New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-02-21
NEW BOOKS AND NEIV EDITIONS

"Tne Interpretation Of Nature" by Professor N o.
ehslcr QIoughton. Mifiin Co.., is the outcome oil
series OF lectures delivered 10 the students OF An
dover Theological Seminary last year IL contains
Professor Shaler's suggestions for bringing a'ou' h"
mony between religion and science. lie thinks his
own experience the counterpart of that OF most olnci
naturalists. At first science led him away iro"
Christianity He imagined that mechanical soiu-
ton could be obtained for all the iacts In halue
Dut as he studied deeply he began 10 feel 'he
need OF supposing kind OF control operating III the
world which Is not purely dynamic" and when natu
ralisis reach that point he holds that II Is tlme lor
them "to examine the ground they occupy, WIN
view 10 finding what It's relation 10 that held by tile
older schools OF intcrpreation-thosc which we can
the theoogc." From this point OF view he Is an
advocate Of evolution. but with restrictions For
example, he cannot see how the motive oil CURIOSITY
can be accounted for by means of the Darwian hypo
thesis OF Natural selection. on the scientific size
his criticism is keen and clear But on the phiosoph
ical or theological side il may be doubted whether ne
Is not somewhat vague. For example. when he says
Il am my self coEvinoed that In the next century
there will be a state of science IN which the unknown
Will be conceived peoplcd with powers whose eA
,stence Is justly and necessarily Inferred from the
knowledge which has been obtained from their mani
fcstaionss theologians might certainly object mat
such a form OF statement left room for something
very like polytheism. The book is neatly printed
and is delightful reading.
one OF the most notable features OF any Doon WI
the s,udy of language at the present day IS the man
ner of It's beginning. In the old days there wouii
have been perhaps vague speculation, III when lie
brew or-if the author an extraordinary CRANK
Celtic or some TNiranian dialect, or language I'M
known TO civilization even the coinage oil the
writer's own brain would have figured as the ors1hai
speech and hapha7ard collections OF wor1s "ouiu
have been heaped up with great SHOW oil ie''ri'us
as proof of that which Is Incapable OF proof Now
the conception OF families of languages whose history
converges to a vanishing point in the past has become
SO familiar that any explanation of 1t seems unneces
sary The history of particular language begins
I'm the tracing of its anteCedens far as these nave
been determined SO Mr. A. G. Champnevs History
OF English (Nacmillan 81 CO.. begins not with Anglo
saxon but with Indo- European, languages 1here
Is even at the outset little psychological conjecture
based on the observation of children, as TO the be-
rinnnCs of speech; but the idea that any language
could have been innate Is thrown aside worthless
The relations OF the various branches OF lndo-European
speech to each other, and Of the subdivisions most
closely connected with English in reference TO II are
explained and thus the treatment Of the theme Is
gradually narrowed to the growth OF English Itself,
first as dialect and then independ' mt language
Mr. Cbampney's method is popular rather than tech
meal AMI his book is constructed with the practical
good sense of "a mar who. a teacher, stands between
the specialist and the pupil. or the general reader