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^be  ©pen  Gourt 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE 

S)c\>otc&  to  tbc  Science  of  "Religf  on,  tbe  IRellgton  of  Science,  an&  tbe 
Bitension  ot  tbe  IReliQious  parliament  f  &ea 

EcHtor:  Dr.  Paul  Caids.  j,.^^^t,..S  E-  C.  Hboblu. 

Atnttant  Editor:  T.  J.  McCoemack.  Astoaaus.  -j  j^^^^^  Cards. 

VOL.  XIV.  (no.  7)  July,  1900.  NO.  530 

CONTENTS: 

Frontispiece.     Copernicus. 

Copernicus,  Tycho  Brake,  and  Kepler.  With  Five  Portraits,  Diagrams  of 
Astronomical  Systems,  and  Facsimile  Reproductions  of  Early  Astro- 
nomical Instruments.     Carus  Sterne,  of  Berlin 385 

The  Notion  of  a  Continuum.     An  Essay  in  the  Theory  of  Science.     Prof. 

Ernst  Mach,  of  the  University  of  Vienna 409 

The  So-called  Mystery  Plays.     Illustrated.     E.  F.  L.  Gauss 415 

The  Old  and  the  New  Magic.  With  Numerous  Illustrations  of  Magical  Ap- 
paratus.     (Concluded.)     Editor 422 

Kant  and  Spencer.     A  Criticism.     Sir  Robert  Stout,  Wellington,  N.  Z.  437 

The  Open  Court  and  ^'Leaves  of  Grass.'"     W.  H.  Trimble,  New  Zealand     .  439 

New  Works  on  Political  Economy,  and  Political  Science 440 

Book  Eeviews  and  Notes 445 


CHICAGO 

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LONDON :  Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Triibner  &  Co.,  Ltd. 
Per  copy,  10  cents  (sixpence).    Yearly,  $1.00  (In  the  U.  P.  U.,  5s.  6(L). 

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^be  ©pen  Court 

A  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE 

2)cvote&  to  tbe  Science  of  IReligion,  tbe  IReUaton  of  Science,  arH>  tbe 
Extension  ot  tbe  IReligious  parliament  irt)ea 

EcHtfr:  Dr.  Paul  Ca«us.  >#,,<,««/^, .  j  E.  C.  Hboblxk. 

Atnsiant  Editor:  T.  J.  McCoemack.  Af*otMi€M.  ^  j^^^^^  Cabus. 


VOL.  XIV.  (no.  7)  July,  1900.  NO.  530 

CONTENTS: 

Frontispiece.     Copernicus. 

Copernicus,  Tycho  Brake,  and  Kepler.  With  Five  Portraits,  Diagrams  of 
Astronomical  Systems,  and  Facsimile  Reproductions  of  Early  Astro- 
nomical Instruments.     Carus  Sterne,  of  Berlin 385 

The  Notion  of  a  Continuum.     An  Essay  in  the  Theory  of  Science.     Prof. 

Ernst  Mach,  of  the  University  of  Vienna 409 

The  So-called  Mystery  Plays.     Illustrated.     E.  F.  L.  Gauss 415 

The  Old  and  the  New  Magic.  With  Numerous  Illustrations  of  Magical  Ap- 
paratus.     (Concluded.)     Editor 422 

Kant  and  Spencer.     A  Criticism.     Sir  Robert  Stout,  Wellington,  N.  Z.  437 

The  Open  Court  and  '^Leaves  of  Grass."     W.  H.  Trimble,  New  Zealand     .  439 

f^ew  Works  on  Political  Economy,  and  Political  Science 440 

Book  Reviews  and  Notes 445 


CHICAGO 

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LONDON  :  Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Trubner  &  Co.,  Ltd. 
Per  copy,  10  cents  (sixpence).    Yearly,  $1.00  (la  the  U.  P.  U.,  %%.  6<L). 

Copyright,  igoo,  by  The  Open  Court  Pnblithi&g  Co.  Entered  at  the  Chicago  Post  Ofltee  as  Second-Class  Matter. 


JUST  PUBLISHED 

A  BRIEF 

HISTORY  OF  MATHEMATICS 

AN  AUTHORISED  TRANSLATION  OF 

DR.  KARL  FINK'S  GESCHICHTB  DHR 
BLBMENTAR-MATHEMATIK 

BY 

WOOSTER  WOODRUFF  BEMAN 

Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  University  of  Michigan 


DAVID  EUGENE  SMITH 

Principal  of  the  State  Normal  School  at  Brockport,  N.  Y.   ». 


With  biographical  notes  and  full  index.  Pages,  3334-xii.  Price,  cloth, 
;^i.5o  (5s.  6d.)  net. 

Of  all  the  recent  compendia  of  the  history  of  mathematics,  this  work 
by  Professor  Fink  is  the  most  systematic.  It  is  not  a  book  of  anecdotes, 
nor  one  of  biography;  it  is  a  clear  and  brief  statement  of  the  facts  of  math- 
ematical history. 

The  author  systematically  traces  the  development  of  the  science  of 
mathematics  from  the  earliest  period  to  the  present ;  he  considers  the  de- 
velopment of  algebra  from  the  //a«-reckoning  of  the  Egyptians  to  the  the- 
ory of  functions  of  the  nineteenth  century ;  he  reviews  geometry  from  the 
primitive  ideas  of  the  Babylonians  to  the  projective  and  differential  geom- 
etry and  the  science  of  ^-dimensional  space ;  and  finally  he  traces  the  his- 
tory of  trigonometry  from  the  rude  ideas  of  Ahmes  to  the  projective  formulae 
of  recent  times. 

An  invaluable  work  for  teachers  of  mathematics. 


THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  CO.,  ,.^l'^^^^,, 

London  :   Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Triibner  &  Co.,  Ltd. 


NICOLAUS  COPERNICUS. 


■473-1543) 


Kroiii  a  picture   in  the  possession  of  the  Royal  Society,  presented  by  Dr.  Wolf  of  Dantzic, 
June  6,  i;;6.     Engraved  by  E.  Scriven. 

Frontispiece  to  Tin-  C/''"  Court. 


The  Open  Court 


A   MONTHLY  MAGAZINE 


Devoted  to  the  Science  of  Religion,  the  Religion  of  Science,  and 
the  Extension  of  the  Religious  Parliament  Idea. 


VOL.  XIV.  (NO.  7.)  JULY,  1900.  NO.  530 

Copyright  by  The  Open  Court  Publishing  Co.,  1900. 


COPERNICUS,  TYCHO  BRAHE,  AND  KEPLER.' 

BY  CARUS   STERNE. 

IF  we  review  the  long  line  of  fighters  who  freed  the  human  mind 
from  the  oppressive  bonds  of  its  early  subjection,  two  investi- 
gators, Copernicus  and  Kepler,  always  stand  out  prominently  as 
leaders.  These  men,  however,  did  not  stand  in  the  fore-front  of 
battle;  they  worked  in  comparative  obscurity;  but  they  rank  as 
real  leaders  through  the  weight  of  their  investigations,  and  through 
the  irresistible  force  of  the  proofs  obtained  by  their  patient  obser- 
vation of  nature. 

Although  originally  destined  for  the  priestly  office,  each  rose 
above  the  narrow  principles  of  Church  doctrine  as  received  in  theo- 
logical lecture-rooms.  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  the  Protestant 
camp  from  which  Kepler  came  was  at  that  time  quite  as  intolerant 
as  the  Catholic,  as  witness  the  case  of  Michael  Servetus,  discoverer 
of  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  Indeed  at  the  time  of  the  rise  of 
Copernicus,  the  Church  of  Rome  felt  itself  still  so  firm  and  un- 
shaken in  its  sense  of  power,  that  it  believed  it  might  grant  con- 
siderable liberty  in  the  observation  and  explanation  of  nature. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  a  long  time  before  Copernicus 
the  old  belief  in  the  geocentric  system  was  shaken,  but  the  Church 
then  acted  as  though  this  was  a  matter  of  no  concern  to  her. 
Nicholas  Krebs  of  Cusa  (1401-1464)  had  made  no  secret  of  his 
conviction  that  the  earth  moves,  and  yet  several  popes  had  ad- 
vanced him  to  the  highest  offices  in  the  Church.  Leonardo  da 
Vinci  speaks  repeatedly,  in  his  written  notes,  of  the  movement  of 

J  Translated  from  the  German  by  Dr.  David  Eugene  Smith,  of  the  State  Normal  School 
Brockport,  N.  Y.  The  publishers  are  also  indebted  to  Dr.  Smith  for  having  courteously  placed 
at  their  disposal  the  originals  of  the  portraits  which  adorn  the  present  article.  For  the  remaining 
illustrations  they  are  under  obligations  to  W.  Engelmann,  of  Leipsic. 


386 


THE   OPtN  COURT. 


the  earth  as  a  matter  of  course.    But  all  these  views,  differing  from 
the  prevailing  teaching,  had  been  only  philosophical  speculations 


P'rom  an  Old  Print.     A  Scientific  Interpretation. 


which  in  part  were  awakened   by  the  study  of  classical  authors,  in 
part  were  clarified  by  independent  reflexion,  yet  did  not  rest  upon 


COPERNICUS,  TYCHO  BRAHE,  AND  KEPLER.  387 

the  foundation  of  thorough  observations.  To  have  made  such  sup- 
porting and  confirming  observations,  with  the  simplest  instruments 
and  with  untiring  patience,  remains  the  undying  merit  of  Coperni- 
cus (1473-1543). 

