No More Learning

This is the first series of Donnellan Lectures
prodigal, Daniel Weir, whose cynicism MURRAY
for 1911-12. Mr. Digges La Touche has already
and roving habits made marriage with him NOTES AND QUERIES
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
made his name as a suggestive and inspiring
a misery. Her choice, illogically, but natur-
writer on modern theology, a writer at onco
ally enough, falls on the man who does not
scholarly and popular.
want her and offends her every sense of PROVIDENT INSTITUTIONS
propriety, and the spectacle of the reprobate SAURPIRSA!
London :
wriggling in the clutches of this flabby, but SITUATIONS VACANT
resolute matron is worth going far to see.
TYPR-WRITEKS, &c.
JAMES CLARKE & CO. , 13 and 14, Fleet Street.
WARD & LOCK .
And of all Booksellers.
It may
.
BELL & Sons
CATALOGUES
CLARK
:::
::::::
PAGX
426
423
425
448
425
425
428
EXHIBITIONS
LONGMANS & Co.
MACMILLAN & Co.
.
. .
PAUL & Co.
PRINTERS
450
451
425
451
450
449
460
426
425
426
450
426
426
427
. .
BY AUCTION
. .
. .
:


## p. 459 (#345) ############################################

2912
459
No. 4409, APRIL 27, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
CO.
S.
CONTENTS.
FOR
PAGE
159
LART
VICTOR HUGO: HIS LIFE AND WORK
THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ISLAM
FORMAL LOGIC
THE CAPE OF ADVENTURE
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS
B. 6d.
460
461
462
463
464
3 Sed
narols
a
*THE ISCARIOT'; W. T. STEAP; BYRON'S 'HOURS
Fox
John
. .
89 D
gida
VULGATE
468-471
FORTHCOMING BOOKS
471
LITERARY GOSSIP
472
SCIENCE EARTH FEATURES AND THEIR MEANING ;
NOTICES OF NE BOOKS; SOCIETIES; MEETINGS
473-475
FINE ARTS-ARCHITECTURE; THE WORKS OF MAN;
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS; SALE; M. PABLO
PICASSO AND MR. JOSEPH SIMPSON AT THE
STAFFORD GALLERY ; GOSSIP . .
MUSIC - NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS; GOSSIP; PRR.
FORMANCES NEXT WEEK
479
TRE
alne
.
delete
it
. .
. .
nei
Gossip
INDEX TO ADVERTISERS
479-480
480
. .
D
>
F1
was
and to assess their value at what they “I myself have perhaps been fortunate
SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1912.
may be worth.
enough to render some humble service to
Mr. Davidson, whose death occurred editions of a book in which the name of a
the King and to royalty. I have sold five
before these pages were seen through the Bourbon occurs on every page. ”
press, devoted to his subject the wide
research and the exact study which are As politician no less than as man of letters
necessary to a scrupulous biography. he believed himself indispensable to the
He spared no pains in mastering the State, and boasted loudly of his influence.
evidences which Hugo's contemporaries When he had not yet become a Republican
LADY ASHBURTON'S LIBRARY ; AUTOGRAPH LETTERS ;
have left in abundance. He examined with he gravely declared :
critical eye the not too trustworthy state-
“No, I am not a Republican. . . . In a
OF IDLENESS'; CUNNINGHAM'S EXTRACTS FROM ments of the poet himself. The result is Republic my life wouldn't be worth threr
THE REVELS' BOOKS; THE REVISION OF THE
a history which is at the same time careful days' purchase. The different parties would
and lively, which for statements of mere wrangle with each other to get hold of
fact may be relied upon, and is written me, and in less than three days my head
with an individual style-polished, inci- would fall. "
sive, mordant. His temperament and
NEXT WEEK ; GOSSIP
predilections, however, disqualified him Pomposity, sublime belief in himself,
predilections, however, disqualified him vanity, arrogance, and inaccuracy as to
from being the ideal biographer of his own achievements, were defects which
Victor Hugo. Some element of hero-
176478 worship is indispensable to the true grew into monstrous proportions in the
biographer of any man who is claimed sixty years of his public life.
