the theories of M. M. Hirth and Chauveau on chromatic sensation. The
talented authoress disagrees with the view entertained by M. Chauveau,
that the sensations of contrast which are fused cerebrally, so as to
give, when viewed with both eyes, a white image, are subjective in an
intellectual sense. The result is purely physico-physiological, as it is
even assuming the intervention of M. Hirth’s _interior eye_. Mad. Royer
regards the eyes organised so as to effect a fusion of the colors and
forms depicted on the two retinas, and she accepts the conclusion of M.
Hirth, that they lessen the real polychromism of objects, the inability
to perceive the infra-red and the ultra-violet rays concealing from us a
considerable part “of the palette of nature and of its chromatic scale.”
The authoress refers with approval to the theory of M. Charpentier that
the complementary colors correspond to inverse undulatory phases, which
are destroyed by interference in the field of vision.
The second part of Mad. Royer’s pamphlet is devoted to a consideration of
the photography of colors, and the theory of light. It points out that
the photography of colors, which has been effected to some extent by M.
Lippmann, must be a physical and not a chemical process. It is the result
of the periodic compressions of the sensitised silver-surface, due to
the shocks it receives from the light undulations of the ether, which
so modify the surfaces of the silver atoms that they reflect colored
rays identical with those received from the object photographed. With
reference to the propagation of light, the authoress affirms that the
atoms of matter, as well as those of the ether, which differs from matter
only in being imponderable and without inertia, are centres of emanation
of a continuous and impenetrable fluid, which is however indefinitely
expansible or compressible. The size and form of atoms will thus depend
on the compressions they receive, and they will be able to accommodate
themselves to the spaces to which they are confined by the resistance
of the atomic groups by which they are surrounded. But the world may be
regarded as consisting of three sorts of atoms: (1) those of the ether
which possess their primordial unity of expansive force and are endowed
with perfect elasticity; (2) those of ponderable matter, which have lost
a portion of their expansive force and elasticity; (3) those which are
called vitaliferous, because they have regained their expansive force,
and are thus capable of autonomous movements necessary to resist the
compressions of the ether and to oppose the inertia of matter. They thus
answer to the cell-souls of Haeckel.
Ω.
DIE BEWEGUNG DER LEBENDIGEN SUBSTANZ. Eine vergleichend-physiologische
Untersuchung der Contractionserscheinungen. By _Max Verworn_, Dr. med.,
Privatdocent der Physiologie an der Universität Jena. Mit 19 Abbildungen.
Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1892.
The mechanism of muscle contraction and expansion and the motions of
amœboid substance have been recognised as one and the same problem; and
several naturalists, foremost among them Hofmeister, Engelmann, and
Edmund Montgomery have investigated it, fully aware of the enormous
importance of the subject. The present pamphlet is small, it contains
only 103 pages, but it contains the statement of the problem, a
description of the author’s experiments, and his solution so lucidly that
one cannot read it without great satisfaction. Both processes, expansion
as well as contraction, are, according to Verworn, spontaneous motions,
and both are to be explained by chemotropy. Expansion, i. e., in amœba
the protrusion of pseudopodia, is due to the plasma’s hunger for the
oxygen, which is contained in the surrounding medium. Every irritation
(electric shocks, concussions, injuries etc.) causes a chemical
decomposition of the oxygenised plasma; it loses carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen, and nitrogen, (as we know from the waste products, carbonic
acid, creatine, lactic acid,) and these substances are exactly those
which are most prominent in building up living substance. Irritations
without exception cause the plasma to return to the nucleus. The chemical
change in the plasma makes it hungry for the nuclear substances. The
vital process, accordingly, is an interaction between the nucleus, the
plasma, and the medium, so that in the constant exchange of materials the
old structure is preserved; and the fundamental features of the vital
process are first the plasma’s chemotropy for oxygen, causing centrifugal
motions, and then its chemotropy for nuclear substance, causing
centripetal motions. The plasma saturated with nuclear substances, shows
a chemotropy for the oxygen of the medium; it moves in a centrifugal
direction, and the oxygenised plasma has become so unstable that it
breaks down on the slightest provocation. The decomposed plasma exhibits
a chemotropy for nuclear substance and thus returns in contripetal
motions to the centre. Without entering into details we may mention that
this accounts also for the fact that dying protoplasm always assumes a
globular shape, until it crumbles to pieces. The _rigor mortis_ is the
last vital action of living substance. The plasma seeks once more the
nuclear substance, but not finding sufficient material for being built up
again into a substance endowed with a chemotropy for oxygen remains rigid
until it decays.
