the influence of environment, and cites cases where
environment will explain divergences from what are recognized as race
characteristics or tendencies. An example of this is afforded by the
case of Brittany, in connection with separateness of home life. The
population of Brittany belongs to a race that is particularly prone to
such separateness, and yet in Brittany there is an unusual
intermingling of families under one roof. We can not enter into the
explanation here, but Professor Ripley shows how the physical
geography of the country may account for the variation from type. In
the same chapter the writer shows very interestingly how the Celtic
parts of France manifest almost invariably conservative tendencies:
how they shun divorce, afford a very low rate of suicide, and, in the
matter of crime, tend rather to deeds of violence than to acts of
dishonesty. The general impression which the intelligent reader will
gather from the whole work is that "racial geography" has all the
interest of a rapidly growing science; but that, while much has been
accomplished, much more remains to be done. The lines of research are
many, and we may reasonably hope that before long the combined labors
of anthropologist, ethnologist, and sociologist will give us a
coherent body of knowledge and theory which shall not only illuminate
the past but be of the very highest value for the comprehension of the
problems of our own day.
Scientific Literature.
SPECIAL BOOKS.
In a study of what constitutes the foundations of zoölogy we know of
no one better equipped to discuss the various problems than Professor
Brooks.[V] As an original investigator in many groups of invertebrate
zoölogy, as a student of animal life in temperate and tropical seas,
as a special teacher of embryology and zoölogy for a quarter of a
century, and, above all, as a profound student of the philosophical
literature of the subject, his equipment is thorough and complete. A
fair review of this work would be difficult without voluminous
quotations from its pages.
[Footnote V: The Foundations of Zoölogy. A Course of Lectures
delivered at Columbia University on the Principles of Science as
illustrated by Zoölogy. By William Keith Brooks, Ph. D., LL. D.,
Professor of Zoölogy at Johns Hopkins University. Pp. 339. The
Macmillan Company.]
The reader will find here the soundest, healthiest acceptance of the
Darwinian theory of natural selection. He penetrates the mists and
fogs of philosophical vagaries and follows the dictum of Tyndall, who,
in presenting the essentials of a discussion, says, "Not with the
vagueness belonging to the emotions, but with the definiteness
belonging to the understanding" we are to study these matters. It is
fact, fact, fact. The honest "I do not know" inspires the reader with
a confidence that obscure points are not to be juggled with. He
insists that the principles of science are physical, that a mechanical
interpretation of Nature is reasonable and just. Referring to Huxley,
he remarks that faith and hope are good things, no doubt, and (quoting
from Huxley) "expectation is permissible when belief is not," but
experience teaches that expectation or faith of a master is very apt
to become belief in the mind of the student," and (again from Huxley)
"Science warns us that the assertion which outstrips evidence is not
only a blunder but a crime."
In the chapter of Nature and Nurture he brings many potent facts and
arguments against the idea of the transmission of acquired traits.
Without copious extracts it is impossible to do justice to this
masterly presentation of the subject. The chapter abounds in
aphorisms, as indeed do other portions of the work; and these alone,
if serially collated with their contexts, would make a valuable little
handbook for the student of biology. His chapter on Lamarck is equally
strong, and the fallacies of Lamarckianisms have never been so clearly
shown. "The contrast between what we may call the solicitude of Nature
to secure the production of new beings, and the ruthlessness with
which they are sacrificed after they have come into existence, is a
stumbling-block to the Lamarckian, and the crowning glory of natural
selection in that it solves this great enigma of Nature by showing
that it is itself an adaptation and a means to an end, for the
sacrifice of individuals is the means for perfecting the adjustments
of living things to the world around them and for thus increasing the
sum of life." "Whole books have been written on the marvelous fitness
of the structure, the instincts, and the habits of the worker of the
honeybee for its life of active industry--a life in which the male has
no share, and from which the female is cut off by her seclusion in the
depths of the hive, and by her devotion to her own peculiar duties.
