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    Untitled Article

    Dr . Macvicar , whose Enquiry into Human Nature was briefly noticed , ' in a recent article on English Philosophy , in these columns , has written a very temperate and courteous remonstrance to us , on our " misrepresentation" of his views . We must confess to being as unaccustomed to such a remonstrance , as to the courteous tone in which it is conveyed . We have received very many intemperate letters from indignant authors whom it has been our infirmity not sufficiently to admire ; but this is the first time , if memory serve us , we have had to bear the charge of misrepresentation . With whatever faults of judgment' or of taste , we may have been chargeable , we think our readers will bear us out in claiming , at least , sincerity in the execution of a delicate , difficult , and thankless office . Adequately to represent the opinions of a book in the few paragraphs of a review , is scarcely possible ; but misrepresentation , either from carelessness or malevolence , is inexcusable . We print Dr . Macvicar ' s letter ,

    therefore , as a matter of justice . " Sik , —I ain sorry that it was not till to-day that I have observed a notice in the Leader _ of a work lately published by me , for had I been fortunate enough to have seen it a week ago , and to have addressed you on the subject at a time when your remarks upon it may have possessed some interest to yourself , I am persuaded that I should not have urged upon you in vain to do my views somewhat more justice , at least in your statement to your readers , of what they are . It is true that I advocate a philosophy with which you appear to have no sympathies j but from a reviewer who is capable of writing the paragraph beginning with the word ' consider / and setting forth what is regarded by him as 'the capital distinction between inorganic and organic matter , ' I feel that I nave a right to expect justice in the statement of my views , if my work is noticed at all .

    " Now , you represent me to your readers as rioting among entities , as believing in will as a distinct entity superadded to mind , and also in inertia as an entity I am quite at a loss to understand how such hasty statements respecting my views could be allowed to escape you . Far from rioting among entities , as you charge me , it will be difficult to show that I advocate the existence of more than one kind of finite entity altogether , or two at the most ( see p . 32 et seq . ) . My views are equally simple with your own . They are , in fact , exactly the converse . You regard the phenomena of thought , and feeling , and conscious liberty , as products of a certain complex structure of material atoms . I regard inertia , chemical affinity , and the phenomena of matter generally , as products of a certain complex structure in elements , atoms , or monads , to which , when existing free and uncombined ,

    thought , and feeling , and liberty , are more kindred ; and which , when they possess a certain quantity of being , do actually possess these faculties . You insinuate that I am too ignorant of physiology to venture on what I have undertaken . I should be happy to know what you refer to . In Chapter VI . I have ventured some remarks on the Organization , its structure and functions ; but I cannot help thinking that they are entitled to a different notice from the editor of the Leader than a mere insinuation of ignorance in the author . You also affirm that the reader slightly versed in such speculations , will recognise all my ideas as ' old

    familiar faces / I am persuaded , however , that the analysis of the emotional system with the law laid down in page 120 , and the whole of the synthetic part of the work , which begins at Chapter IX ., are of such a nature , that it was only in haste that you characterized them as old and familiar , however much you may , on perusal , be still disposed to regard them as erroneous . To a total repudiation of them on your part I should cheerfully consent , if they were but stated fairly . And I cannot help thinking that a statement , by one of your talents and knowledge of the history of thought , of the philosophy laid down in the beginning of Chapter IX ., would not bo without interest to your philosophical readers .

    " That I bad not much worth saying by way of argument in favour of liberty , I will freely grant ( for I have admitted it to be necessarily undeinonstrnble ) , and I could only have wished that , if you were disposed to allow so much space in bo talented a periodical as the Leader to an extract from iny volume , you bad chosen some fresher part , —such as those I have referred to in those remarks . But perhaps I am expecting too much in supposing that you will refer to the subject again . I cannot , see , howevei" , why the doctrino of toleration Bhould not be extended to

    philosophical as well as to religious differences . " If Dr . Macvicaii were a reader of this journal he would scarcely have reminded us of the necessity for toleration . To go no farther than the articles in which bis work was mentioned , he may see Mr . Moreli .., in spite of the widest differences , both of spirit and detail , receiving emphatic and unstinted commendation from us . If , therefore , it is not " philosophic intolerance" which has made us unjust to Dr . Macvicar , what is it ? or have we really been unjust ?

    On receiving his letter we were pained to think that very possibly we had done him the injustice of which he complains . For we remembered that the notice of his work was written long after the reading of it , and that , subsequent to the reading , we hud been greatly and incessantly occupied in very different directions , so that , while a general impression of his work remained , many of the details had necessarily been forgotten . Our notice was of that general kind . On recurring to bis work , after receipt of the letter , we do find that the analysis of the emotional system , to which he refers , is new , and , therefore , our sentence should have been modified from ' * the reader slightly versed in such speculations , will recognise them all as old familiar faces , " into " will recognise most of them . " Although not an acceptable analysis we willingly rectify our statement , and declare it original ; but Dr . Maovicar , it seems to us , strangely deceives himself , in claiming , as original , the " grand law , " laid down at p . 120 .

