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Leader (1850-1860), 27th October 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 9, Oct. 27, 1860J The Saturday Analyst and ...

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      Scientific Philosophy.? Nrvhe First Inst...

      man Esq ., M : D . ; Professor Graham > F . R . S ., F . G . S .. p . C . L .,- < fcc . ;' T . L . Hunt , Esq , £ Jf .- Falconer , Esq ., M . D ., P . R . R , F . L . S ., F . G . S . ; Rev . Charles Kingslev , F . L . S ., F . S . A ., & c . ; Sir Charles Lyell , F R S ., F . L . S ., F . G . S ., & c ; II , G . Latliain , Esq .,-iVI . U , F . R , « . ; J . b . lioolvcr , Esq . ; M . D ., F . R . S ., F . L . S ., F . G . S . ; Professor Tyndall , F . R . S . ; Sir John Trelaiv-nev , Bart . . M . I * . ; Professor Busk , F . R . S ., F . G . S ., F . L . S . ; Henry T . Buckle , Esq . ; Professor F . W . Newman , M . A . : G . H . Lewe . s , Esq . ; H , Bence Jones , Esq ., M . D ., F . R . S . ; H . Dunning- Macleod , E .-q . ; Professor IWassou , M . A . ; H . G . Atkinson , Esq ., F . G . S . ; J . 1 > . Morcll , Esq . ; E . H . . Sieve-kins * , Esq ., MIX ; Col . Sir Proby T . Cautley . K . C . I * .. F . R . S . ; R . W . Mackay , Esq . Professor H . 1 > . Rogers . . F . R . S ., F . G . S .. F . R . S . E ., & c . ; l ) r . Travis ; Kov . W . G . Clark ;¦ George Lowe , Esq ., C . E ., F . R . S ., F . G . S ., & c ; Alexander Uaiii , Esq . ; G . Drysdale , Esq ., Professor Laycock , F . R . S . E . ; E . S . Pigott , Esq ., M . D . '; Sir James Clark , Bart . ; M . D ., F . R . S . : J . A . Forsude , Esq . ; Sir Henry Holland , Bart ., M . I ) ., F . R . S ., F . O . S ., & c-. ; . Sir John Herschel , Bart ., F . R . S ., F . R . A . S ., F . G . S ., * e .: M . Charles de Remusat , de lAeaddmie Franoaise , Aneien IViinistre , etc ., & c . ; M . Jules Simon .. Ancien Professeur do Philosophic an College de France . Aneien Conseiller d'Etat , & c .: M . Ejnile I )' . Forg-iies ; M . AmeVie Piehot , D . M ., Directeur de la Revue IMtanniqne . Indeed , all who have studied the progress of civilisation , all who are interested in the development of society , must be fully aware of the importance of such a work . In our article , " Inductive Psychology , " ( ride our impression of the 13 tli ) we remarked that the degree of intelligence , the degree of civilisation , depends on the number and kind of relations that are cognised . The relations between human beings , and the Influences and conditions operating upon them ; must 1 ) 6 perceived and Understood before that adaptation and fitness , that congruity and harmony between the two , can be established , in whicli well-being 1 consists . Xot merely physical wellbeing , but moral and intellectual . For example , take an illustration furnished by one of the eminent ' men whose names are ¦ mentioned above . Mr . Buckle ( " History of Civilisation signalises the j immense good produced in the present ag-e by the principles of jDolitical economy , thought out in his study hi the last century ,, by that " solitary Scotchman , " Adam Smith . ; Xow these -principles , ' are nothing more than certain fixed relations of tilings , like , gravitation , Or definite proportions .. It is as certain that , if production and distribution be allowed , to take place freely -without any artificial restrictions being interposed , human needs will be better satisfied tliaii Upon the contrary principle , as it is that bodies will fall towards the centre of the earth . But before these relations are perceived and enoiniced , before the appreciation of them has become a lulling ; principle of action , vc cannot regulate our conduct in conformity with . them . This also exemplifies Mr . Buckle ' s famous proposition , which has been the source of so much singular controversy .: —that human progress depends entirely upon the advancement of knowledge . Take a Caspar Hauser ., ignorant of the properties of pi ' ussic acid , unaware that water will drown , totally inexperienced touching tile relation between that sort of conduct which , we call crime , sin , ' immorality , and its consequences , acd see what a pattern of intellectual and moral excellence he would make , if turned loose into the world and left at large . " Wo do not for a moment mean to (| iicstion the originality or tho novelty of Mr . Buckle ' s proposition ( any more than that of Newton ' s gravitation , or T ) alton ' s definite proportions)—in the sense of having thought it out entirely for himself ; but wo must confess wo arc surprised that such a self-evident truth should not be xiniyersally rocognised . Or , rather , wo . should bo surprised , did we not know that tho natural and . common-sense viow of things is always sure to bo tho last taken , —as proved by the | whole history'of discovery , whether in tho material or the social world . From tho . moral truths of Socratos to the introduction of gas-lauips ami steam-engines , improvements ( which are liocessai'ily innovations ) have invariably been received with repugnaneo at first , if not entirely rqjeotocl . As , thoreforo , social development , in othor words , tho well-boing- of tho human raco , depends on tho discovery an . d recognition of tho relations botwecn man and tho iiviluenoos and conditions operating * upon him , tho valuo of such a work as Mr . Sponcor ' n must at onoo bo soon , for however defective it might provo iu detail , tho very form and Outliuo of it iiro immensely suggestive , and could not fail in calling attention to tho subjcot ami oausing 1 it to bo investigated . ( Wo may explain hero , in passing 1 , that tho " influonco and conditions" alluded to , inoludo : —oxtornal eironmstancos . comprising " food , olimnto , soil , and tho general nspopt of naturo" ; things to which theso originally may havo given vise , suoh afs institutions , la \ YH , manner « , customs , conventionalisms , edxication , public opinion , tho beliefs and desires oxistont for the timo Doing ; the general Htftto of the world - , tho modifiable , but , whilo existout , jjowurful peculiarities of race , tho particular mental , moral , and physioal constitution of parouts , & c . }—then wo havo what may bo oallod , for yaut of a bottor phrase , -internal circumstances , including tho special buliofn mid idoas , tho special tomporainont and oonstitution , nrcntal , phyaioal , and moral , oi ' tho individual himself . ) Tho following- qii : oumstanoos , indeed , may' servo to whow liow tho , § rvoat quontionri djscusspd in Mr . Spo » cev ' n worlc ore forcing 1 thomsolvos oven upon miiula entirely occupied by the in-neticnl detniln of bunsiuoK * . From u very enrly ng-o tho Wit or ui' tho pvuKcnt nvlL-le was ong'Jip'ocl in tho lubour of an ttvduoi . ihiproil'tfHiim , which oceupiod liis wholo tiyuo , and subserviently 'Uio tolls of a wui'Uiiip lHcrnry mini nud jouvnnlist have onffvossod his duv 3 , mid not unfVcMjucntly the groutev part of Iuh jiightw . Tb . o « o quosl'iin . )« , liowovcv , litwo formurt tho nubjecioi ' onrneHt thoxight w ] j . « Mt « vor nioiftiir ^ ho \ xv \ v \*> uiVg r k'd r » npovlunity for