While the queen and the drones are well fitted for their own parts in
the social organization of the hive, these duties are quite simple,
and very different from the duties of the workers; and as these latter
do not normally have descendants, and as they never under any
circumstances have female descendants, all the workers are the
descendants of queens and not of workers.
"Their wonderful and admirable fitness for their own most necessary
part in the economy of the hive must, therefore, be inherited from
parents who have never been exposed to those conditions to which the
workers are adapted; and this adaptation can not be due to the
inheritance of the effect of these conditions, nor can we believe that
they are inherited from some remote time, when the workers were
perfect females or when the queens were also workers; for the sterile
workers of allied species differ among themselves, thus proving that
they have undergone modification since they became sterile.
"Here we have a most complicated and perfect adjustment of marvelous
efficacy to external conditions which are of such a character as to
prove that the inheritance of the effect of these conditions has had
no part in the production of the adaptation."
His views of bird migration, based on the matter of ovulation and not
on food supply, are extremely interesting. He says: "As their eggs are
very large and heavy, a high birth rate is incompatible with flight,
and the preservation of each species imperatively demands that every
egg shall be cared for with increasing solicitude; for while in other
animals increased danger to eggs or young may be met and compensated
by an increase in the birth rate, the birth rate of birds can not be
much increased without a corresponding restriction of the power of
flight. Every one knows how quickly birds may be exterminated by the
destruction of their eggs or young, and the low birth rate of all
birds of powerful flight is a sufficient reason for migration, for at
the same time that their fitness for flight limits the birth rate, it
permits them to seek nesting places beyond the reach of their
enemies."
His critical estimate of Huxley is tersely presented. He says: "His
evolution is not a system of philosophy, but part of the system of
science. It deals with history--with the phenomenal world--and not
with the question what may or may not lie behind it.
"The cultivation of natural science in this historical field and the
discovery that the present order of living things, including
conscious, thinking, ethical man, has followed after an older and
simpler state of Nature, is not 'philosophy' but science. It involves
no more belief in the teachings of any system of philosophy than does
the knowledge that we are the children of our parents and the parents
of our children; but it is what Huxley means by 'evolution.'"
Dr. Brooks credits Galton with employing simple terms to express new
and abstruse truths, and we trust those who are continually wrestling
with the dead languages to pick out new and distracting words to
express their conceptions will profit by Galton's method.
The lecture on Natural Selection and the antiquity of life is replete
with original and pregnant suggestions based upon the results of his
own profound investigations on pelagic life. Here again only ample
quotations from his pages would convey an adequate idea of their value
and importance. In his chapter on Louis Agassiz and George Berkeley he
gives this just tribute to Agassiz:
"The writer was a man of transcendent genius for scientific discovery,
with intense earnestness and enthusiasm for the pursuit of truth, and
rare eloquence and literary skill. If any man was devoted to the cause
of truth and determined to accept it, whatever it might prove to be,
that man was Agassiz; for while his impulses were notably devout and
reverential, he proved, on many occasions, that he was fearless and
independent in the search for truth. It is no disparagement to
Buckland and Bell and Chalmers and the other authors of the
Bridgewater Treatises to assert that Agassiz far surpassed them all in
acquaintance with the methods which lead to success in the
interpretation of Nature, and in ability to treat the problems of
natural theology from the standpoint of the zoölogist."
He dedicates his book to Bishop Berkeley, and throughout the lectures
his references indicate a thorough acquaintance with the writings of
this eminent scholar.
Paley's old watch comes in for renewed consideration, and one wonders
if the mainspring of this device will ever be broken. His apt
references to classical authors indicate wide and judicious reading.
The book is overburdened with thought and clear, concise reasoning,
and his final advice should be followed when he urges his readers to
do double duty by reading the book again.
