On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    o-£ 4 The Saturday Analyst and Leader. [...

  • 

    MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. Social Science in T...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    O-£ 4 The Saturday Analyst And Leader. [...

    o- £ 4 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Nov . 3 , 1860

    Miscellaneous Works. Social Science In T...

    MISCELLANEOUS WORKS . Social Science in Tuscany . By J . Montgomery Stuart . London : Chapman and Hall . I 860 . .... , IN " the popular view moral qtWBiiom arc a part of social science , and in our number of the 8 th September ( article ' Reform Social and 1 olitical ) " will be found an extract from the Edinburgh Hevieic , m which the wretchedly defective state of morals , considered as a science , is well exhibited ¦ ' the' subject of morals had not been put in anything approaching to a scientific form . As regards social ^ science , properly so called , wS cannot do better than cite in this place the estimate given of its present condition by one of the very few authorities who have proved btheir published works that they really oompit ehend the ^

    sigy nificance and import of the terms " social science . ' ; Wo quote from the article on " Mill on Liberty , " in Eraser ' s Magazine for May , 1859 . " The incapacity for dealing with the highest problems * says the writer of this essay ( Mr . Buckle ) , " has been curiously exemplified during the last two years , when a great number of the most active and eminent of our . public men , as well as several who are active without beinff eminent * hare formed an association for the promotion of social science . Among the papers published by that association , will be found many curious facts and many useful suggestions . But social science there is none . There is not even a perception of what . that scientific

    science is . Not one speaker or writer attempted a . investigation of society , ov ¦ showed that , in his opinion , such a thing ought to . be attempted . Where science begins , the association leaves off . All science is composed either of physical laws , or of mental laws ; and as the actions of men are determined by both , the only way of founding social science is to investigate each class of laws by itself , and then , after computing their separate results , co-ordinate the whole into a single study , by verifying them . This is the only process by which highly complicated phenomena can be disentangled ; but the association did not catch a glimpse of it . Indeed , they reversed the proper order , and proceeded from the concrete to the abstract , instead oi from the abstract to the concrete . The reason of this error may bo easily

    explained . The leading members of the association being mostly politicians , followed the habits of their profession j that is to say , they rioted the events immediately surrounding them , and , taking a . contemporary view , they observed the actual-effects' with a view of discovering the causes , and then remedying the evils . This was their plan , and it is natural to men whose occupations lead them to look at the surface ot affairs . But to any mind accustomed to rise to a certain height above that surface , and thoroughly imbued with the spirit of scientific method , it is obvious that this way of investigating social phenomena must be futile . Even in the limited field of political action , its results are at beat-mere-. empirical uniformities ; while in the immense range of social science it is altogether worthless . When inen are collected together in society , with their passions and their interests touching each other at every ' pointit is clear that nothing can happen without being produced will be

    , by a great variety of causes . Of these causes ^ some conflicting , and their action being neutralized they will often disappear in the product j or , at all events , will leave traces too '" . faint to _ bo discerned . If , then , a cause is counteracted , how . can you ascertain its existence by s tudying its effect ? When only one cause produces an effect , you may infer the cause from the effect . But if several causes conspire to produce one effect , this is impossible . The most persevering study of the effect , and the most intimate acquaintance with it , will in such ease never lead to a knowledge of the causes ; and the only plan is to proceed deductively from cause to effect , instead . of inductively from effect to cause . " The whole passage is very impprtant , but we have not space to quote further ; We entirely concur in the view there taken , and wo have referred to this , and to the c itation from the Edinburgh * as showing what the best authorities on the subject think of the present Btate of

    social science , throughout the world . When , therefore , we reflect that , as stated in the brochure before us , there has been a " Congress for the advancement of social science regularly held in Florence , for more than a hundred years , " we ore driven to the two fold conclusion that it must have been as little qualified as Pur own for the investigation of the subject , and that ours is likel y to be engaged for as long a time upon it to as little purpose , and with a Httle result . This brochure is specially interesting , however , as being reprinted from a high'olues fashionable daily newspaper—The Morning JPost—and thus showing how the subject is . attracting attention in quarters whero onoo it was altogether ignored , Urn Tedbiri Milk , " The Fioience of the Administration , of a Slate "; or , An Etsav on Pollticcd Economy * in Turkish . By Charles Volla , Turkish I ' rizomiia at Kiu ^ a Cpllego . London will IScUnburglt ; wullmna and Norgate . 1800 .

