The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-17
New Books


and thinker, he has few contemporaries
Gus equals in his own field.
His book is a collection of essays,
fourteen in number, some of which are
republished from the magazines The
first essay is taken for the title of the
book. The other chapters are: THE
Doctrines of Evolution, Edward l..
Youmans," THE Part Played by Infan-
cy in the Evolution of Man, THE ORR
gins of Liberal Thought in America, "
Sir Harry Vane," THE Arbitration
Treaty" Francis Parkman," Edward
A Freeman" Cambridge as Village
and City" "A Harvest of Irish Folk
Lore" Guessing at Half and Multiply
ing by Two" Forty Years of Bacon
SHAKESPEARE Folly" Some Cranks and
Their Crochets.''
/ 1t would be an impertinence to re-
view this book in a general way. Its
qualities are to be found only by close
and honest study, such as in a hasty
reading are impossible, yet obviously
the book is one of substantial literary
value.
1t is interesting to note some c. his
conclusions For instance, Mr.. FIske,
in closing the essay on science says:
Now, what does all this drift of sci
entific opinion during more than two
centuries mean? 1t can, of course,
have bat one meaning. 1t means that
| the world is in a process of develop
ment aud that gradually as advancing
knowledge has enabled us to take a
sufficiently wide view of the world, we
have come to see that it is so. The old
statical conception of a world created
all at once, in it's present shape, was the
result of very narrow experience; it was
entertained when we knew only an
extremely small segment of the world.
Now that our experience has widened,
| it is outgrOwn and set aside forever; it
| is replaced by the dynamical conception
OF world in perpetual process of eVo-
luton from one state into another state.
| This dynamical conception has come to
! stay with us. Our theories as to what
the process of evolution is may be more
or less wrong, and are confessedly ten
| tative, as scientific theories should be.
But the dynamical conception, which is
not the work Of any one man, be he
| Darwin or Spencer or anyone else, but
the result of the accumulative expert
ence of the last two centuries; this is
| permanent acquisition. We can no
more revert to the statical conception
| than We can turn back the sun in his
/ course. Whatever else the philosophy
/ of future generations may be, it must
| be some kind of philosophy of evo-
| luton.
Such is the scientific conquest
! achieved by the nineteenth century, a
marvellous story without any parallel in
the history of human achievement. 1t
! is largely due to the use of correct
methods of research. The waste of in
! tellectual effort has been less than in
| former ages. The substitution of La
| voisier's balance for Stahls a priori
reasoning is one among countless in
stances of this. Sound scientific meth
cd is a slow acquisition of the human
mind, and for the more rapid introduce
ton, in Priestley's time and since, we
have largely to thank the example set
! by those giants of a former age, Gal
! ileo and Kepler, Descartes and New
! ton.
1.-THE lessons that might be derived
from our story are many. But one
+ that we may especially emphasize is
/ the dignity of man, whose persistent
seeking for truth is rewarded by such
fruits. We may be sure that the crea-
ture whose intelligence measures the
pulsations of molecules and unravels
the secret of the whirling nebula is no
creature of a day. but the child of the
universe, the heir of all the ages, in
whose making and perfecting is to be
found the contamination of God Great
i've work"
OF interest to men of all religious be-
liefs is the essay on evolution.
/
constant refuge and support and
nature his true revelation: and
when all its religious implica-
| tons shall have been set forth, it
will be seen to be the most potent ally
| that Christianity has ever had in ell
| evating mankind
One of the most entertaining essays
| in the book is that on 1.-THE Part Played
| by Infancy in the Evolution of Man.
| a aft mr.
inally. 1t is less polished but more di-
rect and simple than most of the others
! He discusses the interesting facts of
| infancy Natural selection goes on in
| creasing the intelligence, and secondly,
when the intelligence goes far enough,
lit makes a longer infancy, a creature
! born less developed, and therefore there
! comes this plastic period, during which
he is more teachable."
i Village Life in China" by Arthur H.
Smith, D. D., author of Chinese
Characteristics, with illustrations.
| Published by Fleming H. Revell Co.,
| New York, Chicago and Toronto.
If the open door in China is to become
a fact. the knowledge to be gained
from reading this book is what all men
| of public affairs should acquire. The
book is written by man of experience
He says that he has come to feel a
| profound respect for the numerous ad-
mirable qualities of the Chinese, and to
entertain for them high personal es-
TEEN. China he says, was never
| so much in the worlds thought as to-
day, nor is there any apparent like
| lihood that the position of this empire
will be less conspicuous at the opening
of the twentieth century Whatever
helps to a better understanding of the
| Chinese people is an aid to a compre-
hension of the Chinese problem. To
| that emo this volume is intended as an
humble contribution. The illustrations
are reproduced from very interesting
| photographs from life.
We quote few paragraphs: Taking
into account the conditions of their ear
ly life, it is by no means improbable
that more than half the whole number
of Chinese infants die before they are
two years old. This result is greatly
promoted by many of those supersti-
tions which sometimes have more than
the force of law. Thus, in some re-
gions there is an absolute interdict on
seeing either mother or child until forty
days shall have elapsed from the birth.
During this critical period, myriads of
young lives disappear without the
knowledge of near neighbors.
THE fact that Chinese girls are mar
rleQ so young, ana tnat they nave not
been taught those lessons of self-con-
troll which it is so important for them to
learn. suffices to demonstrate the alb
solute necessity for the existence of the
Chinese mother-in-law as an element in
the family. A Chinese married woman
must address her mother-in-law as
mother but for precision she is all
lowed to refer to her as mother-in-law
mother
"a Pretty Tory by JEANNE Gould Lin
oolp HoItDhtnn RTiff1i,, q ~ 1opon