The author finds his theory to hold good for the actions of the striated
and nonstriated muscles, and also of ciliated tissues. Having shown
that the vital functions are due to the same forces that are observable
in the retort of the chemist, he adds: “The savage accordingly was not
quite wrong when he drew no distinct line, considering everything moving
as alive. Life is motion. That old poetical view of all nature being
animated with life throughout was in possession of a germ of truth,
and our proud civilisation has actually made a retrogressive step in
abandoning this view.”
κρς.
GRABER’S LEITFADEN DER ZOOLOGIE FÜR DIE OBEREN CLASSEN DER MITTELSCHULEN.
Vienna and Prague: F. Tempsky. 1892. Price 1 fl. 60 kr.
We had occasion in a recent number of _The Monist_ to review an
excellent text-book of physics published by this same house. The present
work on zoology is in its second edition, and is intended, like the
above-mentioned work of Professor Mach’s, for high-school instruction.
Professor Graber, its author, died before the completion of the second
edition, and the work was finished by J. Mik.
Graber’s Zoology is unique in its class; it covers, within the
restricted limits of two hundred and sixty-one pages, the whole field
of elementary biology, human physiology, and zoology, as it is usually
exploited in such books, and thus combines in a single volume what
is usually contained in two or three. The human organism (Part 1) is
made the starting-point of study in the work, and the explication of
the physiological and mechanical functions of animals are thus all
grouped about this central figure. In a concise form (55 pages) this
book contains about all of human anatomy and physiology that is usually
learned in high-schools. Part 1 also contains, at the end of the
discussions, brief dietetic suggestions. “Systematic Zoology” is taken
up in the Second Part. This part is well analysed and arranged. The cuts
are also excellent. Attached to the book is a “Picture-Atlas.” This atlas
contains a number of colored plates, which depict various physiological
and anatomical organs, and also four beautiful representations of scenes
from the Naples Aquarium. Although this book will not be used by English
school-students, it may be recommended to students of scientific German
who wish a good introduction into the technical vocabulary of German
biology and zoology, which to the foreigner is very difficult.
μκρκ.
L’ANTHROPOLOGIE DU BENGALE. By _Paul Topinard_. Extracted from
_L’Anthropologie_ for May-June, 1892. Paris: G. Masson.
The present contribution to the science of Anthropology by the Editor
of _L’Anthropologie_, is based on the anthropometric inquiries of Mr.
H. H. Risley made under instructions from the government of Bengal. The
conclusions deduced by Dr. Topinard from the large mass of material
brought together by Mr. Risley, and which relates to members of all
the castes to be met with in Bengal, are of great interest. He finds
that the populations are much mixed, but that they may be divided into
three types, one tall and dolichocephalic, that of the Aryans; another
short and brachycephalic, derived from northern Asiatics; and the third
short and dolichocephalic, or that of the native blacks. India is a
world by itself, and most of its inhabitants belong to races of which
there is no specimen in Europe. Dr. Topinard naturally attaches more
importance to physical than to ethnographical characters as evidence of
anthropological descent, and he is justified by Mr. Risley’s researches,
of which he speaks very highly; although he thinks they would have been
more fruitful if the anthropometrical instructions prepared by the French
Anthropologist had been more strictly adhered to. That they were not so
is the more surprising as Mr. Risley’s work is dedicated to Dr. Topinard
himself.
Ω.