      withdrawing attention from the practical details of business . He has ever deemed them immeasurably the most important with which the human intellect cait occupy itself . Some years ago he announced his views in an " analytical summary" of a system of jihilosophyj the outline of which he had conceived at a very early age ; and the leading 1 principles of which have formed the basis of his published writings , including politics and art-criticisms , for the past twelve years . The following extract from this analytical summary will show that the great questions whicli form the subject of moral , social , and mental science , liave engaged the attention of the writer * is personally unacquainted with : Mr . Spencer , and only knows him through that medium of communion which subsists between minds occupied with kindred subjects , and whose highest aspiration it is to . add to the stock of human knowledge , and make the world better than we found it . " Among the objects professed to be accomplished are : — " The enunciation of one universal law , of which all physical and psychical laws and phenomena , all the natural laws of organic and inorganic being , are but so many cases and instances ; an explanation of the origin of the idea or conception of morality ; the enunciation of the siipi'emc good—of the standard of moral . perfection—of the rule of conduct or-the moral rule—of a complete definition of morality ; an explanation of the origin , of mythology , or the doctrine that non-psychical ( i . e ., non-vital , zxoii-iiitell'gent , non-voluntary ) agencies possess , or _ eongisfc in , vitality , intelligence , and will j an explanation of the origin , of idolatry , or a system of worship addressed to non-psychical agencies- —toimaginary tinreal beings— -personified qualities , conceptions , principles , ideas ; a statement of the great psychical la ^ vai ; a statement of the ground principle of logic—the criterion of ' necessary truth' —the measure of the probable and the credible ; a statement of the causes of social evilsj a statement of the i' 3 niedy of social evils ; the enunciation , definition , explanation of the true social system , and the psychical agencies envolving it ; the enunciation of the great truth that merely to seek one ' s individual good is the cliaracterislic of mere brute-nature . To seek the supreme good is the essence of our moral nature ; : a demonstration that even now the workings of the great law in question are gradually but surely , ; ' necessarily , inevitably converging to the true social system ; the enunciation of the primary fundamental law . of the higher criticism in what is called the ' fine arts' ^ the enunciation Of the theory or co-ordination of the sciences and arts . " We must conclude the present paper , ' which , as we have said , we have thouglit best to restrict entirely to exposition . The first part of rVIr . Spencer ' s work now issued consists of eighty pages , and is devoted to a discussion of "The Unknowable . "

      Oct. 27, 1860j The Saturday Analyst And ...