    The author takes for hia motto a line of Fontaine ' s , " On lo pout , je VeBsaie , un plus savant le ftvsse 5 " but his immediate Jobjoot , that of writing a treatise suitable for the instruction of the Turks , ho appears to have accomplished aa well as attempted , The lamentable state of things in the Bast , arising partly from the want of all method in gpverning , and partly from chb decay qf English influence ' there , whipb . is always friendly to commerce , appears to havo led the author to write this essay , upon the assumption that it is pesBibio , by the intrpduotion of Anglo-Oriental literature , to infuse our xnoro enlightened ideas of thinking and writing , and thus to promote English interests there . In order , apparently , not to be distasteful to the Orientals , and to vendor a subject proverbially dry as paluttvblo as possible , the treatise tooma with Turkish , Arabio , and Persian sayings and quotations , and their

    reverenced authorities , their oldest ; sayings , are arrayed against their prejudices and used to enforce every conclusion which is drawn , Thus , every now foot , whioh , brought ) before them in an European style ¦ would not be listened to , is presented to their minds , in , sueh a garb a ' e not to be tfreatod ob on enemy . Thus has the outline of a more elaborate work ; on political oaonomy * whioh , jve understand , the author proposes writing ( if oiroumstanoos bp favourable in the EaBt ) , been drawn , for whiolj the present work was a necessary preparation . To have ot onoo written nn elaborate work , would havo boon the surest moans tp defeat the end proposed . Tho writer , aftor a preliminary . chapter , allowing ; hevy man emerged from , barbarism , and how dinsion of labour early began to be adopted ( remarking , en passant , on . the immense advantages dwivod frpja it npw-arday ) , proceeds , in Chap . II ., to eliow Jtoyr oomm ^ oe spread , and its beneficial effects in stimulating eserMpn j

    and in Chap . 111 . $ to sJioio what wealth is , and that the source of wealth is labour ; that a nation can only be permanently enriched by labour ; and concludes by showing . that governments which wish to enrich themselves and their states , would be wise if they confined themselves to giving all the aid and encouragement possible to labour , instead of attempting to enrich themselves by warfare Chap . ' IV . shows the nature of capital ( defined as " that iveallk used to produce fresh wealth ") and the various ways of enjoying it , of which lie deems commerce and manufacture the most profitable . In Chap . V ., after showing how the use of coins arose , the writer defines money as "that merchandise which all nations have agreed to accept in exchange for their merchandise , " and he dwells on the consequences of considering money as a mere medium , not necessarily having any intrinsic value ,

    and discusses the effects of depreciating the currency . Ohap . VI . treats of the various means adopted to facilitate commerce , namely , — paper money , banks , & o . In Chap . VII . the writer aims at convincing the Turks of the necessity of taxation ( instead of the present system of present making ) , and after giving geiicral rules for testing the different methods of taxation , proceeds to weigh them by these . Here , then , seems to be a decided tendency to advocate direct taxation . Chap . V 11 I . shows how , in meeting the exigencies of war , a suc-lden rise of the taxes would not sufliee , nor could it be quickly enough collected , and here loans arc resorted to . In our opinion the less tho Turks are taught of the fatal and destructive system of loaning the better . The evils of this system are not alone ft * It in the' burden of n debt unjustly transmitted'to posterity , as the £ 800 , 000 , 000 with which tho present

    generation of . Englishmen are oppressed—there is tho additional mischief' of reckless and ruinous wars , which but for loans would be impossible . The American constitution contains a provision that war costs shall be paid by the generation incurring them ; and if this arrangement were general , we should not have so many of Sydney Smith's " absurd and iniquitous just and necessary ivctrs . " Chap . IX ., after showing that man ' s mastery over the animate creation is'owing to the power of miiid , the writer goes on to say that man , not content with . this , lias-now-a-days set .-about bringing inanimate things under his rule , " taking the winds and the waters into his service . " The writer next argues that inventions and discoveries are nothing new , only that those are more apparent arid-striking to us which , have taken place in our time . These inventions , discoveries , and improvements are but the . results to-be expected from the gradual and continual deve '