UEBER SITTLICHE DISPOSITIONEN. By _Dr. Anton Oelzelt-Newin_, Privatdocent
an der Universität in Bern. Graz: Leuschner & Lubensky. 1892. Price Mk. 2
70 Pf.
The main idea of this book is to prove that there are certain innate
dispositions forming the elements of morality. The elements of morality
are according to Dr. Oelzelt-Newin the attitudes of fear, anger, love,
sympathy, shame, and pride. Conscience is a complex which has developed
from these six dispositions. Having stated sufficient evidences for the
heredity of moral dispositions and illustrated the parallel phenomena of
bodily states in their reference to moral alienation, the author treats
the six elements of morality in single chapters, explaining their causes
and the influence of conditions under which they develop either into
virtues or crimes. The essay (92 pp.) is a contribution to that ethical
determinism which regards evil as the necessary result of given factors.
“Religious people should say: Not Only the stone which falls from the
roof and kills a just man, but also the will of a criminal and the
punishment of the judge are inscrutable ordinances of God. That alone is
a true theodicy.” As an optimist the author trusts that the evil of the
world will be conquered with legal means and enjoins priests to revise
in this sense their creed, jurists their law, and all men their love of
mankind.
κρς.
THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE. And the Wonders of the World We live in. By Sir
_John Lubbock_. New York: Macmillan & Co. 1892. 429 pages. Price $1.50.
NATUR UND KUNST. Studien zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Kunst. By _Carus
Sterne_. Berlin: Verein für deutsche Literatur. 1892.
The first of these two books is a delightful compilation by Sir John
Lubbock. It is another addition to that series of popular works which
this well-known naturalist is now giving to English-speaking peoples. It
makes no pretension of being scientific: it simply takes the world which
science has revealed and shows us its wonders and its beauties. Yet it
insinuates many a scientific fact and inculcates many a moral lesson.
No one will regret the few hours that can be spent in its perusal, and
the stimulus derived from it will heighten the pleasure which every
religiously-minded heart takes in the contemplation of natural grandeur
and truth. In the main, it is intended for unscientific readers. It
requires hardly any preparatory knowledge to be understood; yet it
sometimes touches on a truth that even great thinkers overlook. Thus, _à
propos_ of the capacity for intact divisibility which some life-forms
possess, Sir John remarks that these considerations introduce “much
difficulty into our conception of the idea of an Individual.” “In fact,”
he says, “the realisation of the idea of an individual gradually becomes
more and more difficult, and the continuity of existence, even among
the highest animals, gradually forces itself upon us. I believe that
as we become more rational, as we realise more fully the conditions of
existence, this consideration is likely to have important moral results.”
The work is divided into the following chapters: “Animal Life,” “Plant
Life;” “Woods and Fields,” “Mountains,” “Water,” “Rivers and Lakes,” “The
Sea,” “The Starry Heavens.”
The second of the two books that head this review is by Carus Sterne.
Few men possess the wide technical knowledge and the same command of the
historical literature of his subject, that this investigator and writer
possesses. Carus Sterne unites with a rigorous scientific training the
rare qualities of philosophical insight and sound erudition. He possesses
the scientific facts on which to base valid judgments, and he deduces
from these facts the inferences that affect the most important problems
of life—its culture and morality. We have had occasion before, to refer
to these phases of Carus Sterne’s activity as an author.
In the present work the author of _Werden und Vergehen_ discusses the
relations which obtain between nature and art. Here is not the place to
give even a synopsis of the great wealth of material which this book of
395 pages contains; we are allowed simply to hint at its purport and
methods. Carus Sterne defines the artistic impulse in man to be a longing
of the mind to rise above the ordinary routine of physical existence.
It is a lifting ourselves out of our every-day life. This cannot be
accomplished by the simple reproduction of the things of nature; such
reproductions have not in themselves an elevating effect. Art is not
imitative, art is creative. It uses color, form, space, merely as a means
to give “local habitation” to an idea. The imitation of actually existing
things is the beginning of art; but it is its lowest stage. Nature must
be our guide, our norm, not our model. Here the middle road is taken
between the old and the new idea of art. That was ultra-idealistic,
this is ultra-realistic. The author then proceeds to discuss the notion
of beauty in art and nature (Part I) and finally takes up generally
(Part II) the subject of the artistic contemplation and reproduction of
the world. All these topics, with their many subdivisions, are treated
in Carus Sterne’s best and most fascinating style. The work is well
illustrated, and all interested in the natural history of art will find
in it a storehouse of valuable material.
