THE LITERARY GUIDE:

A M O N T H L Y R E C O R D A N D R E V I E W O F I N T E L L E C T U A L P R O G R E S S

No. 1 1 7.]

SE P TEM B ER i , 1895.

[P rice One P enny.

N E W P U B L I C A T IO N S .

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T he principal feature in the new issue of “ The Agnostic Annual” (6d.), which will be published at the end of the present month, will be a lengthy rejoinder to Mr. Balfour’s “ The Foundations of Belief,” from the pen of Mr. Samuel Laing. The rejoinder will cover thirteen pages, and, by those who have been privileged to read it, it is regarded as a most masterful criticism of a decidedly clever though much over-rated book. Among the other contributors to the “ Annual ” will be Mr. J. Allanson Picton (late M.P. for Leicester), Miss Constance Plumptre, Dr. R. Bithell, Mr. Charles Watts, Mr. Amos Waters, Mr. W. Stewart Ross (Saladin), Mr. W. A. Leonard, Mr. F. J. Gould, and Mr. Furneaux Jordan. A full list of the contents will be published in our next issue.

M r . F. J. Gould’s forthcoming “ Tales from the Bible, told to my Daughter” (is.), and Mr. Charles Watts’s brochure in criticism of “ The Claims of Christianity ” (6d.) _both publications to be issued under the auspices of the Rationalist Press Committee— will be ready about the end o f the present month.

M r. F isher U nwin announces for publication a volume o f “ Essays and Notices, Philosophical and Physiological,” by Mr. Thomas Whittaker, the author of a remarkable paper on “ The Philosophy o f History,” issued a year or two ago by Messrs. Watts & Co. He was also a contributor to the last number of “ The Agnostic Annual.”

T he same publisher will issue in October the new edition, entirely re-written, of Mr. G. J. Holyoake’s “ Public Speaking and Debate : A Manual for Advocates and Agitators.”

T he next volume of the Contemporary Science series will be entitled “ Growths o f the Brain : A Study of the Nervous System in Relation to Education,” and the author will be Mr. H. H. Donaldson.

M essrs. W. Stewart & Co. will issue this month a new work from the pen of Mr. H. Croft Hiller, entitled “ Ideal Justice.” The author applies to religion, ethics, and sociology the method of the scientific empiricist, and professes to establish, as the inevitable logical outcome of physical, physiological, psychological, and biological verifications, the doctrines o f a First Cause behind phenomena, predeterminism, human automatism, and Socialism. The work may be considered a practical application and development of the theories advanced in Mr. Hiller’s earlier volumes, <

Mr. G. W. Foote is writing another of his racy propagandist pamphlets, his theme on this occasion being “ The Bible and Local V e to ” (2d.)

Mr. J. M. Wheeler has prepared for the press a new edition of his volume, “ Footsteps of the Past.” The first edition, of which only a few copies had been sold, was destroyed by a fire at the printing office some years ago, and, notwithstanding numerous inquiries for the work, it has not yet been reprinted. The new edition will be heartily welcomed by Mr. Wheeler’s numerous admirers.

T he new volume of the Religion of Science Library is “ The Gospel of Buddha" (2s.), by Dr. Paul Carus.

OU R L I B R A R Y S H E ! VES.

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— HUXLEY’S COLLECTED ESSAYS.—III. In 1874 a statue to Joseph Priestley was unveiled at Birmingham, and Huxley gave the inaugural address, which is reprinted in this volume of essays on

“ SCIENCE AND EDUCATION ” (Macmillan ; 451 pp.; 5s.). The address comprises a sketch of Priestley’s life and summaries of his scientific researches and his religious speculations. Born in 1733, at Fieldhead, near Leeds, Joseph was brought up as a strict Calvinist. In after years he wandered into the broad fields o f Unitarianism. Meeting Benjamin Franklin in 1766, he was inspired by his new friend to write a “ History of Electricity and combined chemical experiments with the duties o f the pulpit. Riot and flame drove him from pious Birmingham in 1771. Three years afterwards he went to America, where he died in 1806. Writes Huxley:—

“ He made admirable discoveries in science; his philosophical treatises are still well worth reading ; his political works are full of insight, and replete with the spirit of freedom ; and, while all these sparks flew off from his anvil, the controversial hammer rained a hail of blows on orthodox priest and bishop. While thus engaged the kindly, cheerful doctor felt no more wrath or uncharitableness towards his opponents than a smith does towards his iron. But if the iron could only speak !— and the priests and bishops took the point of view of the iron....... There are men (and 1 think Priestley was one of them) to whom the satisfaction of throwing down a triumphant fallacy is as great as that which attends the discovery of a new truth ; who feel better satisfied with the government of the world when they have been helping Providence by knocking an imposture on the head ; and who care even more for freedom of thought than for mere advance of knowledge.” Priestley’s scientific work was mainly concerned with the analysis of gaseous compounds, and he discovered “ pure dephlogisticated air,” subsequently renamed Oxygen. “ Phlogiston ” is now, o f course, no longer reckoned among realities, but, for its historical interest, Huxley’s explanation of the discarded term is worth noting :— O