among the great. Mr. Davidson, evidently
But Mr. Davidson has carried his
DRAMA-THÉRISE RAQUIN; NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS;
disgusted by the excessive hero-worship indictment too far. Without a shadow of
which Hugo's wiser contemporaries ridí evidence, he accuses Hugo of “sharp
culed, went to the other extreme. A practice” in transferring the publication
cold admission of his genius as a writer of “ Marion Delorme' from one publisher
is unsupported by any explanation of what to another (p. 100)—an alleged breach of
LITERATURE
it was in Hugo the man which made the contract which the publishers could not
poet, the novelist, the dramatist. As the prove. When “Le Roi s'amuse
biographer of a Republican, the author censored by the Government, Mr. Davidson
has no business to let his own hatred of puts it to the dramatist's discredit that
Republicanism appear. But it does ap- he allowed his publishers to advertise it
Victor Hugo : his Life and Work. By pear. As one whose task it was to account as a prohibited_play (p. 103). In his
A. F. Davidson. (Eveleigh Nash. ) for the democratic professions of Hugo, strictures upon Hugo's relationship with
he is particularly unfortunate in revealing Juliette Drouet (p. 117) he forgets that
He is forced and artificial. . . . essentially constantly his own anti-democratic bias, the code of private morals in the France
cold and icy even in his most passionate
outbursts. His enthusiasm is merely phan- the
as when he speaks scornfully (p. 175) of of 1833 was not identical with that of
the “unwashed hands” of the mob. England in 1912. Hugo went over to the
tasmagoricma calculation into which no
love enters except self-love. He is an
Mr. Davidson's political opinions would Republican side in October, 1849. The
egoist, and to be still more exact
he is
have been of no concern to us had he not author endorses the charge of“ apostasy,”
a Hugoist.
allowed them to warp his sympathy for but his argument that it was just a
Hugo. His dislike of his hero's egoism | matter of personal pique and personal
Such was the verdict which Heine passed and arrogance would have been estimable ambition (p. 191) will not bear exami-
on Victor Hugo when the latter was at if it had not made him on every possible nation. Without entering into the in-
the height of his literary fame. Sainte- occasion search for a mean and paltry adequate details upon which Mr. Davidson
Beuve, in youth the intimate friend of motive for the poet's action. Hence it relied, we may point out that a more
Hugo and the extoller of his genius, is that the material, and to some extent sympathetic biographer would have shown
denounced his “ lack of proportion,” his the method, of an exceptionally capable that Hugo had been tending in this direc-
* false imagery,” his " forced and thea- biography are diverted to the purposes of tion for years. He had been a passionate
trical lyricism. " The critic had re- depreciation and prejudice.
exponent of the sufferings of the poor,
cently quarrelled with his friend when
words,
It must be admitted that few public he had with unfailing consistency in-
justice in his strictures. Heine at ali men have more conspicuously exposed had opposed the caprice of privilege, he
justice in his strictures. Heine at all themselves to ridicule than did Victor had shown his impatience with Clericalism,
,
times detested the indiscriminate applause
which turned living men into objects of Hugo, both in his conduct and in his had shown his impatience with
Clericalism,
he was an ardent supporter of nationalism
was scarcely a moment in his literary and premely confident of his own genius or he should have continued to support a
popular idolatry; and we agree that there writings. No man was ever
in all its forms, and it is unthinkable that
political career when Hugo was
more insistent in declaring it. He pushed
greeted with praise more lavish than he himself into prominence when he was still of the Papal cause in Italy. The fact is
own importance as prophet and man of Chateaubriand indignantly denied. He
enfant sublime," the invention of which that Mr. Davidson, in respect of this
and
a hundred other points, accepts precisely
letters.
annexed the French Romantic movement,
those opinions which were held by the
But the “cult” of Hugo has died out. and took the credit of it to himself. He most bitterly hostile of Hugo's contem-
His “ romanticism ” has lost its vogue in surrounded himself with flattering ad- poraries.
