mental development of the individual is, I repeat, a purely natural factor for the psychologist to reckon with; or, at least, it is so in the first instance, however it may afterwards seem, on evolutionist principles, to carry its justification with it. Yet it has by psychologists generally been quite ignored.

The same century that has seen the development of the historical sense 'has first begun to comprehend the relation of perfect solidarity subsisting between the individual and society, and for a very good reason. It is, in fact, but one conception differently applied-when the varied life or history of a nation is viewed as growing out of its past, and when the mental life-history of individuals is seen to be determined by the social conditions and traditions into the midst of which they are born. Nor is the doctrine of general organic evolution itself, the latest outcome of thought in the century, aught but a more extended and intenser reading of the same conception. So far as concerns the social relation in particular, it may truly be said that to no one thinker or school of thinkers belongs the exclusive credit of having grasped its import for psychological theory. The notion of man as never separable (except by abstraction) from the social organism has emerged at the most different planes of thought, and been suggested by various lines of scientific inquiry. Yet it were almost an injustice not to recognise the peculiar impressiveness with which it was proclaimed by Comte, considering where he stands between those who went before him and those who have come after. If he had much to learn in the matter of psychological analysis from the 'ideologists' whom his soul abhorred, the lesson contained in his protest against their individualism has in turn been too little or too slowly regarded. It is remarkable how much of the celebrated English work of the present century in philosophy or psychology has continued to be done from the individualistic point of view. Mill's theory of knowledge, for example, greatly as it is in advance of Hume's as a serious constructive effort, is yet only such a doctrine (whether of everyday experience or of organised science) as Hume himself might have set forth a hundred years ago, had he been really minded, as he at first professed, to

work towards a positive theory, instead of spending his strength in pricking the bubbles blown by dogmatic metaphysicians. Professor Bain's psychological researches have been almost wholly analytic, in the manner of Hartley's: of extreme importance as such-witness, in regard to the very question of the sources of knowledge, his discovery (for it was hardly less) of the element of muscular activity in objective perception- yet merely adding to the list of formal factors involved in a complete psychological construction.* Mr. Spencer, it is true, has always looked beyond the individual for an explanation of the facts of mental life, intellectual or other, but he has concentrated his energy as a psychologist on the elucidation of the principle of heredity. It is only in more recent psychological works, like Mr. Lewes's, or as yet in less systematic essays and general literature, that the social influence of man on man is forcing its way to recognition as a condition second to none in the actual process of mental development.

Al

A few words may be added, before closing, on one question that suggests itself. How does the recognition of social influence in the development of the individual's knowledge affect the position now commonly called Experientialism? It is here conceded, as a matter of fact, that no one's knowledge is explicable from his individual experience. though, of course, there is a sense in which all that a man knows must have been experienced by himself, it is nevermore true that it depends upon the individual as such, either actively or passively, what his knowledge shall be. Doubly, as we have seen, is he beholden to his fellows. He comes into the world what he is, even on the most strictly personal side, through his ancestors having been what they were and done and borne what they did in their time. And no sooner is he in the world but he enters

upon the heritage of social traditions in the speech and ways of his kind. Not his to wrestle by himself with a confused and perplexing experience, if haply he may attain to some rude construction of a world not too unlike that of other struggling human atoms. His task at the first is but to accommodate his experience to well-approved working rules supplied from without, which more than anticipate his wants; nor is it other to the last, unless he be one of the few in each generation who, having assimilated existing knowledge, are moved to enlarge the intellectual horizon-to pluck up the stakes where they found them and plant them farther out for others slowly to work up to. The experientialist doctrine thus appears wholly at fault if it means (as it has often been taken by supporters and opponents alike to mean) that all intellection was first sensation in the individual, or even (in a more refined form) that general knowledge is elaborated afresh by each of us from our own experience. Neither position can be maintained in psychology. And yet it is notorious that exactly those who now urge the presence of such à priori and ab exteriori factors in the individual's knowledge as are here contended for, and are not the least forward to make light of incidental experience, set most

store by the teaching of the older experientialists, and would affiliate their doctrine upon the work, such as it was, of Locke and Hume. For this there is a deeper reason than is commonly assigned. It is common to say that inherited aptitudes are, after all, only a slower result of experience, developed in the race instead of the individual; and the like may be said still more evidently of the social tradition deposited in the growing languages of mankind. The real bond, however, between experientialists at the present day and those of an earlier time is that both declare experience to be the test or criterion of general knowledge, let its origin for the individual be what it may. Experientialism is, in short, a philosophical or logical theory, not a psychological one. The fact that the pioneers of scientific psychology in the last century were experientialists in their philosophy is not without significance, but the two spheres of inquiry should not therefore be confounded. One may be Lockian in the spirit of one's general thinking, without allowing that Locke or his immediate successors read aright the facts of mental develop ment. It is as a philosophical theory that Experientialism goes on steadily gaining ground.-The Nineteenth Century.