μκρκ.
FOOTNOTES:
[58] Cf. Ward, _Encyclopædia Britannica_, Vol. XX, p. 44.
PERIODICALS.
ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR PSYCHOLOGIE UND PHYSIOLOGIE DER SINNESORGANE.
CONTENTS: Vol. IV. No. 3.
UEBER DIE SOGENANNTE CONSCIENCE MUSCULAIRE (DUCHENNE). By _A.
Pick_.
EINE NEUE THEORIE DER LICHTEMPFINDUNGEN. By _Christine
Ladd-Franklin_.
LITTERATURBERICHT. (Hamburg and Leipsic: Leopold Voss.)
Mrs. Christine Ladd Franklin (a contributor to this number of _The
Monist_) is one of those few women who have actually won a well deserved
reputation as a thinker and scientific worker. She is an American by
birth and the wife of an American savant. It is pleasant to find her
name in a German periodical among whose editorial writers are men so
prominent as Ebbinghaus, König, Exner, Helmholtz, Hering, Kries, Lipps,
G. E. Müller, Pelman, Preyer, and Stumpf. Mrs. Ladd criticises Helmholtz
and Hering, and thinks that the theories of Donders (in Gräfe’s “Archiv,”
1884) and Göller (in Du Bois-Reymond’s “Archiv,” 1888) have not received
sufficient attention. In accord with their propositions, she sets forth
an exceedingly simple hypothesis which attempts an explanation of the
three main colors by atomic motions in the three different dimensions of
space.
PHILOSOPHISCHE MONATSHEFTE.
CONTENTS: Vol. XXVIII. Nos. 9 and 10.
UEBER DIE GRUNDFORMEN DER VORSTELLUNGSVERBINDUNG.
Psychologische Studie. (Concluded.) By _M. Offner_.
DER BEGRIFF DER VERSCHMELZUNG UND DAMIT ZUSAMMENHÄNGENDES IN
STUMPF’S “TONPSYCHOLOGIE,” BAND II. By _Th. Lipps_.
WERKE ZUR PHILOSOPHIE DER GESCHICHTE UND DES SOCIALEN LEBENS
(Third Article: _J. S. Mackenzie_, An Introduction to Social
Philosophy; _J. H. Ferguson_, The Philosophy of Civilisation;
_W. A. Macdonald_, Humanitism). By _F. Tönnies_.
CONTENTS: Vol. XXIX. No. 1 and 2.
DIE MODERNE ENERGETIK IN IHRER BEDEUTUNG FÜR DIE
ERKENNTNISSKRITIK. By _K. Lasswitz_.
DIE SITTLICHE FRAGE EINE SOCIALE FRAGE (I). By _F. Staudinger_.
RELIGIONSPHILOSOPHISCHE THESEN. By _E. von Hartmann_.
LITTERATURBERICHT. (Berlin: Dr. R. Salinger.)
ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR PHILOSOPHIE UND PHILOSOPHISCHE KRITIK. Vol. 101. No. 1.
CONTENTS:
PSYCHOLOGISCHE APHORISMEN. By _Otto Liebmann_.
UNTERHALB UND OBERHALB VON GUT UND BÖSE. By _Eduard von
Hartmann_.
JAHRESBERICHT ÜBER ERSCHEINUNGEN DER ANGLO-AMERIKANISCHEN
LITTERATUR AUS DER ZEIT VON 1890-1891. By _Friedrich Jodl_.
ZUR BEGRÜSSUNG DES ZWEITEN HUNDERTS DER BÄNDE DIESER
ZEITSCHRIFT. By _Prof. Dr. Rud. Seydel_.
RECENSIONEN. (Leipsic: C. E. M. Pfeffer.)
THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY. October, 1892. Vol. V. No. 1.
CONTENTS:
DISTURBANCE OF THE ATTENTION DURING SIMPLE MENTAL PROCESSES. By
_Edgar James Swift_.
PSEUDO-CHROMESTHESIA, OR THE ASSOCIATION OF COLORS WITH WORDS,
LETTERS, AND SOUNDS. By _William O. Krohn_, Ph. D.