Through  his  uncle  Lucas  von  Watzelrode,  Bishop  of  Ermland, 
Copernicus  was  led  to  the  priestly  office,  although  in  Cracow,  be- 
sides his  theological  work,  he  was  interested  in  mathematical  and 
astronomical  studies,  in  which  Albert  Bruzewsky  was  his  teacher. 
The  youth  of  twenty-three  continued  these  many-sided  occupations 
in  Bologna,  then  the  indispensable  source  of  scientific  knowledge. 
Insatiable  in  his  thirst  for  learning,  he  then  went  to  Padua  where 
he  added  medical  studies  to  the  theological,  mathematical,  and 
astronomical  which  he  had  already  pursued.  From  Rome,  where 
he  received  a  professorship  at  the  university  in  1500,  our  scholar, 
who  apparently  cared  little  for  splendor  and  fame,  returned  to  his 
bleak  northern  home.  Here  he  obtained,  through  the  mediation 
of  his  uncle,  a  position  as  canon  in  Frauenburg  (1510),  which  al- 
lowed him  to  prosecute  his  astronomical  researches  in  all  tran- 
quillity. 

Since  the  year  1507  the  thought  had  come  to  him  and  had  be- 
come more  and  more  fixed,  that  the  old  geocentric  idea  was  false. 
Finally,  through  unremitting  observations,  he  became  convinced 
of  the  movement  of  the  earth  and  the  planets  round  the  sun,  not 
publishing  his  views,  however,  save  to  friendly  astronomers  or  to 
amateurs,  many  of  whom  flocked  to  him  for  instruction  and  for  the 
removal  of  their  doubts.  Copernicus  possessed  a  universal  mind 
similar  to  that  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  a  mind  which  seemed  to  suc- 
ceed in  all  it  undertook.  He  therefore  was  able  to  carry  on  the 
government  of  the  Chapter  after  the  death  of  his  uncle,  to  appear 
as  its  representative  at  the  Prussian  diet,  to  undertake  the  regula- 
tion of  the  Prussian  system  of  minting  and  coinage,  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  a  popular  physician  in  his  district,  and  to  advance  to  suc- 
cessful conclusion  a  difficult  construction  of  some  flood-gates.  Just 
as  thoroughly  and  systematically  did  he  proceed  in  his  observa- 
tions of  the  heavens,  so  that  his  undying  services  to  astronomy  are 
in  nowise  prejudiced  by  such  predecessors  as  Nicholas  von  Cusa. 
The  views  of  the  latter  were  still  so  confused  that  he  seems  never 
to  have  drawn  even  the  most  important  of  the  consequences  of  the 
movement  of  the  earth,  namely,  the  immobilising  of  the  sphere  of 
the  fixed  stars. 

In  the  year  1530  the  great  work  of  Copernicus,  On  the  Revolu- 
tion of  the  Heavenly  Bodies  {De  revolutionibus  orbimn  coelestium,  libri 


388 


THE  OPEN  COURT. 


VI.),  was  finished  in  outline, — a  work  which  prepared  the  way  for 
a  great  revolution  in  thought.  Of  this  work  the  Archbishop  of 
Capua,  Nicholas  von  Schonberg,  who  was  of  German  extraction, 
and  one  of  the  sincerest  admirers  of  Copernicus,  is  said  to  liave  re- 
ceived a  manuscript  copy  in  1536.  This  good  patron  also  encour- 
aged Copernicus  to  publish  the  work,  its  contents  being  already  so 
much  talked  of  in  learned  circles.      He  is  also  said  to  have  borne 


Diagram  of  the  Copernican  System. 
From  Copernicus's  work,  Dc  ycz'olutionibus  (1530).' 

Copernicus  says  ;  "  The  first  and  highest  of  all  the  spheres  is  that  of  the  fixed  stars,  enclosing 
itself  and  the  others  and  therefore  immovable,  being  the  place  of  the  universe  to  which  the  mo 
tion  and  position  of  all  the  other  stars  are  referred.  Then  follows  the  outermost  planet,  Saturn 
which  completes  its  revolution  round  the  sun  in  thirty  years  [the  planets,  Uranus  and  Neptune 
had  not  yet  been  discovered] ;  then  Jupiter,  which  has  a  period  of  twelve  years ;  then  Mars,  with 
a  period  of  two  years.  The  fourth  sphere  in  order  is  that  of  the  yearly  revolution,  and  in  it  is 
contained  the  earth,  having  the  orbit  of  the  moon  as  an  epicycle  ;  in  the  fifth  place,  Venus  re- 
volves in  nine  months;  the  sixth  place  is  occupied  by  Mercury,  which  performs  its  revolution  in 
a  period  of  eighty  days.  In  the  middle  of  all  stands  the  sun  :  for  who  could  think  of  another  or 
better  place  in  this  most  beautiful  temple  for  so  brilliant  a  luminary?  The  sun,  thus,  seated  on 
its  kingly  throne,  guides  the  movements  of  the  stars  that  circle  round  it." 

the  cost  of  printing,  and  to  have  recommended  the  dedication  of 
the  work  to  Pope  Paul  III.,  one  of  the  most  ardent  admirers  of 

1  Reproduced  from  a  cut  in  Friedrich  Dannemann's  Grundriss  einer  Geschichte  der  Natur- 
wissenschaften,  2,  vols.     Leipsic  :  W.  Engelmann. 


COPERNICUS,   TYCHO  BRAHE,   AND  KEPLER.  389 

astronomy.  It  was  therefore  probably  scientific  caution,  rather 
than  apprehension  as  to  its  reception  by  the  Church  authorities, 
that  led  Copernicus  to  defer  so  long  the  publication  of  this  work. 
This  is  the  more  probable  because,  only  a  short  time  before  (1533), 
the  German  astronomer  Widmansstedt,  who  held  similar  views, 
had  met  with  a  kind  reception  from  Pope  Clement  VII. 

That  he  would  find   manifold   and  lively  opposition    among 


Diagram  of  the  Ptolemaic  System  of  the  Universe  (160  A.  D.). 
From  Guericke's  De  vacuo  spatio.  (After  Dannemann). 
Reproduced  for  comparison  with  the  system  of  Copernicus.  The  first  sphere  contains  the 
moon,  which  has  a  period  of  revolution  of  one  twelfth  of  a  year;  the  second  contains  Mercury 
having  a  period  of  one  fourth  of  a  year;  the  third  Venus,  having  a  period  of  two  thirds  of  a  year 
the  fourth  the  sun,  having  a  period  of  one  year;  the  fifth  Mars,  having  a  period  of  two  years; 
the  sixth  Jupiter,  having  a  period  of  twelve  years;  and  the  seventh  Saturn,  having  a  period  of 
thirty  years. 

Catholic  and  Protestant  scholars  and  laymen,  Copernicus  must 
have  understood  from  the  very  beginning.  It  is,  however,  remark- 
able that  the  first  attacks  of  the  Protestant  spokesmen  were  almost 
more  violent  than  those  of  the  Catholic,  and  this  may  have  been 
brought  about  by  the  well-received  dedication  to  the  Pope.  It  is 
known  that  Luther  was  one  of  the  most  determined  opponents  of 
the  theory,  and  in  the  Table- Talk  he  says  of  the  Canon  of  Frauen- 
burg  with  little  consideration  : 


390 


THE  OPEN  COURT. 


"  Mention  was  made  of  a  contemporary  astrologer  who  tried  to  prove  that  the 
Earth  moved  and  turned  round,  but  not  the  Heavens,  nor  the  Firmament,  nor  the 


TiOUNVS     N'[COL/A'.S'    COPERXICV'^.S't SaCKP.DOSt CAxVONICV:? 


From  an  Original  Claimed  to  be  Authentic. 
Interpretation. 


An  Ecclesiastical 


Sun,  nor  the  Moon  ;  just  as  when  a  person  is  seated  in  a  wagon  or  on  a  boat  and  is 
in  motion,  and  fancies  he  is  sitting  still  and  at  rest  while  the  earth  and  the  trees 
are  moving.   But  this  is  the  way  of  the  world  now  ;  when  a  person  is  bent  on  being 


COPERNICUS,   TYCHO  BRAKE,   AND  KEPLER.  39I 

thought  clever,  he  must  perforce  make  up  something  of  his  own,  which  has  to  be 
the  best  that  is,  just  as  he  makes  it.  This  fool  will  upset  the  whole  Science  of 
Astronomy.  But  the  Holy  Scriptures  tell  us,  Joshua  bade  the  Sii?i  stand  still  and 
not  the  Earth." 

One  may  well  think  from  this  that  Luther  followed  the  views 
of  his  friend  Melanchthon,  who  was  an  ardent  adherent  of  astrology, 
a  science  which  remained,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  closely  bound 
up  with  the  geocentric  theory.  Luther,  however,  believed  less 
firmly  in  astrology,  and  several  times  even  declaimed  vehemently 
against  it,  so  that  the  accusations  brought  against  him,  that  he 
made  use  of  the  astrological  superstition  of  the  time  for  his  own 
ends,  is  probably  not  tenable. 

