Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-06-02
BOOK TABLE.
NEW Law EVOLUTION AND
RELIGIOUS THOUGHT.
Current FeriodicaIs-A Coed Book
on "Ncrves Judge Tourgee's
Talks to Young Men.

have received from the LEDGER Office Plsiia-
delphia, three handsome photographic por-
traits, in colors, of the elEknown jozrnal-
list, George W. Cailds, whose relation to
newspaper publication in America Is second
TO that of no other.
From D. Appleton & Co., New York, the
publishers, we have received Professor
Joseph LIE Ocnte's work on Evolution
and its Relation to Religious Thought"
Professor lie Conte is of the faculty of che
University of California, and a reasoner of
clearness and strength. We have per,lsed
the volume with exceeding satisfaction.
His definitions of'evolution and his eluci-
dations of its processes are by far the
ciearest and most comprehensive Of any
writer upon the subject of recent
years. The literature of the subject is so
voluminous and the debate upon the cues
lions involved has been so diffusive that il
has had the effect of repelling many read
ers who would derive profit from It's study.
Profes lie Conte has aimed to simplify
the argument, to bring it within limits best
adapted to invite its study. His success in
this respect is specially gratifying. What
is meant by evolution is so concisely stated.
so clearly and simply and forcihly put, that
the intelligence but little cultivated can
grasp the subject. He next presents an
outline-but sharply defined-of the evil
dences OF the truth of the evolutionary
theory, drawn from all the several sources
of which man has knowledge or which
human research mas yet been able to dis
close. Lastly, he considers TIE relation of
the doctrine and these evidences to funaa-
mental religious beliefs He takes di-
,1sNo
belief in the popular mind that
that there is natural antagonism between
the revelations Of science and the doctrines
of evolution and religious thought and
moral conduct He holds this belief TO be
erroneous, and that the error lies in the
materialistic implication of evolution in
public the ught. He has no hesitancy in
declaring his firm belief in the soundness
of the evolutionary theory, and defends
the doctrine that all we call evil both in
the material and spiritual world is good so
long as we hold it in subsection as servants
to the spirit, and only becomes evil when
we succumb. All evil consists in the
dominance of the lower over the higher:
all good in the rational use of the lower
by the higher. True virtue consists not
in the extirpation of the lower, but in
its subsection to the higher" He
kelds that life is q higher form of force
than the physical or chemical. Life phe-
nemena are therefore super-physical. and
If we confined the term Nature to dead
Nature, they would be supernatural. So
the free, self-determined acts of spirit on
spirit, even of the spirit of man on the
spirit of man, much more of the spirit of
God on the spirit of man, may be accord
ing to law, and yet from the natural point
of view be supernatural"
He believes that there is a necessary and
indissoluble connection between truth
and usefulness, and whatever doctrine in
the long run tends to the betterment of
the race must have in it an ele-
ment of truth that makes it useful.
Our physical nature includes the SEN
suous, the intellectual and the rational
or moral as primary divisions, and CORE
spending TO them are the primary processes
necessary to rational philosophy, the IN
streaming of the external world. as i'm
pressions, called facts and phenomena:
their elaboration within by the intellect:
the outgoing of this knowledge by the will
into the world as right or wise conduct.
All these must be satisfied, but scientific
workers too often think only the first
two necessary, while too many theolo-
gians hold the second and third only to be
necessary. The truth is, all three are
necessary. Evolution as a law affects all
science and every department of nature,
and the whole realm of thought, and
modihes our views of God, of man and of
nature. The conflict between science and
religion came first in the form of theories
regarding the planetary system, next
concerning the law of gravitation.
then OF the form of the antiquity of the
earth and OF the cosmos, then of the an
tquity of man, and now, last of all, in the
form of evolution-the origin of things, OF
creation by law. The same law that con-
trolls the development of an egg has pre-
sided over the creation of the world. I'm
finite space and the universal law of crawl
tation; infinite time and the universal law
of evolution; these two are the graudest
ideas in the realm of thought The one is
universal sustenation, the other universal
creation by law. There is one law and one
energy psrvading all space and stretching
through all time. Our religious philosophy
has long ago accepted the one, but has not
yet had time 10 readiust itself completely
to the other. A few more years and
Christians will not only accept, but love
and cherish this also for the noble concep-
tons 1t gives of nature and of Cod
We estimate Professor lie Contes contri-
button to the progressive thought of the
day as OF the highest value, and as a potent
force in resistance 10 materialistic and pan
theistic tendencies.
From the Bancroft-Whitney COMPANY.
San Francisco, we have a 12mo full law
sheep-bound volume entitled, The Law of
Sales of Personal Property as Now Estab-
hshed in the United States and Great Brit
ain" by Nathan Newmark, of the San
Francisco Bar. 1t is fat book of nearly
700 pages, and its form is a very convenient
one, being small and with broad pages
clearly printed, and profusely illuminated
with heads and side heads and notes. So
far as we can Judge of the work by an ex-
animation of il without the test of COM
parison with other treatises and the author
tues and statutes cited, the volume appears
TO be all that is claimed for il, that is, g
concise, complete, and convenient p.esen-
tation ct the intricate and expanding law
relating to sales Of personal property. The
aim of the writer, says its author, lis to
exhibit, within small compass, in sug-
geslTe manner, the sum and substance of
the present law of thesubjeot as determined
by English and American Courts and de-
veloped in legal dictionaries, phrase
books, or commentaries, in treatises.
monographs, or essays dealing wholly
or partly with this subject or
with cognate topics, IN leading and recent
cases, end in other decisions INCORPORATED
as being of special interest or illustrative
force. The arrangement adopted deals,
first, with the formation, effect and per
tormanee of the contract, and with its
features as established at common law and
under the statute of frauds; then with di-
rect and collateral stipulations connected
with the contract, and with the grounds
which render the contract liable to defeat
and avoidance; and finally, with the
remedies of the parties for breach of the
contract Special consideration has been
given to the particular topics, sometimes
made the subject of extended Investigation,
of transactions resembling sales, executory
sales in all their phases, transfer of title.
bona fde purchasers, mistake, failure of
consideration, warranty, and the sellers
special remedies against the goods.
Black lee is a new book by Judge
Albion ". Iourgee, author OF "A
Fools Errand," Figs and Thistles,
Bricks Without Straw" etc. A new
book by Judge Tourgee is always
acceptable. The distinguished author has
Lost none of his vigor or freshness. His
peculiar faculty ofbringing to the surface
characters and facts not often illustrated
upon the page of fiction is notably prom
inent in this work. The new stoZy-set
readers take notice whose sensibilities have
been ruffied by Judge Tourgees former
books. all of which have had to do with
the sac side nj life in rho South in *