France. His Republicanism is not now mirers who, when he recited his verses, If Mr. Davidson's method of criticism
a fetish even in an ardently Republican would not be content with ordinary were universally applied, few of our
country, and his is no longer the magical compliments.
national heroes would be left decently
name identified with that of Liberty.
The fame of his pompous and over-
“A voice tense with emotion would be stigmatized as an opinionated hypo-
on their pedestals. Dr. Johnson would
words
'A Cathedral ! '
powering presence has become in Paris ejaculate the
crite, Carlyle as a ranter and a public
another would exclaim 'A Gothic Arch! '
little more than an old wives' tale. His
a third ' An Egyptian pyramid ! '"
nuisance, Ruskin as a garrulous old
exploits have long since reaped the benefits
woman. Chatham would become a worse
of legend; it is for the biographer to When he writes to decline a pension creature even than the hypochondriac
sift the wheat from the tares ; to examine offered by the King, he must needs dwell painted by Lord Rosebery, and Glad-
his life and his work dispassionately, upon his services to Royalty :
stone little more than a stage effect.
66
>
more
SU-
>
>


## p. 460 (#346) ############################################

460
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4409, APRIL 27, 1912
66
a
Hugo, like all of those public characters
tain; the details are often variously
who lived up to their parts, had the A History of the Eastern Roman Empire described by authorities, none of whom
defects of his qualities. But let it be from 802 to 867. By J. B. Bury, can be classed as impartial or unpre-
remembered that he sustained the illusion, Regius Professor of Modern History in judiced or possessed of much historical
if illusion it was, during more than sixty the University of Cambridge. (Mac- insight. The inner nature of the events,
,
years of public life. He was theatrical, millan & Co. )
and the personality of the leading historical
impulsive, domineering, easily swayed by
figures, remain obscure.
Prof. Bury
passing prejudice, easily convinced that PROF. BURY has accustomed us to a frankly recognizes this, and plans his
his least utterance was inspired. Good very high standard of work, and does not narrative accordingly. It is more a dis-
or bad, his influence was immense. Mr. fall below his highest standard in this cussion of details than a living study.
Davidson has not sufficiently shown how account of a short period of Byzantine It is the foundation for a history rather
great was the part he played in the history, the sixty-five years that elapsed than a history in the highest sense. There
adoption of what was called “ Romanti- between the end of the Isaurian dynasty was great need for such a work. To do it
cism. " It is perfectly true that he did (under which the Christian Empire re- no other person so well qualified by
not invent this movement in the form it newed its strength and stemmed the tide extensive and minute study of the details
assumed on the Continent. As Mr. David- of Arab conquest) and the beginning of the of Byzantine administration and biblio.
son points out, Schlegel, Madame de Staël, Macedonian dynasty (under which took graphy as the Regius Professor in
and Stendhal had all ridiculed the arti- place the expansion of the “Roman” Cambridge could have been found, and
ficiality of the classical drama ; they had power to wider limits than it had ever he has added to and confirmed his reputa-
exploded the Aristotelian Unities, they before attained). Between these two great tion by the performance.
had attacked the formal compositions of dynasties and periods the time which
The book is a series of separate
which Racine affords the model. All this book describes forms an interlude
that was stilted, limiting, and purely that in comparison seems rather mean and chapters. The first five give an outline
conventional had been already exposed. dull
. But to those who read Byzantine in a dynastic view; of the murders, con-
of the fortunes of the successive Emperors
But it was the genius of Hugo which history with sympathy, no period in its
stepped in and made the new and freer long course seems uninteresting; and spiracies, and rebellions by which their
school an acceptable fact. The others Prof. Bury maintains the view that this fortunes worked themselves out; and the
had argued with the world; he per- period, "the Amorian Age," meant a
theological controversies which agitated
their reigns. The great ecclesiastical
suaded it.
new phase in Byzantine culture. ” The
“Regularity is the taste of mediocrity interest, however, is in this case confined figures, Photius and Ignatius, have the
[he said), order is the taste of genius. . . . The to the specialist, and it is for the specialist sixth chapter to themselves. Then follow
,
spirit of imitation is the scourge of art; that the Cambridge Professor of Modern chaps. vii. -xiv. on Administration, the
let us admire the great masters, not imitate History writes. The revival of Iconoclasm Saracen Wars, the Saracen Conquests of
them. . . .