Naturally  there  was  no  lack  of  satirical  inuendoes  against  the 
new  theory  of  Copernicus,  which  had  become  known  long  before 
the  appearance  of  his  work.  To  such  attacks  on  the  part  of  med- 
dling critics  Copernicus  addresses  himself  in  the  dedicatory  letter 
to  Pope  Paul  IIL,  published  before  the  work  appeared.  Here  he 
speaks,  in  a  tone  of  perfect  confidence,  of  those  vain  babblers  who, 
without  possessing  mathematical  knowledge  of  their  own,  would 
condemn  his  work  because  it  was  at  variance  with  a  few  purposely 
distorted  passages  in  the  Bible.  Thus  did  the  holy  Lactantius, 
in  his  ignorance,  once  childishly  scoff  at  the  spherical  form  of  the 
earth ;  but  the  learned  must  overlook  with  contempt  such  objec- 
tions of  non-mathematicians.  Just  as  boldly  did  he  oppose  pre- 
vailing prejudices  by  his  eulogy  of  the  new  system,  delivered  with 
noble  pride  and  self-confidence:  "Through  no  other  arrange- 
ment," he  says,  "have  I  been  able  to  find  such  wonderful  symme- 
try of  the  universe  and  such  harmonious  connexion  of  the  orbits, 
as  when  I  place  the  sun,  the  light  of  the  world,  as  ruler  of  the 
whole  family  of  circling  stars  in  the  midst  of  the  high  temple  of 
nature,  as  though  upon  a  kingly  throne.  Who  indeed  could  find 
in  all  glorious  nature  a  better  place  for  the  sun  than  that  from 
which  it  can  give  light  to  the  whole?" 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  his  works,  which  were  finally  given  to 
the  press,  appearing  however  only  after  his  death  (which  occurred 
on  the  following  May  24),  Copernicus  spoke  out  with  manly  firm- 
ness for  the  truth  of  the  results  of  his  investigations.  It  is  evident, 
too,  that  the  supposition  that  he  was  spared  by  the  ecclesiastical 
censor  only  because  one  of  the  editors  (Andreas  Osiander)  had  sent 
out  in  advance  an  anonymous  preface,  could  be  true  only  on  the 
hypothesis  that  the  censors  had  read  neither  the  dedication  to  the 
pope  nor  the  work   itself.     This  preface  of  Osiander  designated 


392 


THE  OPEN  COURT. 


IB 


Kinuji  s^r(.Ho^\J-^hR^HFOT^<.)^]l)l^DAM  Dni 

l)>K\\l)srK\i   n  AJ<^l>VK'\NILNb\KC,  IN  INsVLA. 
HI  1  1  IsPOMl  DANK  lH\T  NNA^YNDATOiOii  INiTRV 

OKIS  A^TAIIS 

W##|f/flfiiiiflf#l!ii^^ 


I  Ml  N  H)K\  4<^V1  As  I  KU^lOMlCuRVMrN  F' 
I  SiJUKVM  INM^  MTORIi  !<  I  STRVtlOW 
»  .S\ff.  ANVO  4.0  ANJsO  DM  ir;£f^"c  O 


Tycho  Brahe, 

!i546-i6oi.) 
(From  a  very  rare  print.) 


COPERNICUS,  XyCHO  BRAKE,  AND  KEPLER. 


393 


the  new  doctrine  as  a  mere  hypothesis  which  ''need  be  neither 
true  nor  probable,"  as  it  was  to  serve  only  to  calculate  more  easily 
the  phenomena  of  the  heavens,  and  it  is  not  probable  that  it  was 


Altazimuth  of  Tycho  Brake,  the  Archetype  of  the  Modern  Theodolite 

(From  Tycho  Brahe's  De  mundi  aether ei,  Prague,  1603.     After  Dannemann.) 

This  beautiful  instrument  was  constructed  of  brass  and  served  for  determining  both  azimuths 
and  altitudes.  The  azimuth-circle,  NP,  rested  on  four  pillars  ;  the  altitude-circle  had  a  radius  of 
almost  two  yards,  and  was  provided  with  a  scale  of  minutes,  BC,  and  an  alidade,  DE. 

added  with  the  consent  of  Copernicus.  He  could  not,  however, 
protest  against  what  had  been  done,  as  he  received  the  first  copy 
only  on  his  death-bed. 


394 


TH£  OPEN  COURT. 


The  great  successor  of  Copernicus  in  the  field  of  observation 
was  the  Danish  nobleman  Tycho  Brahe.  In  the  estimation  of  the 
world  he  generally  passes  for  the  outspoken  opponent  of  Coperni- 
cus, and  as  the  inventor  of  a  new  cosmology  which  left  the  earth 
in  the  center  of  the  universe,  and  made  the  sun  and  moon  revolve 
around  it,  but  the  planets  around   the  sun, — a  system  which  has 

been  explained  as  a  conces- 
sion to  the  prevailing  belief. 
But  the  traditional  estimate 
of  this  admirable  investiga- 
tor, who  pursued  his  studies 
in  Leipsic,  Wittenberg,  and 
Augsburg,  is  a  very  unjust 
one.  In  point  of  fact,  he  was 
the  most  ardent  admirer  of 
Copernicus  that  could  be 
imagined.  In  the  Sternen- 
burg  (Uranienburg)  which 
his  royal  patron  Frederick 
II.  of  Denmark  had  con- 
structed for  Tycho  Brahe  on 
the  island  Hveen,  the  pict- 
ure of  the  Canon  of  Frauen- 
burg,  adorned  with  palms 
and  laurels,  occupied  the 
place  of  honor  in  the  room 
of  state.  When  the  heirs 
and  successors  of  Coperni- 
cus heard  of  this  worship, 
they  sent  as  a  gift  the  sim- 
ple wooden  instrument  with 
which  the  latter  had  made 


Armillary  Sphere  of  Tycho  Brahe. 


This  instrument,  like  all  the  others  of  the  great 
Danish    astronomer,    was    manufactured     in    Tycho 
Brahe's  own  workshop.     The  elegance  and  exactitude    his  observations.     Tycho  Ccl- 
with  which   they  were  executed   in   every   detail,  are  j      i        i  j  r  • 

beautifully  shown  by  this  illustration.  ebratcd  the  happy  day  of  its 

reception  (July  13,  1584)  by 
a  Latin  poem,  in  which  it  is  said  of  Copernicus: 

"  He  succeeded  in  snatching  the  sun  from  the  heavens, 
And  placing  it  iirmly.     Around  it  then  he  guided  the  earth. 
As  around  the  earth  the  moon." 
And  of  the  instrument,  which  had  no  lenses  : 


IFromGerland   and  Trauniiil 
W.  Engelmann. 


Geschichte  der  f>kysiki.ilisclien   Experhiientirkunst,  Leips 


COPERNICUS,  TVCHO  BRAKE,  AND  KEPLER. 


395 


"  .  .  .  O  monument  of  the  great 

And  immortal  man!     You  are  perishable  wood, 
But  shining  gold  will  look  on  you  with  envy." 

But  Tycho  had  so  improved  this  instrument,  although  he  like- 
wise had  to  do  without  lenses,  and  he  was  besides  so  sharp  an  ob- 
server, that  he  could  not  but  perceive  the  defects  still  adhering  to 
the  Copernican  system  as  well  as  the  discrepancies  between  the 
facts  and  the  calculations  based  upon  it.  Untiring  observations 
of  the  orbit  of  Mars  showed  clearly  that  the  circles  assumed  as  the 


Tycho  Brake's  System  of  the  Universe.     (1587.) 

This  system  occupies  an  intermediary  place  between  the  geocentric  system  of  Ptolemy  and 
the  heliocentric  system  of  Copernicus.  In  Tycho's  system  the  earth  is  at  the  center ;  the  sun 
Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Saturn  revolve  about  the  earth,  while  Mercury  and  Venus  perform  secondary 
epicyclical  revolutions  about  the  sun.     (From  Guericke's  De  vacuo  spaiio.     After  Dannemann.) 

planetary  orbits  by  Copernicus  did  not  exist.  Furthermore,  Tycho 
found  good  reason  to  deny  the  third  movement  of  the  earth  (around 
the  pole  of  the  ecliptic)  presupposed  by  Copernicus.  Hence  he  is 
not  to  be  blamed  if  he  held  provisionally  to  his  own  system,  which 
had  in  common  with  the  ecclesiastical  conception  the  geocentric 
idea  only;  for  naturally  he  had  never  doubted  the  revolution  of  the 
earth  on  its  axis. 


396  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

Neither  did  Tycho  Brahe  ever  publicly  set  up  his  system  in 
opposition  to  that  of  Copernicus.  His  theory  was  not  published 
until  three  years  after  his  death,  in  a  book  appearing  in  Frankfort 
in  1604  ;  and  the  essay  contained  in  it  "On  the  System  of  the  Uni- 
verse" is,  probably  with  good  reason,  attributed  to  his  pupil  B. 
Ursus.  The  fruits  of  Tycho's  labors  did  not  ripen  until  later,  after 
Kepler  was  able  to  build  further  on  the  foundation  of  these  obser- 
vations, the  most  exact  that  any  astronomer  had  made  before  the 
discovery  of  the  telescope. 

Johannes  Kepler  (born  December  27,  1571)  was  on  account  of 
his  weak  frame,  like  Copernicus,  originally  destined  for  the  minis- 
try;  or  rather  we  may  say  he  had  grown  up  into  it,  for  his  parents, 
having  ended  after  various  vicissitudes  in  life  in  keeping  a  tavern, 
had  placed  the  boy  in  the  school  attached  to  the  monastery  of  Hir- 
sau.  From  there  he  went  to  the  school  of  the  former  Cistercian 
monastery  Maulbronn,  where  in  1516  Dr.  Faust  is  said  to  have 
taught  Abbot  Entenfuss  alchemy  and  to  have  passed  the  last  years 
of  his  life.  We  might  believe  that  something  of  the  Faust-spirit 
there  descended  upon  the  young  man,  who  later  removed  to  the 
seminary  of  Tubingen  (1589)  in  order  to  study  Protestant  theology. 

