The Press.
London, England, 1858-12-11 00:00:00

THE PRESS, DECEMBER 11, 1858.

of life and profound views of its philosophy, sure
to be hailed with gratitude by thousands as a
guide and companion in rambling through Greece
—whether over hill and dale under its own happy
sky, or through the splendidly illustrated pages of
this volume, in which its beauties are so faith-
fully reflected. For our own part we thankfully
acknowledge the pleasure which we have derived
from once more making in such good company
the tour of that classic land.
To the original work of Dr. Wordsworth has
been prefixed, in this, and, if we remember right,
in the next preceding edition, a highly instructive
dissertation on the development and character-
istics of Grecian art, from the pen of Mr. George
Scharf, the able illustrator of Dean Milman's
Horace and other classical publications. This
essay forms a most appropriate introduction to
the account given in the body of the work of the
art treasures still to be met with in every part of
ancient Hellas,notwithstanding the ravages of time,
the devastations committed by savage conquerors,
and the depredations of antiquarians and connois-
seurs. The history of art in Greece is divided by Mr.
Scharf into six periods, the first of which traces
its progress from the first rudiments of civilization
to the time of Pisistratus ; the second, from that
date to the Persian invasion, illustrates its gradual
emancipation from the original imperfection of
form and rigidity of outline, through a more
accurate perception of nature, and greater
freedom in imitating life and action ; the third,
from the battle of Marathon to the defeat of the
Persians, is marked by various important improve-
ments in the execution of figures, and, specially
noted among them, in that most difficult parti-
cular, the representation of human hair ; the
fourth, down to the death of Pericles, exhibits
the effects produced upon art by the powerful
impulse which the vindication of their liberties
had given to the national spirit of the Greeks,
and the efforts made to repair the injuries which
the monuments of former ages had received
from the ruthless hands of the invaders; the
fifth, to the accession of Alexander the Great,
displays art, now brought to its perfection by
Phidias and other master-spirits, in its culmina-
ting aspect, diffusing more and more widely its
humanizing influences ; whilst the last period,
from Alexander the Great to Constantine the
Great, presents the first indications of departure
from the pure standard of its golden age, and its
subsequent decline to that state of utter bar-
barism which, after a long interval, was suc-
ceeded by the rise of Christian art in the west of
Europe.
Of Dr. Wordsworth's itinerary through the
several provinces of Greece, with its copious clas-
sical reminiscences and highly interesting com-
ments, it would be wholly impossible within our
limits to present even the most meagre outline;
nor is it necessary to make the attempt, seeing
for how many years the work has been before
the public, and how firmly it has established its
position as a standard work of Ilellenic lore.
We shall, therefore, content ourselves with ten-
dering to the learned Canon, on behalf of the
public, the thanks to which he has afresh en-
titled himself by the pains he has bestowed on
the revision and partial rearrangement of one of
the earlier, and certainly not the least brilliant,
among the productions of his erudite pen.

A like tribute of gratitude is due to the nu-
merous artists, both designers and engravers, who
by their pictorial illustrations have not only
given a highly ornamental character to the vo-
lume, but have contributed most materially to
the elucidation of its contents; and we can fully
enter into the feeling of just pride with which
the publisher, looking at the joint result of all
the labours, literary, artistic, and typographical,
expended upon its production, rejoices at his
having been "enabled to erect a Pcecile and
" Lyceum in remembrance of Greece such as
Hadrian "—in his magnificent Grecian villa at
Tivoli—" would, with all the Imperial power of
" Rome, have attempted in vain."

There is one thought which, amidst so much
that is pleasing and elevating, painfully intrudes
upon the mind in turning over the pages of this
volume—the thought that the descendants of that
noble race whose long-departed glories it records
not only fail to follow in the footsteps of their
ancestors, but seem scarcely capable of appre-
ciating those monuments of their nation's former
greatness which are the admiration of the rest of
the world. This sad thought was, if we mistake

not, present to the mind, and at any rate it is
admirably conveyed by the pencil, of the limner
of the vignette inserted—we know not Ns hether
fbr the first time in the present edition—at the
head of the volume, representing in quiet but
expressive contrast " ancient and modern
Greeks."

Novum Organon Renovatum. By William
IVhewell, D.D., &c. Being the Second Part
of the Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences.
Third Edition, with Large Additions.
London : John W. Parker and Son.