;. . . The poet should have only one by Leo, fostered also by his murderer and Crete and Sicily, relations with the
model-nature; only one guide-truth. ” successor Michael of Amorion and by of Slavs and Bulgarians, Russia, and
Western Empire, Bulgaria, the Conversion
His domineering spirit carried the world Theophilus, was unsuccessful, and only Art and Education.
by storm, and he had a great advocate weakened the Empire through disunion;
in this country in Swinburne, whose the religious controversies were unedifying; Next comes a series of twelve Appen-
fervent eulogium of him as one of the and the sternest and most zealous sup- dixes discussing some of the leading literary
very greatest among poets and among porter of Puritanism in doctrine and authorities, and some incidents that fail
is retained in the latest issue of the ritual would find little to satisfy him in the within the special scope of the preceding
* Encyclopædia Britannica. He would proceedings by which pictures were ban-chapters. Finally, there is a full and
'
have taken public opinion with him ished from the churches. Political cal- valuable bibliography. If, for example,
whether he had been right or wrong, and culation played more part than religious the reader wishes to study the Saracen
he was often considerably wrong. He was
fervour. The Armenian Leo, who re- wars, he must turn to Appendix VIII.
one of the first great didactic novelists stored Iconoclasm as the dominant form for the wars of 830–32, while these and
and dramatists. Notre Dame' and ' Les of religion in the state, and Michael I. , the rest have been described in chap. vii.
Misérables' belong incontestably to the his Phrygian successor on the throne of Bulgaria has a chapter and an Appendix.
literature of the world, being admirable Augustus, were men of fair, but not out. Thus the same class of events, e. g. , Saracen
merely as stories, and the splendid con- standing ability, capable of forcing their wars, have to be sought in slight refer-
ception of 'L'Homme qui rit' almost way to the purple by military revolution ences made in the chapters on the
reconciles us to absurdities which would and conspiracy, but not strong enough to Emperors, again in the special chapter,
be fatal to any other author.
atone for the violence of their entry into and the Appendix, and finally in articles
It must be confessed that Hugo's power by the skill and success with which which have been published elsewhere by
hatred of restraint led him to the they used the Imperial authority. Both the author.
wildest literary excesses.
His imaginative were of humble origin and rude manners ;
There is, however, a distinct plan in this
freedom led him to a fancifulness and a the Phrygian is said to have been barely rather complicated arrangement. All the
grotesquerie which were
remote from able to read and write ; but both were investigations have been classified; but
truth. He was rhetorical, theatrical
, thau- strenuous, hardworking, dull, and, on the plan is not that of a true history;
"
maturgic. Claptrap could
be concealed the whole, unsuccessful sovereigns. The it is the plan formed by one who
clearly
under the strenuousness of his tours de Phrygian had a three years' war to fight recognizes that his task is to lay the
force. But he had also the energy, the against another military claimant as foundation for a history. Prof. Bury has
vitality, and intensity of one who had humble as, and even more foreign to the rightly gauged the situation and the
needs.
the fullness of genius. His sympathies Roman dignity than, himself : this was
He has resisted (without any difficulty
on the side of humanism. His Thomas, a soldier of Slav blood, but born
caused by a natural bent towards the
licence is more akin to that which abounds at Gazioura in Pontus. A struggle like other course) all temptation to make a
in English literature in the nineteenth and this between an illiterate Phrygian and picturesque narrative, or turn to account
twentieth centuries than to the qualities an illiterate Slav was undignified as a
the indications of personality which do
which have distinguished France. Hugo spectacle, and injurious to the Empire.
after all survive even in the arid pages
of
was no danger to his own country, which Yet there was abundant material for a Byzantine writers. He omits, for ex-
still tends towards excess of classicism. " stirring narrative of the romantic type ample, the words of Theophilus, on his
“ ”
.