Kepler  fortunately  found  at  Maulbronn  a  fatherly  friend  and 
adviser  in  Michael  Miistlin,  a  theologian  versed  in  astronomy  and 
an  adherent  of  Copernicus.  It  is  he  whom  Galileo  also  honored 
as  a  teacher,  and  who  inspired  Kepler  with  all  the  more  interest  for 
astronomy  as  his  warm  attachment  to  theology  was  repulsed  by 
the  extreme  views  of  most  of  the  other  teachers  there.  In  particu- 
lar Kepler  would  not  profess  Luther's  dogma  of  the  omnipresence 
of  the  body  of  Christ,  and  as  he  was  already  suspected  on  account 
of  his  fondness  for  the  stars,  he  seems  to  have  been  in  a  difficult 
position.  Probably  also  he  did  not  understand  keeping  his  convic- 
tion of  the  truth  of  the  Copernican  system  as  secret  as  was  neces- 
sary, as  his  cautious  and  timid  teacher  had  done  for  years  and  also 
recommended  to  him.  Accordingly  serious  conflicts  soon  arose, 
and  Mastlin  as  well  as  several  other  teachers  advised  Kepler  to 
give  up  his  theological  studies  entirely  and  accept  a  position  as 
teacher  of  mathematics  at  the  Gymnasium  at  Graz,  which  was  to 
be  filled  in  the  spring  of  1594.  Kepler,  who  was  a  zealous  Protes- 
tant, even  though  not  according  to  the  strict  Lutheran  fashion, 
went  unwillingly  to  the  Catholic  country,  but  he  accommodated 
himself  to  circumstances  and  supplied  the  Styrian  provincial  al- 
manac with  all  the  astrological  lumber  which  was  at  that  time 
deemed  to  be  the  main  requisite  of  a  calendar. 


COPERNICUS,   TYCHO  BRAHE,    AND   KEPLER.  397 

It  is  remarkable  and  at  the  same  time  instructive  to  observe 
how  Kepler,  with  his  strong  inclination  to  fantastic  dreaming  and 


EycimiMm^  fa'neir  ruiuj    itv   are,    nncit~. 


■nt  tn.A 


± 


JoHANN  Kepler.     (1571-1630). 
Probably  from  contemporary  sources. 


to  poetical  ideas  of  things  in  general  and  their  relations,  wrested 
himself  almost  entirely  free  from  the  seductive  allurements  of  the 
astrological  craze  of  that  time.     It  was  apparently,  next  to  his 


398  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

mathematical  vein,  his  religious  conviction  of  the  perfection  of  the 
structure  of  the  universe  that  kept  him  from  this  aberration.  The 
words  of  the  Bible,  that  the  universe  is  duly  disposed  according 
to  number,  measure,  and  weight,^  which  more  than  two  hundred 
years  later  led  the  chemist  of  the  Berlin  porcelain  factory,  J.  B. 
Richter,  to  the  discovery  of  the  stoicheiometric  relationships  be- 
tween the  chemical  elements,  impelled  him  also  to  seek  the  mathe- 
matical la7u  of  the  structure  of  the  tiniversc. 

Led  astray  on  this  quest  by  his  classical  education,  he  first 
took  up  with  the  speculations  of  the  Pythagoreans,  who  had  alter- 
nately compared   the  five  regular  solids  to  the  five  worlds  and  to 


Kepler's  Construction  of  the  Planetary  Spheres. 

Exhibiting  the  dimensions  and  distances  of  the  planetary  orbits  by  means  of  the 
five  Platonic  solids.    (From  Kepler's  Mystcrium  Cosniographiciim,  Tubingen 
1596.     After  Dannemann.) 
Kepler  says;  "The  orbit  of  the  earth  gives  the  circle  which  constitutes  the  measure  of  all 
the  others.     About  this  circle  (r;  in  the  figure)  describe  a  dodecahedron;  in  the  sphere  which 
encloses  this  solid  lies  the  orbit  of  Mars  (e  in  the  present  figure).     About  the  Martian  sphere  de- 
scribe a  tetrahedron  ;  the  spherical  surface  described  about  this  solid  would  contain  the  orbit  of 
Jupiter  (see  7  in  Fig.  2).     Describe  about  the  latter  a  cube  ;  the  sphere  enclosing  the  cube  (a,  Fig  2. 
contains  the  orbit  of  Saturn.     Further,  construct  within  the  terrestrial  sphere  an  icosahedron  ; 
the  spherical  surface  inscribed  within  the  same  contains  the  orbit  of  Venus  U  in  the  present  fig 
ure).     Describe  within  this  last  sphere  au  octahedron,  and  this  body  will  enclose  the  sphere 
Mercury." 

the  five  senses  of  man,  and  conjectured  that  by  them  possibly  the 
five  spaces  between  the  six  planetary  orbits  might  be  typified.  He 
accordingly  imagined  the  octahedron,  icosahedron,  dodecahedron, 
tetrahedron,  and  cube,  placed  successively  one  within  another, 
with  the  sun  at   the  center;  and  describing  spheres  between  each 

1  Wisdom,  II,  22. 


COPERNICUS,  TYCHO  BRAHE,  AND  KEPLER. 


399 


two  successive  solids  to  touch  the  outer  angles  of  the  smaller  and 
the  inner  surfaces  of  the  larger,  he  conceived  the  great  circles  of 
these  spheres  to  represent  the  orbits  of  the  planets,  and  the  spaces 
between  them  the  distances  of  the  orbits. 

The  unit  for  the  orbit-distances  was  given  by  the  orbit  of  the 
earth,  which  was  assumed  to  be  on  the  sphere  between  the  icosa- 
hedron  and  the  dodecahedron. 

This  device,  when  closely  examined,  will  be  found  not  un- 
worthy of  a  poetising  mathematician.  As  the  mean  distances  of 
the  orbits  of  the  planets,  not  then  known  with  the  strictest  accu- 


Kepler's  Construction  of  the  Planetary  Spheres. 

(For  description  see  Fig.  i.) 

a=the  sphere  of  Salurn  ;  |8  =  thecube;  Y  =  the  sphere  of  Jove  ;  S  =  tetrahedron  ;   e  =  sphere 
Mars;  ^=dohecahedron  ;  r)  =  the  sphere  of  the  earth;  8— the  icosahedron  ;  i  =  sphere  of  Venus 
K^octahedron  ;  A  =  the  sphere  of  Mercury;  /x=:the  sun. 


racy,  corresponded  fairly  well  with  those  reckoned  in  this  way,  he 
was  convinced  that  he  had  discerned  the  skilful  plan  of  the  archi- 
tect of  the  universe,  and  accordingly  he  made  known  this  cosmical 
secret  in  his  maiden  work,  the  Mysterium  cosmographicuni  (1596). 

Genuine  enthusiasm  for  the  perfection  of  creation  as  revealed 
by  Copernicus  had  furnished  the  original  incentive  for  all  Kepler's 


400  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

calculations  and  investigations,  and  so  he  begins  his  work  with  the 
following  words  : 

"Inspired,  full  of  holy  joy,  David  cries  aloud,  calling  upon  the  world  itself  : 
'Praise  ye  him,  sun  and  moon  :  praise  him  all  ye  stars  of  light.'  But  what  voice 
has  been  bestowed  upon  the  heavens,  and  what  upon  the  stars,  fit  to  praise  God 
like  that  of  man  ?  Because  they  give  reasons  for  praising  God,  we  may  say,  they 
praise  God  himself.  Since  then  we  are  endeavoring  to  make  this  voice  of  the  heav- 
ens and  of  all  nature  more  perceptible  and  clear,  let  no  one  say  we  are  pursuing 
vain  studies  or  exerting  ourselves  for  naught." 

After  interpreting,  as  far  as  in  him  lies,  this  marvellous  con- 
struction, and  emphasising  the  lack  of  a  planet  between  the  orbits 
of  Mars  and  Jupiter,  his  enthusiasm  breaks  forth  once  more  in  a 
lofty  hymn,  a  few  lines  of  which  may  here  be  quoted  : 

"  Great  Artist  of  the  universe,  with  admiration  I  look  upon  the  works 
Of  thy  hands,  which  constructed  them  according  to  an  ingenious  plan. 
In  their  midst  the  sun,  dispenser  of  light  and  life, 
Which  curbs  the  earth  according  to  sacred  law  and  guides  her 
In  her  changing  course.     I  see  the  toil  of  the  moon, 
And  stars  scattered  on  the  infinite  meadow.  .  .  . 

Sovereign  of  the  world  !     Thou  eternal  power  !     Thine  infinite  glory 
Soars  on  the  wings  of  light  through  all  the  worlds  !  " 

The  impression  of  this  work,  which  to-day  possesses  value 
only  as  a  poem  and  picture  of  the  fancy,  was  a  very  mixed  one. 
Kepler's  Tubingen  teachers  were  not  in  accord  with  it.  "God  for- 
bid," Professor  Hafenraffer  wrote  (1597)  with  discernment  but  with 
kindness,  "that  you  should  ever  try  publicly  to  bring  your  hypoth- 
esis into  agreement  with  Holy  Scriptures  ;  act,  I  beg  of  you,  en- 
tirely as  a  mathematician  and  do  not  disturb  the  repose  of  the 
Church." 

But  Galileo  wrote  an  enthusiastic  letter  dated  the  fourth  of 
August,  1597  : 

"  I  consider  myself  happy  to  know  of  so  great  an  ally  in  the  search  for  truth 
and  consequently  such  a  friend  of  truth  itself.  It  is  really  pitiful  that  there  are  so 
few  who  strive  for  tha  truth,  and  care  to  depart  from  perverted  methods  of  philos- 
ophising. But  this  is  not  the  place  to  lament  the  wretchedness  of  our  time  ;  rather 
should  I  wish  you  good  luck  in  those  splendid  investigations,  by  which  you  strengthen 
the  truth.  ...  I  should  risk  publishing  my  own  speculations,  if  there  were  more 
like  you.  But  since  this  is  not  the  case,  I  postpone  it,  for  fear  of  sharing  the  fate 
of  our  master  Copernicus,  who  although  he  has  won  undying  fame  with  a  few,  has 
nevertheless  with  very  many — so  great  is  the  number  of  fools  ! — become  an  object 
of  ridicule  and  contempt."  • 

The  work  was  of  great  advantage  to  Kepler  in  that  it  brought 
the  young  astronomer  to  the  notice  of  Tycho  Brahe  of  Prague,  and 

IK.  von  Gebler,  Galileo  Galelei  und die  romische  Kurie,  Stuttgart,  1876. 