    " Tlmtovury Buing in tho univcr . Ho which is truly individualised , wliilo in virtue of itn conHtitution it lnnintuins H , b own upeciiic form and clmructcra , » lmll carry out thi . s action to the lhnitu of tho tinhoro within which it can manifest itnolf ; and

    therefore , first , in maintaining itself as an individual , shall tend to liken aU otn to itself , more or less , according as they are originally more or less kindred ^ analogous ; and secondly , shall of course tend itself also to be likened to them « der the same law , by their influence upon it . This grand law can be here o l announced . But let the reader study it for himself , he will find that all phJf and philosophy is but a continued illustration of it , almost all the ascertained hm of nature but particular cases of it . In this place we have to consider it only fc its bearing on the moral , economy and sensibility of man . j ^ nd what is thl 8 ? Plainlyi when vieWed as operating' upon a man from without , it is to the effec t that all beings and things which manifest themselves to him , shall , at all eve nts '

    impress him with their likeness ; and possibly not merely impress their likeness bn him , but move his feelings also in harmony with their own , more or less , according as they are more or less congenial , or he more or less capable of a responsive move ^ ment . But to be thus impressed , what is it ? In the lowest degrees of the affection , i .

    That Like tends to Like philosophy has asserted from the time of Anaxagoras and Democritus , ( with their homceomerits , ) downwards ; but Like also tends to Unlike , as acids to bases , man to woman , nervous to lymphatic temperaments , &c . ; and an attempt to ground the emotions of alarm , anger , or love , upon such a " law , " would be as fruitless as to explain chemical combinations , on the principles of Democritus . The law is neither new nor true . Further , we are said to have charged Dr . Macvicar with believing in Inertia and Will as entities . He denies the charge , and we are bound to accept his own statement of his own opinions ; nevertheless , we cannot reconcile it with his printed declarations , pp . 35 , 139-40 , 41 , where both are as emphatically treated like entities as in any modern metaphysical work we could name . If we have misunderstood him , all that can be said

    is , that on such evidence we should do so again . Finally , as to our having " insinuated ignorance . " This is a misapprehension of our words . "He endeavours to rescue Psychology , " we wrote , " from its threatened absorption into Physiology ; but , before he could hope to succeed in the attempt , he must learn more of Physiology than he has at present mastered . " What is the -insinuation there ? Before so delicate a problem can be even partially solved , a profound and comprehensive mastery of cerebral physiology is indispensable , just as a profound knowledge of Chemistry is necessary to the Biologist who would rescue Physiology from its threatened absorption into chemistry ; but it is no " insinuation of ignorance , " to assert that Dr . Macvicar has to learn more than he has at present learned , ( judging from this work , ) before he can hope to solve that problem .

    We have devoted unusual space to this subject , but no reader can object to an injustice being rectified , and it is clear , from our admissions , that we were unjust to Dr . Macvicar , although not to the extent he supposed .

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    French literature seems more and more relying on republications , but , as these are issued in a cheap form , and generally unite widely scattered material into compact volumes , we in England have no cause to complain . Prosper Merimee , for example , one of the few writers at once solid and sparkling , has republished his admirable Etudes sur VHistoire Romaine , on the Social War and the Conspiracy of Catiline , and a volume of Dramatic Episodes , Les Deux H&itages , in which will be found an animated reproduction of his historical work Demetrius the Impostor , in a dramatic form . Madame Emile Girardin has also collected her Nouvelles , among them La Canne de M . de Balzac , which made so much noise in its day ; and Paul , Feval ., the follower of Eugene Sue , without his Socialism , has given us , via Brussels , a new novel , La Fortft Noire .

    Of a very different order is the Notions Ge ' n&ales de Chirnie , which the two celebrated chemists , Pelouze and Fremy , have compiled , for popular reading . It is an elementary work , addressed to all the world , and is noticeable as one among the many modern indications , of a democratisation of Science , which would make churches tremble , if churches were farsighted . Popular works of Science have been too often left in the hands of superficial and incompetent writers , not to make the appe arance of authoritative writers in this field a cause of congratulation . We have only glanced at the work of Fremy and Pelouze , but have seen enough to recommend it as an excellent introduction to the study of chemistry .

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    BROWNE'S HISTORY OF LATIN LITERATTRE . A History of Roman Classical Idtorature . By 11 . W . Browno , M . A ., Professor of ClasHicnl Literature in . King's College . Bontloy . Professor Browne has given a lucid , compendious , and useful , but not a critical , not a p hilosophical History of Jloman Literature . As a c ° " pilationit is carefully executod , and without ostentation ; but tho criticisms are too vague and general to bo of much service to the student , and too chro

    traditional to afford any interest to tho scholar . Those who desiro a - nological survey of lioman Litoraturo , in one volume , will find this vrorlc worth putting ou their shelves , the moro so because our literature W lamentably deficient in works of the kind . But the reador desirousi or gaining somo insight into tho historical questions raised by such a sumo «» tho infliionco of national life- and character on the forms « nd spirit ol tU (> literature , the consideration of lifccrutnro as " tho expression of society j or into the justhotlcal questions clustering round each of tho romarkmj ° names , tho reader , wo any , desirous of insight in these directions will D

    disappointed with Professor Browne ' s work . " In ovory work regard tho -vmtor ' u end . " If the end of this " History of Eoman Literature" bo simply to furnish

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    Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforcethem . —Edinburgh Zevtew .

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    73 $ THE LEADER- [ SaturdAYj ¦

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 30, 1853, page 738, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1997/page/18/