* * * * *
In the April number (1898) of this magazine we had occasion to review
the first two volumes of this work.[W] A perusal of the third volume
does not permit us to modify the expressions and criticisms there
made. We then said the work is "a compact storehouse of facts, a
veritable ethnological museum, and this feature alone renders the book
indispensable to American students." The author "shows no evidence of
ever having seen the magnificent series of volumes issued by the
United States Bureau of Ethnology." "The author in several instances
confounds Japan and China." "His treatment of the African races is by
far the most exhaustive." These extracts will apply most particularly
to the present volume. The negro races of the interior of Africa and
those of West Africa, as well as the cultured races of that continent,
are exhaustively treated. In that portion treating of the history of
the civilization of eastern Asia the Japanese and Chinese are
considered together and many mistakes in generalization follow as a
result of this confounding. Long before we get to this portion of the
work an illustration is given of Japanese agricultural instruments, in
which only one plow of the many types in Japan is presented, and this
is evidently taken from a model. Not only has he confounded the
Japanese with the Chinese, but the southern Malays are brought in when
he speaks of the Malay and Japanese love of the cockfight--a practice
which is unknown in Japan. He refers to the Japanese latrine as being
built over running water, whereas the record of this custom is found
only in an ancient Japanese classic of the seventh century. He is in
error in stating that the stage is essentially the same in China and
Japan. His description of the music of Japan applies to China only.
The statements that pearls play a large part in the ornaments of the
Japanese, that the fireproof buildings are of stone, that the
Japanese tobacco is moistened with opium, that the Japanese street
dress is full of color, are all erroneous. His description of the sash
worn by men is the description of the woman's sash. He says "the
Japanese currency before the change to dollars and cents was like that
of the Chinese." Had he consulted Snowden's description of ancient and
modern coins, etc., he would have found this correct statement in
regard to Japanese coins: "In their shape, composition, and relation
to each other they present some striking features which set them apart
from every other system of coinage in the world."
[Footnote W: The History of Mankind. By Prof. Friedrich Ratzal. The
Macmillan Company. Vol. III, pp. 599.]
The illustrations are badly distributed. Through pages of description
of the Japanese and Koreans, in which little is said about the
Koreans, are scattered illustrations of the inhabitants of Yeso--the
Ainu. The illustration of Japanese table furniture depicts only
utensils for smoking and wine-drinking, and some of these are
erroneously labeled, as are those of certain Chinese utensils.
We trust that the Asiatic portion of this valuable work will be
written over again, and in doing it the author will realize that he is
dealing with four or five hundred million people widely separated in
language, modes of writing, customs, and manners; that he will
consider the Ainu, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thibetan, and
Indo-Chinese with the same thoroughness that he has given to the
separate groups of the African continent; that he will draw his
information from modern sources and collections properly labeled and
up to date.
Even with the defects pointed out the work will prove of great value
to the American student, as it brings before him the richness of the
ethnological museums of Europe.
GENERAL NOTICES.
_The Development of English Thought_[X] is "an attempt to present a
theory of history through concrete illustrations." The book does not
deal with the facts of history--a knowledge of these is assumed--it
throws into relief certain salient features of each epoch which were
instrumental in forwarding the social consciousness. It may, indeed,
be called a philosophy of economics. It has a theory to propound:
Survival is determined and progress created by a struggle for the
goods for which men strive, or the means by which they may avert evil.
These goods change, together with the environment dependent on them.
Hence arise new activities; the race is modified, new modes of thought
come forward, and finally the characteristics of the civilization are
reconstructed. These changes are subject to a definite law of
evolution, repeated in each new environment. England has been chosen
for this economic interpretation of history; because of its insular
position, its development has been more normal and indigenous, less
subject to foreign influences since the Reformation, than any
continental country. An explanation of the psychological theory
underlying the book serves as general introduction. The antecedents of
English thought are found among the early Germans, and the Early
Church. The fifteenth century, with its inventions and discoveries,
revolutionized men's ways of living and thinking. Then the Calvinists
and Puritans imposed their standards of good and evil. These are
followed by the great English thinkers: Locke, who marks the beginning
of Deism in England; Mandeville, Hume, and Smith, developing the
economic side; Whitefield and Wesley leading the religious revival.
Later on, Malthus, Ricardo, and Mill formulated the Economic
Philosophy, whereas Darwin, the first of the biologists, imposed
biologic habits of thought on economic inquiry. The concluding
chapter, while cautious in the discussion of current problems,
attempts, assisted by the lessons of the past, to indicate the
probable future movement of thought, springing out of present economic
conditions.
