Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, June 1899: Volume LVVarious
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, June 1899: Volume LV
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
The illustrations are badly distributed. Through pages of description
of the Japanese and Koreans, in which little is said about the
Koreans, are scattered illustrations of the inhabitants of Yeso--the
Ainu. The illustration of Japanese table furniture depicts only
utensils for smoking and wine-drinking, and some of these are
erroneously labeled, as are those of certain Chinese utensils.
We trust that the Asiatic portion of this valuable work will be
written over again, and in doing it the author will realize that he is
dealing with four or five hundred million people widely separated in
language, modes of writing, customs, and manners; that he will
consider the Ainu, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thibetan, and
Indo-Chinese with the same thoroughness that he has given to the
separate groups of the African continent; that he will draw his
information from modern sources and collections properly labeled and
up to date.
Even with the defects pointed out the work will prove of great value
to the American student, as it brings before him the richness of the
ethnological museums of Europe.
GENERAL NOTICES.
_The Development of English Thought_[X] is "an attempt to present a
theory of history through concrete illustrations." The book does not
deal with the facts of history--a knowledge of these is assumed--it
throws into relief certain salient features of each epoch which were
instrumental in forwarding the social consciousness. It may, indeed,
be called a philosophy of economics. It has a theory to propound:
Survival is determined and progress created by a struggle for the
goods for which men strive, or the means by which they may avert evil.
These goods change, together with the environment dependent on them.
Hence arise new activities; the race is modified, new modes of thought
come forward, and finally the characteristics of the civilization are
reconstructed. These changes are subject to a definite law of
evolution, repeated in each new environment. England has been chosen
for this economic interpretation of history; because of its insular
position, its development has been more normal and indigenous, less
subject to foreign influences since the Reformation, than any
continental country. An explanation of the psychological theory
underlying the book serves as general introduction. The antecedents of
English thought are found among the early Germans, and the Early
Church. The fifteenth century, with its inventions and discoveries,
revolutionized men's ways of living and thinking. Then the Calvinists
and Puritans imposed their standards of good and evil. These are
followed by the great English thinkers: Locke, who marks the beginning
of Deism in England; Mandeville, Hume, and Smith, developing the
economic side; Whitefield and Wesley leading the religious revival.
Later on, Malthus, Ricardo, and Mill formulated the Economic
Philosophy, whereas Darwin, the first of the biologists, imposed
biologic habits of thought on economic inquiry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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