COPERNICUS,  TYCHO  BRAHE,  AND  KEPLER.  4OI 

caused  him  to  invite  Kepler  to  come  to  that  place  as  his  assistant. 
This  was  so  much  the  more  important  for  Kepler,  as  his  position  in 
Graz  had  in  the  meantime  become  untenable.  In  the  year  1598 
Archduke  Ferdinand  had,   by  an   edict,    banished   all   Protestant 


JoHANN  Kepler. 

From  a  picture  in  the  collection  of  Godefroy  Kraenner,  merchant  at  Ratisbon. 
Engraved  by  F.  Mackenzie. 

teachers  and  priests  from  Styria,  and  Kepler  alone  was  allowed  to 
remain,  it  was  said  through  the  intercession  of  the  Jesuits,  who 
needed  his  astronomical  calculations  for  their  missions  in  China. 
But  in  the  year  1600  there  was  a  repetition  of  the  storm,  and  Kepler 


402  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

might  count  himself  happy  in  having  found  employment  in  the 
well-appointed  observatory  of  the  Hradschin  at  Prague. 

But  his  position  there  with  the  haughty  Danish  astronomer, 
busy  with  the  improvement  of  the  Copernican  system,  seems  not 
to  have  been  the  most  agreeable.  Indeed  it  would  probably  have 
become  unendurable,  owing  to  the  great  difference  of  temperament 
of  the  two  men,  had  not  Tycho  Brahe's  unexpected  and  early  death 
(on  the  23d  of  October  1601)  put  an  end  to  this  unsatisfactory 
alliance.  The  result  was  that  Kepler  was  raised  to  the  position  of 
the  imperial  astronomer  and  mathematician.  Not  without  mani- 
fold difficulties,  however,  did  he  come  into  possession  of  the  price- 
less results  of  his  predecessor's  observations,  which  were  to  serve 
in  the  calculation  of  the  Rudolphine  Tables  (of  the  movements  of 
the  planets).  This  material  was  so  much  the  more  indispensable 
for  Kepler's  labors,  because  on  account  of  the  weakness  of  his  eyes 
he  would  never  have  been  able  to  acquire  it  for  himself.  And  even 
now  it  would  have  gone  badly  with  his  mission,  had  not  industry 
been  aided  by  imagination,  that  freest  daughter  of  the  mind,  which 
raised  him  above  the  preconceived  but  respectable  errors  of  his 
master,  driving  him  incessantly  into  new  combinations  and  conjec- 
tures. Thus  we  see  that  not  the  gift  of  observation  and  the  art  of 
calculating  alone  suffice  for  the  making  of  great  discoveries,  but 
that  science  often  has  still  more  to  gain  from  the  consistent  work- 
ing out  of  hypotheses.  On  the  other  hand,  Kepler  was  always  irre- 
sistibly impelled  to  check  the  creations  of  his  imagination  by  cal- 
culation. But  he  was  successful  in  doing  this  only  in  three  discov- 
eries, namely  those  relating  to  the  movements  of  the  planets,  which 
were  alone  sufficient  to  have  made  his  name  immortal.  He  dreamed, 
however,  of  many  another,  which  it  remained  for  Newton,  and 
even  for  Laplace,  to  furnish  a  firm  support. 

It  was  above  all  the  irregularities  which  Tycho  Brahe  had 
established  in  the  revolution  of  Mars  that  attracted  the  attention 
of  Kepler,  and  he  gave  voice  to  the  conviction  that  "through  the 
planet  Mars  we  must  reach  the  secrets  of  astronomy,  or  remain 
forever  ignorant  in  this  science." 

In  the  preface  to  the  New  Astronomy  or  the  Commentary  on  the 
Planet  Mars  (1609)  he  gives  an  account  to  the  Emperor  Rudolph 
of  the  result  of  the  "struggle  with  the  heathen  god  of  war,  in  which 
General  Tycho  Brahe  won  the  highest  fame,  inasmuch  as  he  dis- 
covered in  the  night-watches  of  twenty  years  all  the  habits,  posi- 
tions, and  stratagems  of  his  enemy.  O  that  he  [Kepler]  might 
now  bring  this  most  noble  lord  a  prisoner  before  the  Emperor!  " 


COPERNICUS,   TYCHO  BRAHE,    AND   KEPLER.  4O3 

Copernicus  had,  as  was  before  mentioned,  believed  that  the 
planets  move  in  circles  round  the  sun,  and  from  this  assumption 
had  arisen  the  appearance  of  irregularities  in  these  orbits.  Kepler 
now  perceived  that  Mars  and  the  other  planets  moved  not  in  cir- 
cular but  in  elliptic  orbits  round  the  sun,  which  therefore  is  not  in 
the  center  of  the  orbit,  but  in  one  of  the  foci  (^Kepler's  first  lazv). 
At  the  same  time  he  perceived  that  the  planet  hurries  forward 
faster  in  its  orbit  in  perihelion  than  in  aphelion,  but  that  the  radius 
of  rotation  describes  equal  areas  in  the  same  time  in  all  portions  of 
the  orbit.      {Kepler's  second  law.') 

He  did  not  hesitate,  in  spite  of  the  opposition   made  hitherto 
by  the  Church,  to  announce  openly  these  great  discoveries,  which, 
as  he  rightly  assumed,  removed  the  last  difficulties  from    the  Co- 
pernican  system  of  the  universe.    Accept- 
ing the  Joshua  miracle,  he  says  that  Joshua 
merely  expressed  wrongly  his  prayer  com- 
manding the  sun  to  stand  still,  just  as  we 
still  every  day  express  ourselves  wrongly 
when  we  say  we  wish  the  sun  would  soon 
rise  above  the  horizon.     He  adds  : 

"  In  theology  the  weight  of  authority  may  de- 
cide, in  philosophy  we  must  have  reasons.  Holy 
is  Lactantius,  who  doubted  the  spherical  form  of 
the  earth  ;  holy  is  Augustine,  who  conceded  this  but  Diagram  Illustrating 

denied  the  existence  of  antipodes  ;  .  .  .  but  holier  Kepler's  Second  Law. 

to   me  is  truth,    when   I,   with  all  respect  for  the  if  the  distances  tt'  and  TT'  are 

Church,  prove  by  science  that  the  earth  is  round,  is  traversed  in  equal  times,  then  the 
inhabited  by  antipodes,  is  a  little  dot  in  the  uni-  segments  tt'S  and  TT'S  are  equal 
verse,  and  wanders  among  the  stars  !  " 

Having  now  discovered  in  the  law  of  areas  a  new  confirmation 
of  the  structure  of  the  universe  according  to  number,  he  bent  all  his 
energies  to  find  why  the  planets  did  not  hasten  round  the  sun  with 
uniform  swiftness  in  the  more  perfect  circular  orbit,  but  revolved, 
as  he  had  found,  with  changing  swiftness  in  elliptic  orbits.  Again 
it  was  a  dream  of  the  ancients  that  captivated  his  poet-soul,  the 
Pythagorean  dream  of  the  harmony  of  the  spheres,  of  the  music  of 
the  universe,  audible  only  to  spirits  specially  blessed.  By  this 
means  he  hoped  to  reduce  apparent  anomalies  to  a  mutual  balance, 
to  harmonise  the  courses  of  the  planets,  so  that  every  dissonance 
which  a  single  planet  might  produce  when  regarded  outside  of  its 
connexion  with  the  system,  would  be  by  such  law  removed  from 
the  celestial  concert. 


404  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

"Straying  in  this  labyrinth  of  delusion,"  as  a  stern  critic  of 
these  ideas  would  say,  "at  last,  at  last,"  he  discovered  on  the  15th 
of  May,  1618,  at  Linz,  where  he  meanwhile  had  found  a  position  as 
gymnasium  professor,  his  third  law.  This  is  the  law  according  to 
which  the  squares  of  the  times  of  revolution  of  the  planets  are  pro- 
portional to  the  cubes  of  the  mean  distances.  This  discovery  fol- 
lowed upon  a  failure  that  calls  to  mind  the  discovery  of  universal 
gravity  by  Newton  ;  for  suddenly,  as  Kepler  expresses  himself,  the 
perception  of  the  truth  triumphed  "over  the  darkness  of  my  mind 
with  such  conformity  to  my  seventeen  years'  work  on  the  observa- 
tions of  Tycho,  that  I  at  first  thought  I  was  dreaming  and  that  I 
had  taken  for  granted  that  which  I  was  seeking." 

Certain  of  his  critics  have  utterly  failed  to  comprehend  this 
combination  of  dreaming  and  mathematical  genius,  and  in  regard 
to  the  discovery  of  the  third  law,  have  cried  out:  "Whence  sud- 
denly so  much  light  after  such  deep  obscurity?"  (Bertrand.)  They 
have  also  spoken  of  his  gambler's  luck  ;  but  Whewell  has  pointed 
out,  in  his  History  of  the  Inductive  Sciences,  that  this  combination  of 
imagination  and  penetration  is  the  peculiar  characteristic  of  most 
great  discoverers.  He  further  notes  that  Kepler  is  distinguished 
from  most  of  the  others  only  in  that  he  describes  at  length  his  mis- 
takes and  aberrations  in  his  search  for  the  truth,  and  admits  that 
truth  would  now  hide  herself  from  his  gaze,  and  again  incite  him 
to  pursuit,  like  Virgil's  Galatea  : 

"  Galatea  throws  apples  after  me,  the  roguish  maiden, 
Then  back  she  flies  to  the  pastures,  yet  wishes  first  to  be  seen." 

