WATTS’S LITERARY GUIDE B E IN G A M O N T H L Y R E C O R D O F L IB E R A L A N D A D V A N C E D PU B L IC A T IO N S .
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No. 82.]
SEPTEMBER 15, 1892.
[ P r ic e O n e P e n n y .
N E W PU B L IC A T IO N S .
T h e forthcoming issue of “ The Agnostic Annual” (6d., by post 7>2d.) will be published on Thursday, October 6th. Mr. Leslie Stephen, whom Professor Bain has designated “ the best type of the modem Agnostic,” will contribute the opening paper, the subject he has selected being “ The Moral Sanction.” The paper is of considerable length, and is deeply interesting and suggestive. Among the other writers will be Professor Momerie, who assails with all his wonted energy and enthusiasm “ Dogmatism in Theology Dr. Bithell, who discourses pleasantly and lucidly on “ Scientific Religion Mr. Samuel Laing, who compares Christian and heathen “ Sermons on the MountMiss Constance E. Plumptre, who offers a delightful homily on “ The Duty of Honesty in our ConvictionsMr. Amos Waters, who expounds in his inimitable style what he conceives to be “ Reverent Agnosticism Mr. Charles Watts, who preaches with characteristic fervour on “ The Blight of Superstition j” Mr. Edward Clodd, who, in scientific but scathing language, formulates and weighs the relative teachings of “ Anthropology and OrthodoxyMr. F. J. Gould, who treats historically “ The Disappearance of the Nether World and Mr. Frederick Millar, who impartially examines “ The Origin and Growth of Religious Ideas.” The Poet’s Corner will be represented by Gerald Massey, W. Stewart Ross, and G. H. Martin.
M e s s r s . W a t t s & Co. will publish immediately a cheap and popular edition of Dr. Bithell’s “ Handbook of Scientific Agnosticism ” (is.). It is hoped that those who are imbued with the propagandist spirit will co-operate in ensuring a wide circulation for this really admirable treatise.
U n d e r the title of “ Paine the Pioneer ” (2d.), the Progressive Publishing Co. have issued Colonel Ingersoll’s recent remarkable paper in the North American Review.
M r. M o n c u r e D. C o n w a y has in preparation an edition o f the writings of Thomas Paine, which will include some essays not found in any previous collection. The work will be in two volumes, the first of which will he published by G. P- Putnam’s Sons in the coming spring.
T h e second issue of “ The Liberty Annual ” is being p r e p a r e d for press, and has already enlisted in its behalf an a r ra y of talent that will delight Individualists and awaken dismay in the various sections of the Socialist party.
MR- G. W. F o o t e , always to the fore in “ blasphemy ” competitions, has written and published a series of “ Comic S e rm o n s , and Other Fantasias ” (8d.); and he jubilantly a n n o u n c e s that he is “ prepared for all sorts of orthodox o u t c r ie s , such as ‘ wicked Infidel,’ ‘ devilish scoffer,’ and
OUR L I B R A R Y SH E LVES.
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If you wish to study the history of mankind with the largest horizon and the best classified information on all subjects appertaining to anthropology, the one work which you can least afford to neglect is Dr. E. B. Tylor’s
“ PRIMITIVE CULTURE,”
Researches into the Development of Mythology, Philosophy, Religion, Language, Art, and Custom (Murray; second edition, 1873; vol. i-> 502 PP- j vol. ii., 470 pp .; 24s.). To our generation it is the most reliable and the most philosophic Book of Genesis. Instead of the restricted area of Hebrew scripture, it embraces the whole world, and dis plays man, from the snows of the Arctic to the blazing sands and pathless forests of the equator, slowly struggling on the upward road from savagery to civilisation. There is a vast mass of ethnographic detail, yet there is no confusion and no overlapping. Every fact tells ; for Dr. Tylor selects his material, not because it is picturesque or novel, but because it is the best fitted to illustrate the evolution of human speech, thought, or custom. Sometimes his facts plough straight through orthodox beliefs and venerable doctrines. It is no matter. Dr. Tylor does not stay to bandy words with prejudice, but calmly pursues his investigation.
Perhaps, with a work of this wide scope, an orderly summary of the contents will be of more assistance to the reader than an attempt to give a cursory general review. We will take the chapters seriatim:—
I. The method and extent of the science of culture ( = civilisation) are defined, and the author insists upon the importance o f treating facts historically and connectedly, and with a resolution not to regard any phenomenon of savage life as unworthy of study. II. All the evidence points to an original low condition of the race, and to a gradual development of culture, intellectual and industrial. III. and IV. The life of the past is still represented by numerous survivals, in modern times, of curious habitudes, turns of speech, superstitions, and quaint bits of folk-lore; and thus the ghosts of dead centuries still revisit this worka-day world. V. and VI. Some of the rude beginnings of speech are sketched in the primary articulate expressions of emotion and the imitation of sounds. “ The language by which a nation with highly-developed art and knowledge and sentiment must express its thoughts,” on scientific and philosophical subjects, “ is no apt machine devised for such special work, but an old barbaric engine added to and altered, patched and tinkered into some sort of capability.” V II. “ The childish and savage practice of counting on fingers and toes lies at the foundation of our arithmetical science,” and furnishes Dr. Tylor with facts for an interesting, one might almost say amusing, chapter. VIII., IX., and X. When Charles Lamb, oddly jesting, wrote, “ My bed-fellows are Cough and Cramp; we sleep three in a bed,” he was inventing a myth with a dash of the quill. How the world of yore made its myths and believed them is told here with abundant examples. XI. to XVII. Seven chapters on “ Animism” form the leading feature of the work. Animism is first the doctrine of Souls, and expands into a wider doctrine