For the French, revolutionary in their in the “ Amorian” period, of whose death-bed, when the head of his brother-
politics, have always respected authority general character the incidents just men- in-law and faithful subordinate Theo-
in literature. But Hugo
was a Republican tioned form a fair specimen ; but
the phobus was brought to him : “Thou
in his literary tastes long before he was a authorities
are far from good. Even the art no more Theophobus, and I am no
Republican in his politics.
external aspect of events is often uncer- more Theophilus. ' There may yet be
66
men
>
I
1
were
>


## p. 461 (#347) ############################################

012
461
No. 4409, APRIL 27, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
Τ
Gously
whom
inpre-
Corical
vents,
manner
of
>
orical
Burs
3 his
s dis-
tudy.
Father
There
do it
d by
66
etails
iblio
and
puta.
>
6
strate
Etline
erors
COD.
their
I the
ated
Eical
the
dor
the
sof
the
6
sion
and
written a history on the ideal standard, thoroughness by Prof. D. B. Macdonald, for the Malay Archipelago, and his contri-
even of the Amorian dynasty ; but the who has other curious and original articles, butions on Banda, Banka, Bantam, and
writer will have to stand on the edifice very unlike the usual style of encyclo- Borneo are meritorious. Prof. Barthold
built by Prof. Bury, and will feel at every pædias, on Ba'l, Balam, and Barsisa, treats in his best
the
stage that without the latter his work and appears to be bringing his compara- Barmecides, Bashkirs, the Mongol Berke
would have been impossible.
tive studies in Oriental tales to the general (Baraka) and Batu, Bishbalik and Bitikci,
In the study of the details, the trust- service of this useful work. He has also among other subjects. The article
worthiness of rival accounts from diverse an interesting article on the theological 'Berbers,' by M. René Basset, who also
points of view-in fact, one serious diffi- term “ Bid'a. ” M. Carra de Vaux is also writes on the interesting Berghawata
culty lies in the lack of sufficiently diverse original and interesting in his treatment tribes and their religion, is of great
points of view, owing to the comparative of out-of-the-way subjects, such as Bilkis, importance and opens up many debatable
success of the Orthodox party in sup- but he is apt to be too slight, notably on questions. Mr. H. Beveridge's Indian
pressing Iconoclast testimony—the chro- the Batiniya. Though there is a decided biographies are naturally authoritative,
nology, the topography, the finance, and improvement in the English translation though perhaps rather brief and dry :
so on, there will yet be in some cases con- (despite momentuous, 6996; “
“ Bal- he has omitted to mention that Bairam
siderable discussion, but every discussion duin,” 596a, &c. ), and also in the matter Khan's Diwan has been printed by Prof.
will have to start from this fundamental of cross-references, we still observe a E. Denison Ross, but perhaps it was not
book. With regard to Rodentos, Prof. singular lack of proportion in the various published when the article was written.
Bury wrongly follows the hypothesis articles. For instance, M. Ch. Huart Mr. J. S. Cotton, besides contributing
printed by Prof. Ramsay in 1891, but now carries his ideal of conciseness to an some clear, succinct sometimes too
antiquated by the recent discoveries of extreme of meagreness, and“ skimps
succinct accounts of Indian
of Indian towns,
M. H. Grégoire. The name of this young the great Turkish sultan Bayazid (there has
written the article Bengal,'
Belgian scholar and traveller does not is no cross-reference, by the way, for the following extract from which possesses
occur in the Bibliography: but Prof. Bajazet) most undeservedly. On the special interest at the present time :-
Bury's book must have been long in the other hand, Dr. Streck has a comparatively
“In 1901, before the division of the
printer's hands, and Grégoire's work immense article on the Batiha or Meso province, the number of Muhammadans in
belongs only to the last three years or so. potamian swamps, which is, we admit, Bengal was 251 millions, being two-fifths
In a subject which is growing so rapidly as full of valuable information on the history of the number in all India. The proportion
this such lists of modern research need of the Arab tribes and on the revolt of to the total population was 33 per cent,
to be revised and enlarged every year or the Zenj, but is out of all proportion though in some districts of Eastern and
two. We may mention that the Per- to the scale of the Encyclopædia. Northern Bengal the proportion rises above
'
sarmenians of
p.