    opment of man ' s mind . To attribute these discoveries to . the devil ( aa the Turks do ) would be to attribute good to the devil , as . it cannot be denied that nations which havo adopted these inventions are rich and powerful , which is an evident absurdity . Lastly , the objection that these new inventions are the cause of distress to the poor , he refutes by showing that their evil effects arc partial and temporary , thengood , last-ing , and universal . The writer concludes by an . exhortation to friendly intercourse , urging the . m to go forward with tho oilier nations qf tho world . The work is small in bulk , but contains a good deal of matter , the Turkish character being a kind of that hand by which a good deal may be compressed in a low strokes of the pen . It is curious to reflect that there is actually a nuiio l in existence to which the truths of which this work consists should bo entire -novelties . The work is dedicated to Sir Henry Bawlinson , K . C . U ., by " special permission . " and as " a slight mark of admiration for that distinguished

    Orientalist . " Mr . llollingshead's " Odd Journeys" has gone into a second edition within a mpiith of its publication—wb inuy s-uy u third edition , ns tho different papers first appeared in All the Year Hound . This class oi literature has often been called u . lighV and light- it may bo for the reader , but it represents a deal-of heavy work on tho part , of I lie author . This book must contain tho condensed results of at least five thousand miles of hard travelling in all kinds of odd conveyances—nmny " sleepless nights and laborious clays " passed in strange' places — and \ > if not more " journeys , " where there wns risk tp life and limb . Light literaturo pf this kind is not sp easily manufactured . as many people suppose .

    A very interesting Bopk , upon tho subject of < he Bosiorueiuns , m thoPross , It is an examination , in addition , of the possibility ol the supernatural . Tho title of tho work , which is in two volume * , is " Curious Things of tho Qutsido " World . " It is the production ol Mr . Hargravo Jonnings , author of tho " Indian Bullions j er Jlusiuu pf tho Mysterious Buddhism , " Sec . Mr . Jamos Blaokwood ling tho following works in pvopnrntfon :--" Tho History of a Pilgrim , with somo Adoount ; of the Shrino lo which ho Journeyed ; " " Annie , a Romance of Indian Liio ; " " Tho Christmas Tree "foy 1861 , a Book of Instruction and Amusement for nil xouny l ? ooplo . "

    SERIALS . The North British Ravwv . No . GO . Nov ., 180 O . Edinburg h : T . and T . Olnrk . London : Hamilton , Adams , mid Co . DubUn « v > . RobarLson . —Wo see that Messrs . T . nnd T . Clark , of . hiliiiburnii , havo become the proprietors pf this voviow , and tho present lmininnshows a goodly array pf articles in its Ublo of contents . Tlio opimiiifl paper , ontitlod ?' Modern Thought j its Pi-ogress nnd Consummnnw . has appropriately at its hoad throe works bearing Iheimmool Miss Sara 8 . HonneUj wo say appropriately , us modern thought unquoHtionnbly owes a gopd douJ to the euggostivoness of Uio investigations pursued by that olusa pf thinkers of which eho » » distinguished member , and whioh numbers in l ( » l . ' ,, , spma pf tho mpsfc profound intolleots pf tho agt ? . no importanoo and mithprity of tho eohool to whioh Miss Jlciinon belongs , as well aa of hor oivn works , in Ilio ojiinitm of this roviow , wo may form spmo ostimato by tho faot , that ) whilo professing to rognni hor as ' t * junior pup ' iUnd disoinlo pf that eohop ] , it dovotcs it « . ' . "'

    artiole , pf noai- 50 pages , unrt the first in tl . io presonli munbor , cimhij >» ftoritioism of threo of her works , tuul in tlio issuo it . jpinu wilit » ou Qomos p / f seoond bosh Tho orliojo , howovor , is well wnih- 'ii , » lia "' , ' be oagorly road by all wliQ tftUp an intorest in thoso bp-ouUoU tli'y « iw pertoi ^ ly mpst abstrus . 0 , but pt tho same time trunsoonclimuy »»¦ portwnt tppios , which it disowsees . We trace in it tho etyio oi

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 3, 1860, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03111860/page/10/