"We  may  be  surprised,"  says  Reuschle,^  at  Kepler's  wonder 
ful  luck  in  disentangling  truth  from  the  wildest,  most  preposterous 
fancies;  yet  we  kno^v  that  with  our  hero  the  one  is  productive  of 
the  other,  that  both  are  strangely  interwoven  into  a  very  singular 
whole."  We  must  also  agree  with  what  Reuschle  has  said  about 
his  poetical  bent  and  the  enthusiasm  that  always  reanimated  his 
courage  when  extended  calculations  threatened  to  wear  out  his 
spirit,  or  his  dire  poverty  seemed  about  to  prostrate  him.  All  his 
life  long  he  was  obliged  to  beg  of  Tycho  Brahe,  as  well  as  of  the 
emperor  and  the  empire,  for  the  salary  rightfully  belonging  to  him 
and  for  the  money  to  print  his  books.  Indeed,  he  met  his  death 
while  on  a  begging  expedition,  made  on  foot,  in  early  winter,  to 
the  imperial  diet  at  Regensburg,  November  15,  1630.  He  had  to 
struggle  not  only  with  the  opponents  of  Copernicus  and  Tycho, 

IC.  G.  Reuschle,  Kepler  und  die  Astronomie,  Frankfort,  iS"?!. 


COPERNICUS,   TYCHO  BRAKE,    AND   KEPI.ER. 


405 


men  like  Chiaromonte,  Riccioli,  etc.,  but  also  with  the  most  absurd 
prejudices  of  the  people  and  with  a  fanatic  priesthood.  To  add  to 
all  his  misery,  through  the  efforts  of  his  own  degenerate  brother 
Christopher,  his  old  mother  was  accused  of  witchcraft,  so  that  she 
was  saved  from  the  stake  only  by  the  greatest  exertions  and  after 
six  years  of  legal  contest. 

Kepler  was  also  forced  incidentally  to  pay  court  to  that  "co- 
quettish daughter  of  astronomy,"  astrology,  both  in  Gratz  and  in 
Prague,  in  order  to  keep  his  court  position 
and  earn  his  living.  This  was  done,  how- 
ever, with  very  little  regard  for  her,  and 
with  bitter  complaint  that  he  must  so  play 
the  charlatan.  It  all  had  its  humorous  side, 
however;  he  writes  in  one  place:  "This 
astrology  is  indeed  a  foolish  little  daugh- 
ter, but — lieber  Gott! — where  would  her 
mother,  the  highly  rational  astronomy,  be, 
if  she  did  not  have  this  foolish  offspring? 
The  world  is  even  more  foolish,  so  foolish 
in  fact,  that  this  sensible  old  mother  must 
for  her  own  benefit  cajole  and  deceive  it, 
through  her  daughter's  foolish,  idle  talk." 

And  although  on  the  whole  he  was  very 
fortunate  in  his  prophecies,  yet  he  says 
frankly:  "Since  the  guessing  is  after  all 
only  a  matter  of  Yes  or  No,  we  are  sure  to 
hit  the  mark  half  the  time,  and  miss  it  only 
the  other  half.  The  successful  guesses  are 
remembered  after  the  manner  of  women, 
but  the  failures  are  forgotten,  because  they 
are  nothing  peculiar,  and  so  the  astrologer 
is  still  held  in  honor."  Even  Wallenstein 
thought  once  of  making  Kepler  his  astrol- 
oger, and  met  him  in  Sagan,  after  he  had 
lost  his  professorship  in  Linz  through  the 
expulsion  of  the  protestants  under  Ferdinand  II.  But  Wallenstein 
saw  very  well  that  Kepler  did  not  believe  in  his  own  prophecies 


Kepler  Observes  a  Sun- 
Spot  which  He  Errone- 
ously Takes  for  Mer- 
cury.' 


\Opera  Omnia,  II  ,  793.  After  Dannemann.  This  observation  was  made  in  160;,  before  the 
invention  of  the  telescope.  Tradition,  dating  from  the  days  of  Charlemagne,  asserted  Mercury 
to  be  visible,  when  in  conjunction,  as  a  minute  dark  spot  on  the  surface  of  the  sun.  Allowing 
the  rays  of  the  sun  to  pass  through  a  narrow  orifice  in  a  dark  chamber,  Kepler  saw  in  the  image 
of  the  sun,  caught  on  a  paper  screen,  a  minute  flocculent  speck,  which  he  took  for  Mercury.  It 
was  a  sun-spot. 


406  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

himself,  and  so  he  gave  him  a  professorship  in  Rostock  instead,  a 
position  where  he  ran  against  the  same  old  difficulty  of  work  with- 
out salary. 

In  spite  of  all  these  distressing  circumstances,  Kepler  was  at 
least  a  fortunate  man  through  his  discoveries,  and  but  few  investi- 
gators can  have  tasted  such  hours  of  rapture  as  he.  It  was  after 
the  discovery  of  his  third  law,  that  he  could  write  : 

"But  now  nothing  more  holds  me  back  ;  a  year  and  a  half  ago  the  first  dawn, 
a  few  months  ago  the  full  day,  a  few  days  ago  the  pure  sun  of  the  most  wonderful 
contemplation,  have  come  upon  me.  Now  I  will  revel  in  holy  ecstacy  ;  now  will  I 
scoff  at  the  children  of  men,  with  the  simple  avowal  that  I  am  stealing  the  golden 
vessels  of  the  Egyptians,  in  order  to  build  a  tabernacle  for  my  God,  far  distant  from 
the  land  of  Egypt.  If  they  forgive,  I  shall  be  glad ;  if  they  are  angry,  I  shall  bear 
it;  here  I  cast  the  die,  and  write  a  book  to  be  read  by  my  contemporaries  or  by  pos- 
terity, it  matters  not;  it  may  wait  for  its  reader  thousands  of  years,  since  God  him- 
self waited  six  thousand  years  for  him  who  should  behold  his  work." 

After  this  preface  he  unrolls  in  his  favorite  work,  the  HannoTiice 
mundi  (1619),  a  picture  of  the  universe  which  would  not  cast  discredit 
upon  the  greatest  of  poets.  In  the  eyes  of  many  the  scheme,  how- 
ever, is  discrediting  to  an  astronomer,  for  it  contains,  besides  many 
glorious  thoughts  and  discoveries,  fanciful  speculations  in  regard  to 
the  earth-beast,  its  sleeping,  waking,  breathing,  etc.,  as  well  as  in 
regard  to  the  spiritual  relations  of  the  heavenly  bodies  to  one  an- 
other. We  may  be  allowed  to  quote  a  few  more  words  from  the 
epilogue,  in  order  to  show  the  beauty  of  the  language. 

"From  the  music  of  heaven  to  its  hearers,"  he  cries,  "from  the  muses  to 
Apollo,  the  great  chorister,  from  the  six  circling  planets,  that  discourse  the  music 
to  the  sun  which  in  the  midst  of  their  orbits  revolves  about  itself  alone,  without 
change  of  place ! " 

From  the  complete  harmony  obtaining  between  the  smallest 
and  greatest  movements  of  the  planets,  from  their  strong  tendency 
toward  the  center,  Kepler  inferred  not  only  that  the  sun  influenced 
the  planets,  but  that  the  latter  also  reacted  upon  the  sun,  which  he 
mystically  designates  as  the  contemplation  and  interchange  of  their 
homage. 

"What  the  nature  of  that  seeing  or  that  perception,  in  short,  the  nature  of  that 
soul  in  the  sun,  may  be,  it  is  difficult  to  guess ;  it  is,  however,  true  that  the  assump- 
tion of  the  six  principal  orbits  around  the  sun,  which  do  homage  to  the  latter  with 
constant  revolutions,  and  above  all  the  further  existence  of  harmony,  the  trace  of 
the  highest  wisdom  doing  homage  in  the  solar  system,  compels  me  to  the  assertion, 
that  not  only  from  the  sun  does  light  go  out  into  all  parts  of  the  world,  life  and 
warmth  as  from  the  heart,  motion  as  from  the  seat  of  power  and  might,  but  that 
also,   vice  i<ersa,   these  tributes  of  the  most  delightful  harmony  gather  from  all 


COPERNICUS,    lYCHO  BRAHB:,    ANU   KEPLER. 


407 


provinces  of  the  universe.      In  short,  in  the  sun  are  found  counsel  and  favor  for  the 
whole  kingdom  of  nature." 

This  continual  outbreaking  of  poetical  language  gives  to  Kepler's 
works  (of  which  we  have  received  in  modern  times  a  model  complete 
edition  by  Frisch^)  a  living  charm,  and  often  lends  to  them  a  trans- 
porting power.  He  took  occasion  to  speak  in  verse  only  in  inspired 
moments,  as  in  the  lines  given  above  from  the  Myste- 
rium  cosmographicum,  and  he  then  reaches  such  heights 
that  he  must  be  counted  among  the  great  "German 
classical  authors,"  discovered  by  Daniel  Strauss, 
"who  wrote  in  Latin."  Not  seldom  he  was  impelled 
to  set  forth  his  astronomical  discoveries  in  the  form 
of  popular  tales,  of  which  we  find  several  examples, 
among  his  works,  as  for  instance  his  story  of  Jupiter's 
satellites,  of  the  star  which  had  recently  appeared  in 
the  Swan,  and  his  "Dream  of  the  World."  Exceed- 
ingly vivid  episodes  are  also  frequently  found  in  his 
other  writings,  as  for  instance  in  his  work  on  the  new 
star,  which  had  appeared  with  great  radiance  in  the 
foot  of  Serpentarius,  in  1604,  It  was  this  appearance 
which  raised  again  the  question,  whether  the  heavens 
could  really  be  called  unchangeable,  according  to 
Aristotle,  when  new  stars  actually  appeared  in  it.  Did 
this  star  originate  recently  from  the  light-exhalations 
of  the  universe,  and  if  so,  were  perhaps  all  stars  of 
the  universe  such  incidental  productions  of  fate? 
Against  such  assumptions,  Kepler's  deeply  religious 
nature  struggled,  and  the  idea  of  Cicero  came  into 
his  mind,  that  just  as  well  might  Homer's  Iliad  hdixe 
been  thrown  together  (as  one  would  throw  dice)  from 
the  twenty-four  letters  of  the  alphabet,  as  the  har- 
mony of  the  universe  from  a  lot  of  whirling  atoms. 