LIKE Mr. Howells, whose portrait appeared in the March number of the magazine, Mr. Higginson belongs to the younger generation of American authors, and also like him has exercised a more or less decided influence upon the national literary taste. As an essayist, in which capacity he has made the greater part of his reputation, he is noted for the precision, finish, and easy elegance of his style, and for that cultured amenity of sentiment and manner which Matthew Arnold has characterized as "sweetness and light." The material for the following brief sketch of his life is taken chiefly from the new edition of "Appleton's American Cyclopaedia."

THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON, SON of Stephen Higginson, a Boston mer

chant and philanthropist, and lineal descendant of the famous Francis Higginson, was born at Cambridge, Mass., on the 22d of December, 1823. He graduated at Harvard College in 1841 and at the Theological School of Cambridge in 1847, and then became pastor of the

First Religious Society" at Newburyport. In 1850 he was the Freesoil candidate for Congress, but was defeated. His anti-slavery principles being distasteful to a portion of his congregation, he resigned his pastorate in 1850, and two years later became minister of a Free Church" at Worcester. He took an active part in the anti-slavery agitation of this period, and in 1853 headed an attack on the Boston court-house for the purpose of rescuing Anthony Burns, a

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fugitive slave then in custody of the United States marshal. In this affair he was wounded in the face by a sabre-cut; and one of the marshal's men having been killed, Higginson was indicted for murder, but the prosecution failed from a flaw in the indictment. In 1856 he went to Kansas, where he took part in the military struggle of the free-State settlers against the pro-slavery invaders from Missouri, being a brigadier-general on the staff of "Jim" Lane.

Previously to this, in 1853, he had published his first book, a compilation, in conjunction with Samuel Longfellow, of poetry for the seaside, entitled "Thalatta." In 1858 he retired from the ministry in order to devote himself exclusively to literature, and became a leading contributor to the Atlantic Monthly, in the pages of which the contents of most of his books first appeared. Soon after the outbreak of the civil war he recruited several companies of volunteers for a Massachusetts regiment, and was

commissioned as captain. In 1862 he was appointed colonel of the first regiment of South Carolina volunteers, the first black regiment mustered into the Federal service. He served with them for two years, chiefly in South Carolina and Florida, making various expeditions into the interior, in one of which he captured Jacksonville, Fla. He was wounded in August, 1863, and in 1864 had to retire from the service in consequence. He then took up his residence at Newport, Rhode Island, and has since been occupied with literary pursuits and public lecturing. The list of his works published subsequently to the one already mentioned comprises "Outdoor Papers (1863); "Harvard Memorial Biographies" (1866); "Malbone, an Oldport Romance" (1869); "Army Life in a Black Regiment (1870); "Atlantic Essays" (1871); and "Oldport Days" (1873). Besides these, he published in 1865 a new translation of Epictetus.

THE PAPACY AND THE CIVIL POWER. By R. W. Thompson. New York: Harper & Bros.

Mr. Thompson in this treatise adopts the same stand-point as Mr. Gladstone in his recent pamphlets-namely, that of the statesman rather than of the theologian. He makes no pretense of discussing dogmas or religious doctrine, but confines himself almost exclusively to the endeavor to prove that a man can not be at the same time a good Catholic and a good citizen of a state which has incorporated or is incorporating into its constitution and laws the principles of modern civilization, and that in particular he cannot be a good Catholic in the papist sense and a loyal citizen of the United States. His method of proof lies in an elaborate and detailed comparison of the doctrines of the Syllabus, of recent encyclicals, and of the Vatican Council, with those embodied in our national and State constitutions and laws, and which have been for two centuries the very breath of our national life. The antagonism thus developed is certainly of the most radical kind, and could hardly be stated too strongly; and lest any one should imagine that the antagonism is merely "logical" or "theoretical," Mr. Thompson proceeds to demonstrate by copious citations from their most popular and au

