WATTS'S LITERARY GUIDE. B E I N G A M O N T H L Y R E C O R D O F L I B E R A L A N D A D V A N C E D P U B L I C A T I O N S .

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No. S8.]

SE P TEM B ER 15, 1890.

[Price One Penny.

N E I V P U B L I C A T I O N S .

T he enterprising Open Court Publishing Company will immediately publish the first number of a new quarterly magazine. The title will be The Monist, and among the contributors will be Professor G. J. Romanes, Alfred Binet, Professor E. D. Cope, Professor Ernst Mach, and Dr. Paul Carus. The price o f the magazine will be 2s. 6d. Messrs. Watts & Co. are the English agents.

T he forthcoming issue o f “ The Agnostic Annual ” (6d.) will be a considerable enlargement on its predecessors. Mr. Laing’s opening paper, “ An Agnostic View of the Bible,” covers eighteen pages; and, in addition to the articles already announced, Mr. W. Stewart Ross contributes, besides a beautiful poem, a criticism o f Dr. Paul Carus’s objections to Agnosticism; Mr. Charles Watts writes on “ Practical R e l i g i o n M r . G. J. Holyoake on “ The Iron Hand Under the Velvet G love" (/>., the Christian confiscation o f Freethought bequests); Dr. Hardwicke on “ Androgynous Gods,” and Mr. B. Russell on “ The New Anglicanism.” Our readers will do well to bear in mind that last year the whole edition of the “ Annual” was exhausted before Christmas.

T he Truthseeker Company, o f New York, announces as ready “ The Freethinker’s Pictorial Text-Book ” (8s. 6d.), by Watson Heston, the clever cartoonist o f our American contemporary. The aim o f the work is to show the absurdity and untruthfulness o f the Church’s claim to be a Divine and beneficent institution ; and copious citations of facts, history, statistics, and opinions o f scholars are given to maintain the argument of the artist. The volume, which is handsomely got up, covers nearly 400 pages.

A complete edition o f the poems o f Matthew Arnold is to be published by Messrs. Macmillan in one volume.

T he forthcoming volume o f the Camelot Classics will be “ The Annals of Tacitus” (is.).

A se cond edition is announced o f Mr. F. Howard Collins’s “ Epitome of the Synthetic Philosophy ” (15s.).

“ Roses and Rue ” (3s.), the new work by Saladin (W. Stewart Ross), is ready. It will be reviewed in these columns in an early issue.

O U R L I B R A R Y S H E L V E S .

T hough Professor Huxley, as a man o f science, enjoys an exceptionally brilliant reputation, we think scarcely sufficient justice has been accorded to him as a man o f letters. No doubt he is a biologist first, and a writer afterwards. The theologians who scan his pages with fear and trembling, and the Freethinkers who dogleave his books for striking quotations in debate, are so eagerly concerned with the scientific aspect of his writings that they probably take little notice o f literary merit. But for specimens of strong, masculine, transparent English one may search long before finding anything superior to

Mr. W. G. Collingwood will shortly issue, through Messrs. Methuen & Co., a brochure on “ The Life and Work o f Ruskin.”

“ T he Life o f Schopenhauer” (is.) will form the title of the October issue o f the Great Writers series.

T he Rev. John Page Hopps, the popular Unitarian minister o f Leicester, is projecting a new monthly magazine, to be entitled The Coming Day. The purpose of the editor will be to preach the religion o f humanity as against that o f creeds. The first number will be dated January 1st, 1891, and will contain a letter to Mr. Gladstone on “ Revelation and Inspiration,” and his reply ; an article on “ An Agnostic’s Marriage Difficulty,” besides other notable features. The price o f the magazine will be threepence.

Mr. G. J. Holyoake’s recent papers in the Freethinker’ s Magazine, entitled “ What would Follow on the Efifacement o f Christianity ?” (6d.), have been republished in pamphlet form by Mr. H. L. Green, of Buffalo, New York. The booklet will shortly be on sale in this country.

T he tenth edition o f “ Lux Mundi ” contains an appendix on “ The Christian Doctrine of Sin.” The preface can be had separately (is.).

A popular edition of the Fabian essays on “ Socialism” ( is . ) is announced. The work is having an enormous cir culation.

A n e w work on “ Evolution ” is being issued by Messrs. Kegan Paul & Co. It is said to contain an entirely original theory of the origin of species.

“ LAY SERMONS,

Addresses, and Reviews ” (Macmillan; fourth edition, 1872 ; 344 pp., 7s. 6d.). It is possible, indeed, that where a subject required the subtler kinds of sympathy and imagination, the Professor’s pen would lack its wonted magic. But then he does not stray into such regions. Keen observation of the facts of natural science and a deep appreciation o f the intellectual and social benefit to be derived from such knowledge— these are the mainsprings of his literary energy, and in powerful and lucid exposition o f such facts and convictions he stands unsurpassed. A fine illustration o f his best manner is to be found in the lecture on “ The Physical Basis o f Life.” It amply demonstrates that, while adopting Materialistic terms as best expressive o f processes o f growth and development, he by no means pretends to find in “ matter” and “ necessity” a key to all the mysteries o f being. “ After all,” he asks, “ what do we know o f this terrible ‘ matter,’ except as a name for the unknown and hypothetical cause of our own consciousness ?” But, lest the supernaturalist should grow jubilant over this frank admission, he immediately adds : “ And what do we know