252 become Persa-
The like, in a less degree, may be said of 75 per cent, and in the new province of
Eastern Bengal and Assam the proportion
menians in the Index.
the same scholar's articles on Bender
It is a matter for congratulation that | (why not Bandar ? ) 'Abbas and Biredjik; in Western Bengal, and only 1 per cent in
is 56 per cent, compared with 10 per cent
within little more than a year the subject the latter, however, is of great interest. South Bihar. This irregular distribution
has been enriched both by Mr. Bussell's Dr. R. Hartmann, writing on Basra, keeps can best be explained by assuming that
philosophic and suggestive study of the the just mean, but is hardly full enough on
the inhabitants of the delta belong to
general movements and spirit of Byzan- the Bisharin. The important Bahmani aboriginal races, who were never admitted
tine history and by this admirable work.
into the higher castes of Hinduism, and
dynasty of the Deccan is dismissed in a
therefore received Islam readily from their
single column, whilst equal space is given conquerors. It has been proved by anthro-
to the wretched little village of Balaklava, pometric evidence that the vast majority
The Encyclopædia of Islām. - Nos. X. - though without the obvious reference to
.
of the Muhammadans in Eastern Bengal
XII. : Bañiram Bu'ath. (Luzac & Co. )
(Luzac & Co. ) Kinglake. Bairut is described without cannot be distinguished physically from
THE most considerable articles in the any notice of the celebrated American their Hindu fellows; and it is also true that
three parts of this · Encyclopædia'-lately and Jesuit educational missions. Under they preserve to this day many Hindu
issued with commendable regularity— Bahr al-Ghazal the bibliography should added that, apart from some slight amount
are Mr. Longworth Dames's exhaustive have comprised the recent books of of conversion, they certainly increase at a
account of Baluchistan-here spelt Balo- Yakub Artin Pasha and Mr. Comyn. quicker rate than the Hindus, which is
čistan-of which nothing need be said This article contains a misprint : 1843 for attributed to their occupation of a more
except that it is the right article by the 1873. We would draw special attention fertile region, their use of a more nourishing
right man, and an admirable notice of to the valuable articles which Dr. J. diet, and their permission of widow marriage.
Bosnia and Herzegovina by Dr. J. Kres-Schleifer is contributing on South Arabian The article following Bengal touches on
márik. The other contributors continue localities and Arab tribes : Baihan al- another “ actual” topic, Benghazi, and
to write on their chosen lines, except that Kasab and Bakr are excellent examples. is written by Mr. Ewald Banse. It will
Dr. Soberheim undertakes the later Egyp- Prof. Brockelmann, always, we need be seen that. The Encyclopædia of Islām, '
tian history, and does not seem
to be so hardly say, with his well-known biblio- though primarily addressed to Orientalists
complete in his bibliography as Dr. C. H. graphical learning, treats of the biographies and students of the Mohammedan East,
Becker was in earlier numbers. He has of authors, and has an interesting essay does not disdain subjects which are of
omitted, moreover, to refer to the mosques on the Bakhtishu family of physicians, but general interest. Among such articles
of Baibars as well as to mention one of shows little critical appreciation of al- in Part XII. we note especially Dr. T. W.
his names, al-Bundukdari, familiar to Biruni. Prof. Becker is careful and well- Arnold's account of Bhopal and its three
readers of William of Tyre. In a follow- informed, as usual, in dealing with such successive Begams of exceptional ability
ing article on Baibars the dawadar a subjects as Bait al - Mal, Bedja, Bakt, and high character; and M. G. Yver's
similar archæological deficiency is to be though we do not quite agree with him descriptions of the oasis of Bilma in the
noticed, since no account is taken of his that this last was not a
tribute from Tripolitan Sahara, and other North
ruined palace at Cairo. The statement the Nubians, merely because the Egyp- African places, such as Bizerta, Biskra, and
(p. 5886) that there was “a carpet on a tians made some return. Dr. Seybold has Blida, and a notably full and important
.