thoritative periodicals and books that the extremest papal doctrines are being taught in their most uncompromising form and with singular energy and ability by substantially the whole Roman Catholic press and hierarchy of the United States. The teaching, moreover, is by no means of a theoretical or transcendental character, but is directed to pre-eminently practical ends and purposesthese purposes being the establishment of the absolute supremacy of the Pope in every department in which he may declare himself supreme, and the discrediting of every ider or sentiment which American Protestants have been taught to venerate. Throughout all this portion of his argument, which is the essential feature of his book, Mr. Thompson does not rely upon assertion or content himself with giving "the substance" of the doctrine discussed, but, in spite of the great expenditure of space which it involves, cites the actual words. He presents the Catholic pretensions as they are formulated by the church's best authenticated and most widely-accepted teachers, so that there can be no just ground for accusations of misunderstanding, unfairness, or misrepresentation.

After witnessing the pains taken in pointing out and defining the true proportions of the danger from papal pretensions, one natu

rally expects the author to indicate some practical remedy; for it is in the application of remedies to perplexing political situations that the people stand in greatest need of instruction. Here, however, Mr. Thompson contents himself with a page of "glittering generalities" which absolutely tend to befog the mind which by aid of the argument has probably been groping its way toward a conclusion. An astute Jesuit will smile to himself at the fervent exhortation to the people to "maintain at every hazard and in the face of all consequences their right to enact their own laws, to preserve their own constitutions, and to regulate their own affairs according to their own sovereign will, and without foreign dictation," knowing as he does that long before the Roman Catholics secure an actual majority of the voters, they can establish absolute sway over politicians who would spend their lives in assuring the people that the way to maintain all these things is to obey the benignant precepts of the priesthood.

The real remedy lies in education, and our own firm conviction is that this remedy can not be applied too soon or too thoroughly. The first step should be to make our schools absolutely secular, so as to afford no just ground of offense to any sect or faction; the next step should be to establish and rigidly enforce universal compulsory education; and the third step should be the introduction into the curriculum of every school of systematic though simple instruction concerning the fundamental principles that underlie our government and society. This, of course, would not be sufficient to eradicate the evil, but it is as far as a republican government can go, and it would do much to dissipate that dense mass of ignorance from which Roman Catholicism draws the great majority of its recruits.

Mr. Thompson deserves praise for the temper and tone of his exposition. He is neither a bigot in religion nor a fanatic in politics, and if his style is dry and sometimes tedious, he has undoubtedly presented material for earnest thought on the part of both the patriot and the scientific student of politics.

AN INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL ECONOMY. By Arthur Latham Perry, LL.D. New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co.

This compact and instructive little treatise is designed primarily for use as a text-book in high-schools and academies, and the author believes that "young persons of ordinary intelligence and training, who have reached the age of fourteen years, will find no difficulty in mastering every point in its pages." No concession, however, is made to what are supposed to be the peculiar needs of the

school-room; every principle is expounded with as much clearness and thoroughness and exactitude as in any of the larger treatises; and the foundations of the science are laid on such a basis that the students who have once mastered them as here presented will have nothing to unlearn, but will only need now and then to extend their knowledge in certain directions which are clearly pointed out. Professor Perry justly observes that it is of "no advantage, but quite the reverse, for any young person to gain a conception of a science that will have to be discarded afterwards for a better one, or to lay, in the interest of ease and quickness, temporary foundations that will have to be relaid before any solid and extended superstructure can be built upon them ;" and his book is elementary, not in the sense that inevitable difficulties are either ignored or obscured, but that the statement of principles is simplified and clarified as far as possible, and rendered intelligible by illustrations drawn from those recent facts and events in this country and in Europe with which a reader or student is necessarily most familiar. Mere controversial topics are to a great extent avoided-the debatable ground of the science is appropriately left for a later and more detailed survey; and the author confines himself to giving clear and exact ideas of the principles and processes which underlie "Value," "Production," "Commerce," "Money," "Credit," and "Taxation." These are treated with satisfactory fulness and completeness, and the single chapter on "Value" constructs a broad highway through the densest jungles of the science.

What we have already said will be sufficient, perhaps, to indicate that the book will prove useful to many others besides youths and students. Such " grown-up" readers as have neither time nor disposition for more voluminous works can obtain from it a fair and adequate conception of what political economy is in its essence; while those who are already familiar with its literature will find here a convenient summary of the knowledge which they have arduously gathered from many sources.

TALES FROM Two HEMISPHERES. By Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen. Boston: J. R. Osgooa & Co.