REPORT ON AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST OF MUSICAL EXPRESSIVENESS. (Part
II.) By _Benjamin Ives Gilman_.
The present investigation made by Mr. Edgar James Swift shows that
a disturbance of the attention through sight is more effective in
lengthening the reaction time than when the disturbance comes through the
sense of hearing; but whenever the reaction follows a slight sensation,
the time of choice is less affected by disturbances of the attention
than if the excitation is a sound. Dr. William O. Krohn concludes, after
carefully studying several hundred cases of pseudo-chromesthesia, that a
greater per cent. of them arise from some sort of cerebral work due to
the close relation of the cortical centres. Mr. Gilman concludes from
experiments made with various persons, that musical expressiveness has
been overestimated, and that on the emotional theory of its nature the
importance of the art has also been overestimated. (Worcester: J. H.
Orpha.)
MIND. New Series. No. 4. October, 1892.
CONTENTS:
THE FIELD OF ÆSTHETICS PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED, II. By
_Henry Rutgers Marshall_.
LOTZE’S ANTITHESIS BETWEEN THOUGHT AND THINGS, II. By _A.
Eastwood_.
THE STUDY OF CRIME. By _Rev. W. D. Morrison_.
ON THE PROPERTIES OF A ONE-DIMENSIONAL MANIFOLD. By _Benj. Ives
Gilman_.
In his present article Mr. H. R. Marshall finds a basis for the
differentiation of Æsthetics from Hedonics, in “pleasure permanency
in revival” as belonging particularly to the former. Mr. Eastwood
criticises Lotze’s antithesis between thoughts and things which is
closely connected with his erroneous opinion that time is a property of
things in themselves. The study of crime by Mr. W. D. Morrison discusses
crime under the three heads of the movement of crime, its causes, and
its repression, of which the last deals with the theory, the methods,
and the efficacy of punishment. In his discussion of the properties of a
one-dimensional manifold, examples of which are time, the straight line,
quantity, intensity, number, and pitch, Mr. B. I. Gilman, who was a pupil
of Mr. C. S. Peirce, seeks to give a formulation of one-dimensionality in
which the general notion of relation and converse relation is substituted
for that of greater and less difference. This number of _Mind_ contains a
voluminous note on the blind deaf-mute child, Helen Keller, by Prof G. C.
Robertson, the late editor, whose death is announced in the same number.
(London: Williams & Norgate.)
Ω.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS. October, 1892. Vol. III. No. 1.
CONTENTS:
THE NATIONAL TRAITS OF THE GERMANS AS SEEN IN THEIR RELIGION.
By _Prof. Otto Pfleiderer_, D. D., University of Berlin.
PHILANTHROPY AND MORALITY. By _Father Huntington_.
INTERNATIONAL QUARRELS AND THEIR SETTLEMENT. By _Leonard H.
West_, LL. D., London University.
1792.—YEAR 1. By _David G. Ritchie_, Jesus College. Oxford.
UTILITARIANISM. By _A. L. Hodder_.
BOOK REVIEWS.
(Philadelphia: _International Journal of Ethics_, 118 S.
Twelfth Street.)
THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW.
CONTENTS: Vol. I. No. 5.
PSYCHOGENESIS. By _President David J. Hill_.
THE PROBLEM OF EPISTEMOLOGY. By _Professor Andrew Seth_.
THE ORIGIN OF PLEASURE AND PAIN, (II.) By _Dr. Herbert Nichols_.
DISCUSSIONS: REALITY AND “IDEALISM.” By _F. C. S. Schiller_.
REVIEWS OF BOOKS.
SUMMARIES OF ARTICLES.
CONTENTS: Vol. I. No. 6.
GREEN’S THEORY OF THE MORAL MOTIVE. By _Prof. John Dewey_.
THOUGHT BEFORE LANGUAGE. By _Prof. William James_.
PLEASURE-PAIN, AND SENSATION. By _Henry Rutgers Marshall_.
REVIEWS OF BOOKS.
SUMMARIES OF ARTICLES.
(Boston. New York, Chicago: Ginn & Company.)
THE NEW WORLD. December, 1892. Vol. I. No. 4.