Mahmal, as is done to the present day," made the Western Mediterranean his article on Bornu.
is surely an error. The Kiswa, or so-called own subject--his article on the Balearic
The bibliographies, as usual, are a very
Holy Carpet”-really the covering des- Islands is excellent, and he refrains from useful feature ; but R. Pococke's travels
tined for the Ka'ba—is not and could not expatiating on Boabdil and Bobastro ; should not have been cited in the Ger-
be enclosed in the litter or Mahmal. Nor whilst M. G. Yver on the French Sudan
translation * Beschreib. des
can we accept the statement that Baibars, (Bambara),
on the Bardo of Tunis, and on Morgenl. (7256); and Capt. Chesney,
in capturing Hisn al-Akrad, “ annihilated Barka, is in his proper element. The whose Euphrates books are not included
the Knights of St. John. " The Romance Encyclopædia
The Romance Encyclopædia' is fortunate in having in the bibliography, should have been
of Baibars' is discussed with his usuall the services of Mr. A. W. Nieuwenhuis referred to as General F. R. Chesney.
IT
D
1.
6
1.
66
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6
man
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## p. 462 (#348) ############################################

462
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4409, APRIL 27, 1912
66
>>
you ?
to provide “
66
new
cism” they should feel the need of some by the place which the argument per
Formal Logic: a Scientific and Social measure of modification, development, impossibile has in the traditional theory
Problem. By Dr. F. C. S. Schiller. and reconstruction; that they should of Reduction.
(Macmillan & Co. )
wish to get rid of technicalities and
(2) “ The necessity of thought which it
doctrines which started from, and are the syllogism] professed to display lay
This book, which purports to be an un; only appropriate to, exploded meta- merely in an ex post facto reflection on
sparing indictment of “Formal Logic, physical theories—“old bottles” in which the completed form, and did not exist
traverses the whole logical territory, and the “new wine” cannot be confined. in the actual reasoning. ” This may be
includes an account, not only of terms, The Predicables, e. g. , have now little answered by help of a delightful story of
categories, predicables, import of propo- more than an historical and antiquarian Thackeray'š quoted by Dr. Bosanquet,
sitions, inference, laws of thought, and interest.
which recurs to one's mind :-
fallacies, but also of induction, causation,
laws of nature, and accessories of induc- relation between Formal Logic and (a) In-
The pressing need for an account of the
“An old abbé, finding himself in the
tion.
ductive Logic, the methodology of science, to say: 'Ah, ladies, a priest has strange
company of some intimate friends, happened
The author rejects what he holds to psychology, and Pragmatism on the one experiences. Why, my first penitent was
be the fundamental assumption of “the hand, and (6) Symbolic Logic and the a murderer !
murderer ! ' Thereupon
Thereupon the principal
traditional doctrine,” that * it is possible methods of mathematical reasoning on nobleman of the neighbourhood was ushered
to study the formal truth of thought irre- the other; the distracting differences of into the room. On seeing the abbé, he
spective of its truth in point of fact
opinion about import of propositions, and exclaimed: Ah, abbé, how are
(p. viii), and explains that his purpose is the relations of extension and intension
Do you know, ladies, I was the abbó's first
a critical textbook for the in terms—these are some of the many
penitent! '"
use of the more progressive teachers of a difficulties that cry aloud for reform, Here we have two premises given, the
most unprogressive subject. ” His plan if not for revolt. Logic itself—when we unexpected conjunction of which must
of procedure is to rehearse (with few can get to the heart of it—is simple, con- certainly have forced the hearers—as it
references) most of the doctrines which sistent, applicable in heaven and earth forces us—to the conclusion, "The prin.
have been put forward in the name of and in the waters under the earth. The cipal nobleman of the neighbourhood was
Formal Logic, accompanied by a running primary reason why there is such failure a murderer. ” And while the conclusion
fire of criticism, sarcasm, and invective to realize this is just because Logic is followed “necessarily” from the pre-
of the most energetic description. His so fundamental and of such universal mises, it was also (6) no doubt startlingly
book is never duil, and, though on a application.