THE somewhat ambitious-looking title under
which the Master of Trinity has issued the con-
cluding portion of his Philosophy is not, of course,
intended to apply to the whole of the field
which is comprehended by the great work of
Bacon himself. The first book of the "Novum
Organon " is one of those few monuments of
human genius which, while they completely
accomplish the object which they propose to
themselves, are still as far as possible from being
superseded by the writings of subsequent in-
quirers. In pointing out, as his primary purpose.
the true path to the Great Instauration of Science,
—the obstacles which encumbered it, the grounds
of encouragement on which its followers might
reckon, and the unbounded prospects of improve-
ment to which it must necessarily lead,—Bacon
explored so widely, investigated so deeply, and
wrote so brilliantly, that not only science in
particular, but every sort of human knowledge
and improvement, must always be indebted to
his labours for the preliminary clearance of its
prospects and the general facilities of its journey.
His philosophy is, in some respects, like a great
military road, which, after it has served its original
purpose of transporting an army, with its cannon
and baggage, is found a pioneer of civilization
and a medium of more social and peaceful traffic.
The subtle description of the false appearances
which lead men away from the pursuit of truth,
the demonstration of the immense advantages
that have accrued from but ever so slight an
adoption of the real method of knowledge, and
the splendid picture of the probable results of
its increased prosecution,—are all applicable, not
only to the cultivation of merely physical science,
but to all departments of human activity or spe-
culation. Thus, although the ancient philoso-
phers no longer occupy the throne from which
Bacon assisted to depose them,—though patient
and cautious investigation has taken the place of
verbal argument,—though Bacon's " grounds of
hope" have become matters of certainty, and
realms of which he never dreamed have been
opened to the tread of science,—yet the First
Book of the "Novum Organon" still keeps its
place in the circle of a liberal education ; its cau-
tions and stimulants are never obsolete ; and, by
"showing how fields were won" in one section
of our knowledge, will probably long contribute
to rouse the energies of its readers to gain further
victories in more varied regions of the intellec-
tual globe.
With the Second Book the case is widely dif-
ferent. Here, instead of being presented with
views which are capable of indefinite extension
to all subjects, we travel in a much narrower
track, and are introduced to a method of inves-
tigation which is thoroughly special and peculiar.
Though Bacon seems, from certain expressions
which occur, to have intended his instructions to
apply to other matters besides physical science,
it is evident that the latter was the thing he had
most at heart, and it is probable that any attempt
to give his system as wide a sphere of application
as has sometimes been claimed for it must have
led to extensive modifications of it in practice.
When he comes to apply it, the physical world
is the one which figures in his view to the exclu-
sion of every other. his just possible that some
of our readers may be unaware that, though
Bacon is commonly called the father of natural
philosophy, and the like, yet that natural philo-
sophers of the present day do not work with the
tools he left them ; nor, indeed, to speak gene-
rally, have any former ones done so. What the
special peculiarity of Bacon's method was—
strange as the assertion may sound—is a yet un-
solved problem, and one on which even the
learning and thought of his latest editors have
even now been unable to arrive at a tho-
roughly satisfactory conclusion. Whether
tins peculiarity consisted in absolute cer-

1217

tainty, as one thinks; in the systematic com-
prehensiveness of its experimental foundation, as
another thinks,—or in some third point which
does not a.; yet appear, is a matter which it is not
our present business to discuss ; suffice it to say
that whatever it is which distinguished Bacon's
method, philosophers have not, as a matter of fact,
put it into practice. The force and breadth of
his general directions have done more for philo-
sophy than the minute ingenuity of his details.

The cause of this may either be that the true
exercise of the inductive faculty is a matter of
nous, or genius, and that no rules can be given for
it ; or it may be that there had been so few suc-
cessful examples of inductive inquiry before
Bacon's time that he was, in some sort, in the
position of an Aristotle who should attempt to
lay down canons of poetry before the existence of
a Homer or a Sophocles. " Principles of evidence
"and theories of method," as Mr. Mill says, " are
"not to be constructed n priori." And this
seems to be pretty much the opinion of Dr.
Whewell, though he would also think that the
former of our two explanations had also a good
deal to do with the matter. But he points out that
we have now, which was not the case in Bacon's
day, a large body of well-ascertained truth to
look back upon; and by the instances given in
the course of his work he shows that we actually
know the process by which many of these truths
were discovered, and that a fresh attempt to find
some general formula for their discovery is likely
to meet with better success. And, while admit-
ting that an " art of discovery " cannot be ex-
pected to do anything in the way of tangible po-
sitive results, it is yet not altogether barren, since
a formal statement of its process, by showing the
stage at which any given science has arrived,
must be useful in pointing out the quarter from
which increment to its stores ought next to be
looked for.

The present edition of Dr. Whewell's work,
though it has undergone various alterations, does
not differ in its main features from the " Philo-
sophy of the Inductive Sciences, based upon
their History," in the two octavos with which we
have long been acquainted. These two volumes
have now become three, of smaller size, and with
a somewhat different arrangement. The first two
(published, we think, about a year ago) are called
" The History of Scientific Ideas," and trace the
gradual elucidation from age to age, and inquirer to
inquirer, of the fundamental notions—such as
those of space, time, cause, polarity, affinity, &c.—
which lie at the bases of the different sciences.
The two volumes in question correspond in
general to the first volume of the old edition,
but (besides a good deal of new matter) include
also a division which formerly belonged to the
second volume—viz., b. xii., " Review of Opinions
on the Nature of Knowledge and the Method
of Seeking It," and which, being evidently
more of a historical than of a philosophical cha-
racter, certainly required the transposition.
The volume now before us, corresponding
to the rest of Vol. 11., contains four books.
Book I. consists of " Aphorisms Concerning
Ideas," derived from the two previous volumes.
Book 11., "Of Knowledge," treats of the con-
struction of science and the logic of induction.
Book 111. describes the " Methods Employed in
the Formation of Science," such as methods of
observation, of acquiring clear scientific ideas ;
and various "methods of induction." And Book
IV. is devoted to the " Language of Science,"
including the subjects of nomenclature, termin-
ology, the application of old and the construction
of new terms in science.

What is it, it may now be asked, which entitles
Dr. Whewell to call his book a renovated " Novara
Organon" ? We have seen that the first book
of Bacon's treatise does not want any renewing ;
as far as the then existing state of science was
concerned it was rather destructive than con-
structive ' • and its value is rather general than
special. It is the second book of the Novuni
Organon" that the volume before us is intended
to modify, complete, and perhaps—though its
author does not say so—to supersede. Bacon's
" Great Instauration" was to have consisted of
six parts, of which the De Augnientis was the
first, the Novum Organon the second, the
Parasceve the third; the other three were not
carried out. The second book of the Nonfat
Organon, after proposing for its subject the
vestigation of Forms, and for their discovery
method of " exclusion," enumerates nine " help,

the in-
very the
" help
•
•