      Oct . , 1860 J The Saturday Analyst and Leader . 897

      The Fables Of Babriits.* It Has Boon Sai...

      THE FABLES OF BABRIITS . * IT has boon said that Shakspere ' s plays were not ' written by Shaksperc ; ' it . is now said that ipsop's fables arc not the productions of ^ Esop . Both , indeed , by some writers , have been ascribed to the -monks ; and , as to the Fabulist , with some reason . It seems , however , that the basis , or stock material , of all that has come dowji to our day under the name and credit of ^ Esop , is to be sought in the fables of Babrius . These fables have been lately edited by Sir George Cornewall Lewis , whose collection has been used by Mr . Davies in the attemptbefore us to render them into English verse . BabriiLS according- to some authorities , was a Greek poet of . the a ^ e in which JJion and Mosohus nourished , if not of an earlier one , — some say as far back as u . e . 250 . But Sir G-. C . Lewis places him so late as . v . d . 235 j and thinks that the Alexander to whom his poems were dedicated was Alexander Severus . He supports mw hvpothcus by various considerations . Babrius , for instance , w cited by no . earlier writer than Dositheus Magistpr , a grammarian who lived about " 2 i ) 7 a . d ., and in whoso 'EpfiTfyevfxara are two fables of Babrius in choliainbic verse ; which , if Dosithous himself introduced them into his own work , will bring Babrius ; to a date not later than tfeptimius Sevorus , a ,. i > . 207 , or his son , Caracalla , to whom Aloxuiulcr Sovei'us , claimed sonship . Babvius himself ( whoso name , by-the-byc , was , thvough an error of the copyist , for a lonyr time chronicled as Gnbrhis ) , refers tho origin of tho " Fable toSyrm anti < iu ? i . This is a viow held by no other Greek writer . Now , Alexander Governs wns born in Phoenicia , . and this viow was evidently mount to flutter his . patron , Tho ver .-ics themselves are thus tnm .- 'la ' . ' . ' . l : — . Tho Fnblo , roval Aloxnnclcv ' s eon ! Is u dovico by Syrians oldbogun . Uolu 6 nnd jNinus rulfd wlion it was young . And clever JEsop io ( ho Hollonic tongue Gitvo fubloa iiret . Tlio liko Oybisae ppako ' To Lib vans . I , in mi no , old forms forsake , Aiul , with gold chcok-iiieco bitting / levy horso , C-nuiuoucl iny uiythiumbio to tho course . But wluii if iliirf , instead of a coinplimont to" nn impevinl )) iilron , l ) e vurilv the writer ' s own thoorv , and intended for tho ntntuini'iit oJ . liirit . w . l llu-t :- The ^ onoval thoory wo -mny ilitcl foncisoly . slated bv rol ' yrt'iK'O t >> Ksclu-nhui-ff . First , for ti citation us to -h « op . Itnvinu nu-nli . 'm'ilJwhHt I he ( i recks liud done in ilUliiotut poetry , mid Hint their vil ' oris lnul ulnuwt wholly connived of monil procopli * or scuteiU'i'M hv poets whu / rm that account , wore ciilh-d r / uomto Vo til * ' , im , lll ., ii iK . Vai- . v oHlint sort ¦ cunnWoil of pithy 'l ^ 'V' ^ rKici with l . i-ovity mul l ' owo , and w . is rouuevd ton » uo nwil / or m g piillvi - .-rtluwiko of nieniory . hucJi « ih wo iml il J 1 tl 10 -OoWm v - orrlcr . 11 -a Vvihii ^ onw'Muil tho oxliorl « ition oi I'hoc-ylules , ami - hi vurimH Vrn ^ vuK-ntM by Thoo « Tiis , Hwlon , mid Xeno ^ inno ^

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      Llliv ' fljU .. . ^ i ' , Ou . I . ( 1 , 1 'ltmioil iili'Ku . ) t

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 27, 1860, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27101860/page/9/