to all the hearers except the
familiar subject, one finds it hard to put
We are not able to accept in all respects abbé and the penitent himself. Here we
it down, and always wants to hear what Dr. Schiller's account of Formal Logic, have a living, valid argument, which we
the author has to say next. Evidently and do not admit some of his most sweepol of which obviously compels inference to
can“ analyze ex post facto," and the form
an earnest purpose underlies and animates
the whole, but it is difficult to know that it is not possible, on the one hand, to the
conclusion.
the whole, but it is difficult to know ing charges; but we hold most strongly of which obviously compels inference to
whether Dr. Schiller considers that he abstract altogether from matter, from (3) It is difficult to see in what sense
belongs to a powerful band of objectors, concrete particulars ; nor, on the other its actual construction can be declared
or that he stands with one or two others hand, to deal with concrete particulars extra-logical,” since (4) “ the notion of
like Athanasius contra mundum ; whether
he regards logicians as most to blame for divorced from generality. Without this valid inference " is unquestionably applied
logical dualism no sort of intelligible in the case of a living example that is
clinging blindly to traditional doctrines assertion is possible. The abstractness constructed before our eyes. (5) It is the
or for criticizing and modifying the work of Formal Logic is an abstractness of identity of denotation of the middle term
of their predecessors; whether Formal generality, of application to many par-
generality, of application to many par- (first penitent) in one premise with the
Logic is most condemnable because it ticulars, of extended denotation, not the middle term in the other premise that
is open to the reproach that “ordinary abstractness which means detachment here, as elsewhere, holds together the
human thinking continues to pay scant from all particulars, all denotation--the premises and justifies us in passing to
respect to it," or because it exercises a
abstractness which Locke is thinking of the conclusion. That the old syllogistic
baneful tyranny unparalleled in scope and when he says, “ All affirmation
is in theory accepted, though it did not enun-
power, not only over philosophical thought concrete. "
ciate, this requirement is shown by its
and the theory and practice of reasoning,
but also over science, society, education, “Formal” Logic, on this view, is simply demand for “ distribution ” of the middle
and religion. However this may be, some
a Logic of general application, and “forms
explanation must exist of the various of thought are simply relations of terms, used no difficulty arises.
As to ambiguity, where symbols are
or of assertions, which apply to the
M, quả M, is
elaborate, determined, and undoubtedly
sincere attacks on Formal Logic which most varied particulars (“ material”). As not N, nor anything else except M.
have appeared recently, and which are regards arguments, Dr. Schiller himself Where significant terms are used, the
signs (among others) that the intrinsic pronounces (p. 222, that all
, arguments clear before any one ventures to put them
of
can be put in syllogistic form. ” That is, together in an argument;
and an argu-
minds. Of these attacks, perhaps the the syllogistic form is the most general ment” that is convicted of ambiguous
.
form of argument.
most noteworthy are this Logic' of
middle will not go into syllogistic form.
Dr. Schiller's, several books of Mr. Alfred It is impossible, in the compass of a It is here that ambiguity of terms needs
Sidgwick's, and Dr. Mercier's 'New Logic,' review, to examine even the chief of Dr.
which was lately reviewed in these pages. Schiller's contentions ; but, as he devotes careful reference to " context
to be specially guarded against, and that
(in a sense
The limited, rigid, and predominantly a long investigation to the syllogism, and which includes
purpose") is imperative
symbolic presentment of Formal Logic in carries on a sustained, vigorous, and often in order
to determine which among
many textbooks, and its apparent remote- brilliant polemic against it, and also alternative meanings should be taken.
ness from common life and thought, and throws down a special challenge to its
Formal Logic, like the multiplica-
especially, perhaps, the general absence of defenders, we must try to meet some of tion table, is open to many questions,
any even elementary acquaintance with the definite charges which he formulates and neither can furnish
the subject, are probably largely respon- (pp. 220, 221).
guarantee against its own misapplication,
sible for the want of consideration with (1) We have never understood that the but both are nevertheless sound at the
which, as a matter of fact, it is treated by syllogism claims, or can claim, more than No doubt, whether a man
ordinary educated people in England.