Keplek's 

"Yesterday,  in  the  midst  of  my  meditations,"  he  writes,  "I  Astronomical 
was  called  to  the  table,  as  my  young  wife  was  serving  a  salad.  '  Do  Telescope  - 
you  think,'  I  asked,  'that  if  pewter  dishes,  lettuce-leaves,  grains  of 
salt,  drops  of  oil  and  vinegar,  with  hard-boiled  eggs,  had  been  flying  about  in  this 
room  higgledy-piggledy  since  creation,  chance  would  ever  have  been  able  to  gather 
them  together  to-day  into  a  salad  ? '  '  Certainly  not  into  so  well  and  skilfully  mixed 
a  one  as  this,'  answered  my  beautiful  wife." 


1  In  eight  volumes,  Frankfort,  1858— 1S72. 

SGonstruction  given  in  the  Dioptrics  (\(,\a].  After  Danneniann.  For  the  convex  and  concave 
lenses  of  the  Dutch  and  Galilean  telescopes  Kepler  substituted  two  suitably  disposed  convex 
lenses,  giving  an  inverted  but  clearer  image. 


408  IHK   ()Ht;N   COUKl. 

When  to  the  newly  discovered  telescope,  which  in  the  begin- 
ning was  very  imperfect  and  v/as  constructed  on  the  principle  of  the 
opera  glass,  he  had  given  the  arrangement  of  the  astronomical  tel- 
escope still  in  use,  he  addressed  the  new  instrument  in  the  preface 
to  his  Dioptrics  as  follows:  "O  knowledge-fraught  perspicil,  more 
precious  than  any  sceptre  !  Does  not  he  who  holds  thee  in  his  right 
hand,  stand  like  a  king  and  a  master  of  the  works  of  God?" 

As  often  as  I  try  to  search  out  in  the  history  of  German  inves- 
tigation the  prototype  of  the  practical  ideal  of  German  philosophy, 
the  ideal  of  Faust,  who,  wandering,  but  not  confused,  struggles 
forward  to  the  solution  of  the  great  world-problems,  I  always  come 
back  again  to  Kepler,  who,  by  his  profound  meditation,  embodied 
as  has  none  other,  the  specifically  German  bent  of  mind. 

How  proudly  he  asserts  in  his  Harmony  of  the  World,  that  he 
wrote  this  book  as  a  German,  according  to  the  German  manner  and 
habit  of  philosophising,  freely  and  without  constraint.  All  his  works 
and  all  his  actions  are  in  the  most  beautiful  accord  with  this  same 
reflective  German  spirit,  which  descends  to  the  profoundest  depths 
of  speculation,  yet  ever  remains  self-conscious.  He  declined  the 
call  to  Bologna  because  he  was  a  German,  and  did  not  wish  to  re- 
nounce German  liberty  of  speech  and  investigation ;  and  although 
in  constant  distress  in  Prague,  because  of  failure  to  receive  his 
salary,  he  answered  the  invitation  of  the  king  of  England,  that  only 
ingratitude  could  make  him  think  of  leaving  Austria,  his  second 
fatherland.  Without  envy  he  recognised  foreign  merit,  rejoiced 
over  Galileo's  discoveries,  and  admired  in  Copernicus  still  more 
than  his  learning,  his  "free  spirit."  Yet,  if  all  who  pass  judgment 
on  this  German  would  do  him  like  justice,  they  would  have  to  say 
with  Galileo:  "While  I  hold  Kepler  in  exceedingly  high  esteem 
on  account  of  his  fine  unprejudiced  mind,  yet  his  manner  of  philos- 
ophising is  radically  different  from  my  own." 


THE  NOTION  OF  A  CONTINUUM, 


BY  PROF.    ERNST  MACH. 

BY  a  continuum  is  understood  a  system  or  manifoldness  of  parts 
possessed  in  varying  degree  of  a  property  A,  such  that  be- 
tween any  two  parts  distant  a  finite  length  from  each  other,  an  in- 
finite number  of  other  parts  may  be  interpolated,  of  which  those 
that  are  immediately  adjacent  exhibit  only  infinitely  small  differ- 
ences with  respect  to  the  property  A. 

There  can  be  no  objection  to  such  a  system,  considered  as  a 
fiction  merely,  or  as  a  purely  arbitrary  ideal  construct.  But  the 
natural  inquirer,  who  is  not  exclusively  concerned  with  the  purely 
mathematical  point  of  view,  is  compelled  to  inquire  whether  there 
is  anything  in  nature  that  corresponds  to  such  a  fiction.  Space 
viewed  in  its  simplest  form  as  a  succession  of  points  in  a  straight 
line,  time  viewed  as  the  succession  of  the  elements  of  a  uniformly 
sounding  musical  note,  the  succession  of  colors  shown  by  the  spec- 
trum with  the  Fraunhofer  lines  obscured,  are  typical  instances  of 
the  kind  of  continua  presented  in  nature.  If  we  consider  such  a 
"continuum"  solely  in  the  light  of  facts,  it  will  be  seen  that  there 
is  nothing  perceptible  by  the  senses  corresponding  to  an  infinite 
number  of  parts  or  to  infinitely  minute  differences.  All  we  may  say 
is,  that  in  traversing  such  a  succession,  the  differences  between  the 
parts  increase  as  the  parts  move  away  from  each  other,  until 
ultimately  these  differences  admit  of  not  the  slightest  doubt ;  and 
again,  that  as  the  parts  approach  each  other  the  differences  decrease, 
that  afterwards  it  is  alternately  possible  and  impossible  to  distin- 
guish them,  according  to  chance  and  circumstances,  and  that  fi- 
nally it  is  altogether  impossible  to  do  so.  Points  of  space  and  time 
do  not  exist  for  sense-perception ;  there  exist  for  such,  only  spaces 
and  times  so  small  as  not  to  admit  of  more  minute  division  percep- 

1  f'anslated  from  the  VVdrvielehre  by  T.  J.  McCormack. 


4IO  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

tible  to  the  senses,  or  so  small  that  we  consciously  neglect  their 
size,  although  on  increased  attention  they  might  admit  of  resolu- 
tion into  component  elements.  The  possibility  of  passing  imper- 
ceptibly and  uninterruptedly  from  a  property  ^  to  a  property  A' , 
sharply  distinguishable  from  A,  is  the  important  point.  The  fact 
is,  that  any  two  terms  on  given  trial  are  either  distinguishable  or 
undistinguishable. 

It  is  possible  to  remove  a  large  number  of  parts  from  a  given 
sensory  continuum  without  causing  the  system  to  cease  giving  the 
impression  of  a  continuum.  If  we  imagine  a  large  number  of  nar- 
row equidistant  bands  of  color  cut  out  of  a  spectrum,  and  the  re- 
mainder pushed  together  until  the  parts  touch,  the  spectrum  will 
still  give  the  impression  of  a  color-continuum,  in  spite  of  the  inter- 
ruption of  continuity  in  the  wave-lengths  of  the  lines.  In  like  man- 
ner, an  ascending  musical  note,  if  the  intervals  between  the  rates  of 
vibration  be  sufficiently  small,  may  be  regarded  as  a  continuum,  and 
the  jolting  movement  produced  by  a  sufficiently  large  number  of 
successive  but  detached  stroboscopic  pictures  may  also  be  made  to 
appear  as  a  continuous  movement. 

If  the  parts  of  a  sensory  continuum  stood  forth  as  individual 
entities  and  were  distinguishable  with  absolute  accuracy,  the  em- 
ployment of  artificial  expedients,  as  the  use  of  measures  for  com- 
paring continua  of  the  same  kind  and  the  use  of  dividing  lines  for 
rendering  imperceptible  differences  of  space  distinct  by  means  of 
conspicuous  differences  in  color,  etc.,  would  be  superfluous.  But 
the  moment  we  introduce  such  artifices  as  being  superior  physically 
for  the  indication  of  the  differences,  we  abandon  the  domain  of  im- 
mediate sense-perception,  and  pursue  a  course  in  every  respect 
similar  to  that  of  substituting  the  thermometer  for  the  sensation  of 
heat.  A  distance  in  which  the  measure  is  contained  twice  or  three 
times,  is  then  twice  or  three  times  that  in  which  it  is  contained 
once  ;  and  the  hundredth  part  of  the  measure  corresponds  to  a  hun- 
dredth part  of  the  difference,  although  it  may  not  be  said  that  this 
difference  holds  good  for  direct  perception.  With  the  introduction 
of  the  measure,  a  new  definition  of  distance  or  difference  has  been 
introduced.  Judgments  of  difference  are  now  no  longer  formed 
from  simple  sense-perception,  but  are  reached  by  the  more  com- 
plex reaction  involved  in  the  application  of  the  measure;  and  the 
result  depends  upon  the  issue  of  the  experimental  test.  The  con- 
sideration last  adduced  may  be  profitably  called  to  the  attention 
of  that  still  large  body  of  thinkers  who   refuse  to   admit  that  the 


THE  NOTION  OF  A  CONTINUUM.  4II 

axioms  of  geometry  are  the  results  of  experience, — results  7wt  given 
by  direct  perception  when  metrical  concepts  are  introduced. 