[Footnote X: The Development of English Thought. A Study in the
Economic Interpretation of History. By Simon N. Patten, Ph. D. New
York: The Macmillan Company. 1899. $3.]
Mr. _Wilbur S. Jackman_ has sought in preparing his manual of _Nature
Study for Grammar Grades_,[Y] to propose a few of such problems
arising in a thoughtful study of Nature as are within the
comprehension of grammar-school pupils, and to offer suggestions
designed to lead to their solution. Directions may perhaps be given by
the teacher--that is, by some teachers, but very few--but even if he
knows how, it is hardly possible for him to make them as systematic to
so large an extent as would be required by a school of inquiring
pupils; and such a plan as the author offers may be accepted as a
valuable help. Take, for instance, the first lesson on the mutual
relations of plants and insects--as to plants. The student is told
what equipment to take, what places to visit; is reminded of seven
kinds of evidence in the shape of galls, stings, eaten leaves, etc.,
to be considered; and is given a list of queries to be recollected in
studying the phenomena, in their general aspect, as to the benefit or
injury received by the plant from insects, the attractions it offers,
and the defenses it possesses, with "number work" relating to the
extent of the depredations, and methods of representing the results of
the study in picture. The book contains forty-five such lessons on
different aspects of Nature.
[Footnote Y: Nature Study for Grammar Grades. A Manual for the
Guidance of Pupils below the High School in the Study of Nature. By
Wilbur S. Jackman. Danville, Ill.: The Illinois Printing Company. Pp.
407.]
In the preparation of his book on _Fertilizers_[Z] it has been the aim
of Mr. _Voorhees_ to point out the underlying principles and to
discuss, in the light of our present knowledge of the subject, some of
the important problems connected with the use of fertilizing
materials. While the author recognizes the lack of definite knowledge
on many vital points, he considers it desirable, when the
investigations of the experiment stations are becoming so important
and they are so well prepared to study the fundamental principles of
plant nutrition, for the practical man to have a clear understanding
of what is now known. The book treats of the natural fertility of the
soil and the sources of the loss of the elements of fertility, the
functions of manure and fertilizers and the need of artificial ones,
the different classes of fertilizers, the chemical analysis of them,
and the methods of using them with their special application to
various crops.
[Footnote Z: Fertilizers. The Source, Character, and Composition of
Natural, Home-made, and Manufactured Fertilizers; and Suggestions as
to their Use for Different Crops and Conditions. By Edward B.
Voorhees. New York: The Macmillan Company. Pp. 335. Price, $1.]
We have received, with only a short interval between them, the first
volume of a third edition and the fourth or last volume of the second
edition of _Alfred H. Allen's Commercial Organic Analysis_.[AA] The
former volume is first to reach us. It is a high testimony to the
value of the work in itself that the publication of a rival issue of
the edition of 1885 had been begun by another house, although its age,
as suggested by the date, would indicate that it had much need of
revision. During the thirteen years since the publication of this
edition later research has thrown new light on many features of the
science and processes, and has corrected many of the old conceptions,
and the author's views on some points have changed in the light of the
more recent results, so that the preparation of a new edition had
become necessary. Mr. Allen has found it now impossible for him to
undertake the continuous labor which would be imposed by such a task,
and the work of revision has been undertaken by Henry Leffmann, of
Philadelphia. For this new edition Mr. Allen has furnished material
on the subjects of the Kjeldahl process, proteids of wheat flour,
vinegar, brewing sugars, malt substitutes, hop substitutes, and
secondary constituents in spirits. Information has been added by the
American reviser, partly from suggestions by Mr. Allen on the subjects
of specific gravity, formaldehyde, vinegar, methyl, alcohol, acetone,
fusel oil, argol, starch, glucose, invert sugar, lactose, and wine,
and brief notes on other topics. Processes of the American Association
of Official Agricultural Chemists have been reprinted. The revision of
Vol. II is well in hand, and will be much more extensive than that of
Vol I.