CONTENTS:
THE BRAHMO SOMAJ. By _Protap Chunder Mozoomdar_.
THE FUTURE OF CHRISTIANITY. By _William M. Salter_.
PROGRESSIVE ORTHODOXY. By _Egbert C. Smyth_.
MICHAEL SERVETUS. By _Joseph Henry Allen_.
THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. By _G.
Santayana_.
THE CHURCH IN GERMANY AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. By _John Graham
Brooks_.
A WORLD OUTSIDE OF SCIENCE. By _Thomas Wentworth Higginson_.
THE BIRTH AND INFANCY OF JESUS. By _Albert Réville_.
THE MONISTIC THEORY OF THE SOUL. By _James T. Bixby_.
The last article is a criticism to the point, discriminating and fair.
The author takes special notice of Dr. Carus’s position, whose views are
recapitulated with accuracy, but not accepted as convincing. (Boston:
Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.)
REVUE PHILOSOPHIQUE.
CONTENTS: September, 1892. No. 201.
LA PERSONNALITÉ DANS LES RÊVES. By _J.-.M. Guardia_.
HISTOIRE ET PHILOSOPHIE RELIGIEUSES. By _M. Vernes_.
SUR LA TERMINOLOGIE PHILOSOPHIQUE. By _Durand (de Gros)_.
COMPTES RENDUS ET NOTICES BIBLIOGRAPHIQUES.
CONTENTS: October, 1892. No. 202.
DU TROUBLE DES FACULTÉS MUSICALES DANS L’APHASIE. By _Dr.
Brazier_.
LE DÉVELOPPEMENT DE LA VOLONTÉ. (Concluded.) By _A. Fouillée_.
LE MOUVEMENT PÉDAGOGIQUE. By _E. Blum_.
ANALYSES ET COMPTES RENDUS.
REVUES DES PÉRIODIQUES ÉTRANGERS.
CONTENTS: November, 1892. No. 203.
LA PSYCHOLOGIE DE W. JAMES. By _L. Marillier_.
DE L’UNITÉ DE LA SCIENCE: LES GRANDES SYNTHÈSES DU SAVOIR. By
_E. de Roberty_.
SUR LES DIVERSES FORMES DU CARACTÈRE. By _Th. Ribot_.
VARIÉTÉS.
ANALYSES ET COMPTES RENDUS.
REVUE DES PÉRIODIQUES ÉTRANGERS. (Paris: Félix Alcan.)
PHILOSOPHISCHES JAHRBUCH. Vol. V. No. 4.
CONTENTS:
DIE NEUESTE PHASE DES SCHOPENHAUERIANISMUS. (Concluded.)
_Bäumker._
DIE SPECULATIVEN GRUNDLAGEN DER OPTISCHEN WELLENTHEORIE.
(Concluded.) _S. J. Linsmeier._
RELIGION UND ENTWICKELUNGSTHEORIE. (Concluded.) _Schanz._
DER SUBSTANZBEGRIFF BEI CARTESIUS IM ZUSAMMENHANG MIT DER
SCHOLASTISCHEN UND NEUEREN PHILOSOPHIE. (Continued.) _S. J.
(C.) Ludewig._
RECENSIONEN UND REFERATE. (Fulda: Fuldaer Actien-Druckerei.)
VOL. III. APRIL, 1893. NO. 3.
THE MONIST.
RELIGION AND MODERN SCIENCE.
I.
The ancient conflict between religion and science is now, at the close
of the nineteenth century, more animated than ever before. This conflict
has formed the intellectual pivot of civilisation ever since Christianity
first afforded the western peoples of Europe the inconsistent spectacle
of a religion which made abundant use in its dogmatic constructions
of the theories of contemporary science, and yet assumed a hostile
attitude towards the fundamental principle of all science, the spirit
of research and unbiassed judgment generally. Rightly has one of the
acutest modern critics of Christianity, Ludwig Feuerbach,[59] maintained,
that the Christian sophistic philosophy is the necessary outcome of this
inconsistency, which proclaims as absolute truth a definite, historical
revelation, such as is found in the Bible, and simply assigns to the
reason the subordinate and improper office of harmonising and defending
what is there laid down.