The difficulty of procuring really good short stories is one which is very familiar to editors of magazines, and presumably also to their readers, so that Mr. Boyesen will doubtless prove an especially welcome recruit to American letters. Since Bret Harte's earlier sketches, we have had nothing better than these "Tales from Two Hemispheres," and it is difficult to say in what respect two of them

at least, "The Man Who Lost His Name" and "A Scientific Vagabond," fail of being masterpieces. They are artistic in purpose, and finished in design; the characters are clearly individualized and easily awaken our sympathies; the accessories are appropriate and sufficient for local color, but not obtrusive; and the style is remarkably pure and graceful -the latter fact being especially noteworthy, as Mr. Boyesen is writing an alien and unfamiliar language. Three of the six stories which the volume contains have their scenes laid in Norway, and the action of the others occurs partly in Norway and partly in this country, most of the leading characters in all being Norwegians. In less skilful hands this mixture of heterogeneous elements would be apt to produce confusion; but Mr. Boyesen is equally at home in depicting the scenery and portraying the society of both countries, and he uses with admirable effect the contrast between the two nationalities.

One feature of Mr. Boyesen's work which perhaps hardly affords legitimate grounds of praise from a literary point of view, but which nevertheless predisposes us to kindness, is that he is an ardent admirer and generous critic of the American people, as well as of American institutions. He burns a subtle incense under our nostrils, and, in particular, is so enchanted with our ladies as to forget the time-honored foreign practice of objecting to their "independent ways."

THE TWO AMERICAS; An Account of Sport and Travel. With Notes on Men and Manners in North and South America. By Major Sir Rose Lambart Price. Illustrated. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.

The author of this book is evidently more at home with rod or gun than with the pen, and if he were asked his candid opinion, would probably say that the life of a sportsman is the loftiest and most enjoyable to which man can aspire. His travels embraced a voyage across the Atlantic in one of Her Majesty's naval vessels via the Madeiras and West Indies to Rio Janeiro, a long cruise down the eastern coast of South America and up the western to San Diego, and a number of excursions in California, Utah, and Nebraska; but the record is little more than a detailed account of how he "shot" game and "killed" fish in the various localities visited, the relative attractiveness of each place being to a great extent gauged by the opportunities which it afforded for this pastime. True, Sir Rose manages to convey in general terms his impression of society and cities, and he indulges now and then in brief political disquisitions; but his descriptive powers are, to say the least, not remarkably striking, and his

thoughts about politics are so infantine in their simplicity that they can hardly awaken other than a smile, while he himself evidently regards all these as mere asides from his serious work of telling us how and where he made his "bags."

In spite of its limitations, however, the book takes a certain interest from its author's character, which is unmistakably that of a frank, hearty, unaffected soldier. He would probably prove more agreeable as a personal acquaintance than as a writer, though one would doubtless feel toward him as Charles Lamb did to Crabbe Robinson :-" Decent respect shall be Crabbe Robinson's, but short of reverence."

THE HERITAGE OF LANGDALE. By Mrs. Alexander, Author of "The Wooing O't," etc. Leisure Hour Series. New York: Henry Holt & Co.

One thing at least is clearly proved by "The Heritage of Langdale," and that is that historical romance is not Mrs. Alexander's forte. The scene of the story is laid at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and great pains have evidently been taken to reproduce the manners, ideas, customs, and modes of speech of that period; but there is an utter failure to maintain the perspective, so to call it, and there is no genuinely antique flavor to the book, in spite of its studiously archaic forms of language. Regarded simply as a narrative, the story is not without merit, though somewhat sensational in character, and it exhibits Mrs. Alexander's skill in devising interesting situations and enlisting our sympathies in behalf of her imaginary persons; but, taken as a whole, it is so decidedly inferior to the standard established by her previously published works that it should suffice to warn

her against a repetition of the mistake. THE BEST READING. A Classified Record of Current Literature. Fourth Revised and Enlarged Edition. Edited by Frederic Beecher Perkins. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

The fact that this work has passed through fourteen editions since 1872, and has been four times enlarged, is sufficient evidence of its adaptation to a widespread want, and we can testify from personal experience that it is not less useful to the private purchaser of books than to libraries and booksellers. In its present edition the work has been greatly improved. The list of topics under which the books are classified has been simplified and enlarged; many titles of suitable books previously omitted, and of others subsequently published down to August, 1876, have been added in their proper places; and short lists have been included of French, German, Span