The  employment  of  measures  suggests  the  employment  of  num- 
bers, but  the  use  of  the  latter  is  not  necessarily  entailed  until  it  is 
resolved  to  employ  only  one  measure,  which  is  multiplied  or  subdi- 
vided according  as  the  necessity  arises  for  a  larger  or  smaller  con- 
tinuum of  comparison.  In  using  a  measure  divided  into  absolutely 
equal  parts,  we  are  immediately  enabled  to  employ  all  the  numeral 
experiences  which  we  have  gained  from  our  study  of  discrete  objects. 
This  is  not  the  place  for  a  detailed  discussion  of  the  manner  in  which 
operations  of  counting  themselves  gave  rise  to  the  necessity  of  new 
numeral  concepts  far  transcending  the  bounds  of  the  original  system 
of  integer  positive  numbers  and  of  the  gradual  manner  in  which 
negative  and  fractional  numbers,  and  finally  the  entire  system  of 
rational  numbers,  came  into  being. 

If  a  unit  is  to  be  divided,  it  must  either  exhibit  natural  parts 
for  such  a  division,  as  for  example  do  many  fruits,  or  it  must  at  least 
permit  of  being  conceived  as  made  up  of  perfectly  homogeneous 
equivalent  parts.  The  early  appearance  of  unit-fractions  is  a  prob- 
able indication  that  division  was  learned  by  experiences  of  the  first- 
mentioned  kind,  and  that  the  skill  acquired  in  that  field  was  car- 
ried over  to  cases  of  the  second  class,  namely,  to  the  division  of 
continua.  It  is  here  apparent  from  the  simplest  instances  that 
the  number-system  which  originated  from  the  consideration  of  dis- 
crete objects  is  inadequate  for  the  representation  of  fluent  or  con- 
tinuous states.  For  instance,  the  common  fraction  1=0. 333333  .  .  . 
A  point  of  trisection,  in  other  words,  can  never  be  found  exactly  by 
decimal  subdivision,  however  minute.  The  ratios  of  certain  line- 
segments,  as  that  of  the  diagonal  to  the  side  of  the  square,  are  ab- 
solutely unrepresentable  by  rational  numbers,  as  Pythagoras  long 
ago  discovered,^  and  lead  immediately  to  the  concept  of  the  irra- 
tional.^ 

The  cases  of  this  are  innumerable.  It  may  be  expressed  by 
saying  that  "the  straight  line  is  infinitely  richer  in  point-individ- 
uals than  the  domain  of  rational  members  is  in  number-individuals."^ 
But  the  remark  is  applicable,  as  the  illustration  given  above  of  the 

1  Euclid's  ingenious  proof  of  this  proposition  is  found  in  his  Elements,  X,  117.  Compare  Can 
tor's  views  in  his  Geschichte  der  Mathematik,  pp.  154,  at  seq. 

2 The  irrational  number  \'p  is  the  limit  between  all  rational  numbers  (i)  the  squares  of  which 
are  less  and  (2)  the  squares  of  which  are  greater  than/.  In  tl;e  first  class  no  greatest,  and  in  the 
second  no  least,  number  can  be  assigned.  If  \ p  is  rational,  the  number  in  question  is  the  greatest 
of  the  first  and  the  least  of  the  second  class.  Compare  Tannery,  Thcoric  des  Fotutions,  Paris,  18S6 

3Dedekind,  Stetigkeii  itnd  irrationale  Zahlen,  Brunswick,  1892. 


412  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

point  of  trisection  shows,  quite  irrespective  of  the  irrational  feature, 
to  every  .y/^<:/a/ number-system.  We  might  say  i  is  a  relative  ir- 
rational number,  as  compared  with  the  decimal  system. 

Numbers,  which  were  originally  created  for  the  intellectual 
mastery  of  discrete  objects,  accordingly  prove  themselves  to  be  ab- 
solutely inadequate  for  the  mastery  of  continua  which  are  conceived 
as  inexhaustible,  be  these  real  or  fictitious.  Zeno's  assertion  of 
the  impossibility  of  motion  on  account  of  the  infinite  number  of 
the  points  that  had  to  be  traversed  between  the  initial  and  terminal 
stations,  was  admirably  refuted  in  this  sense  by  Aristotle,  who  re- 
marked that  "a  moving  object  does  not  move  by  numbers."^  The 
idea  that  we  are  obliged  to  exhaust  all  things  by  counting  is  due  to 
the  inappropriate  employment  of  a  method  which,  for  a  great  many 
cases,  is  quite  appropriate.  A  pathological  phenomenon  of  what 
might  be  called  the  counting-mania  actually  makes  its  appearance 
here.  No  one  will  be  inclined  to  discover  a  problem  in  the  fact  that 
the  series  of  natural  numbers  can  be  continued  upwards  as  far  as 
we  please,  and  consequently  can  never  be  completed ;  and  it  is  not 
a  whit  more  necessary  to  discover  a  problem  in  the  fact  that  the  di- 
vision of  a  number  into  smaller  and  smaller  parts  can  be  continued 
ad  libitum  and  consequently  never  completed. 

At  the  time  of  the  founding  of  the  infinitesimal  calculus,  and 
even  in  the  subsequent  period,  people  were  much  occupied  with 
paradoxes  of  this  character.  A  difficulty  was  found  in  the  fact  that 
the  expression  for  a  differential  was  never  exact,  save  when  the  dif- 
ferential had  become  infinitely  small, ^ — a  limit  which  could  never 
be  reached.  The  sum  of  non-infinitely  small  elements,  it  was  thus 
thought,  could  give  only  an  approximately  correct  result.  It  was 
sought  to  resolve  this  difficulty  in  all  sorts  of  ways.  But  the  actual 
practical  uses  to  which  the  infinitesimal  calculus  is  put  are  totally 
different  from  what  is  here  assumed,  as  the  simplest  example  will 
show,  and  are  affected  in  no  wise  whatever  by  the  imaginary  diffi- 
culty in  question. 

If  j('=„v"',  I  find  for  an  increment  dx  of  x  the  increment 

dy  =^  7/1  x"     ^  ax  -] ^- — - — -  x  '  ~  '  dx- 


1-2-3 

Having  this  result,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  function  x'"  reacts  in  a 
definite  manner  in  response  to  a  definite  operation,  namely,  that  of 

1  Hankel,  Geschichte  der  Mathematik,  Leipsic,  1874,  p.  149. 


THE  NOTION  OF  A  CONTINUUM.  413 

differentiation.  This  reaction  is  a  characteristic  mark  of  x'",  and 
stands  on  precisely  the  same  footing  as  the  bluish-green  coloring 
which  arises  from  dissolving  copper  in  sulphuric  acid.  The  num- 
ber of  terms  that  remain  standing  in  the  series  is  in  itself  indiffer- 
ent. But  the  reaction  is  simplified  by  taking  dx  so  small  that  the 
subsequent  terms  vanish  with  respect  to  the  first.  It  is  on  account 
of  this  simplification  only  that  dx  is  considered  very  small. 

In  a  curve  with  the  ordinate  s=wa:'"~^  it  is  seen  that  on  in- 
creasing X  by  dx,  the  quadrature  of  the  curve  is  increased  by  a  small 
amount  of  surface,  the  expression  for  which  when  dx  is  very  small 


is  simplified  by  reduction  to  the  form  ?;/.v"'~^^/a-.  In  response  to 
the  same  operation  as  before,  and  under  the  same  simplifying  cir- 
cumstances, the  quadrature  reacts  as  the  familiar  function  x'"  re- 
acts.    We  recognise  the  function,  thus,  by  its  reaction. 

If  the  mode  in  which  the  quadrature  reacted  did  not  accord  with 
the  mode  of  reaction  of  any  function  known  to  us,  the  entire  method 
would  leave  us  in  the  lurch.  We  should  then  have  to  resort  to 
mechanical  quadratures;  we  should  actually  be  compelled  to  put 
up  with  finite  elements;  we  should  have  to  sum  up  finite  numbers 
of  these  elements;  and  in  such  an  event  the  result  would  be  really 
inexact. 

The  twofold  salto  mortale  from  the  finite  to  the  infinitely  small, 
and  back  again  from  this  to  the  finite,  is  accordingly  nowhere  ac- 
tually performed ;  on  the  contrary,  the  situation  here  is  quite  simi- 
ar  to  that  in  every  other  domain  of  research.  Acquaintance  with 
mathematical  and  geometrical  facts  is  acquired  by  actual  employ- 
ment with  those  facts.  These,  on  making  their  appearance  again, 
are  recognised,  and  when  they  appear  in  part  only,  they  are  com- 
pleted in  thought,  in  so  far  as  they  are  uniquely  determined. ^ 

The  manner  in  which  the  conception  of  a  continuum  has  arisen 

1  It  is  well  known  that  differentials  may  be  avoided  by  operating  with  differential  coefficients 
which  are  the  limiting  values  of  the  difference-quotients.  Timid  minds  which  find  solace  in  this 
mode  of  conception  will  be  content  to  put  up  with  the  cumbrousness  sometimes  involved. 


414  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

will  now  be  clear.  In  a  sensory  system  the  parts  of  which  exhibit 
fluxional  characteristics  not  readily  admitting  of  distinction,  we 
cannot  retain  the  single  parts  either  in  the  senses  or  in  the  imagina- 
tion with  any  certainty.  To  be  able  to  recognise  definitely,  there- 
fore, the  relations  obtaining  between  the  parts  of  such  systems,  we 
have  to  employ  artificial  devices  such  as  measures.  The  mode  of 
action  of  the  measures  is  then  substituted  for  the  mode  of  action  of 
the  senses.  Immediate  contact  with  the  system  is  lost  by  this  pro- 
cedure ;  and,  furthermore,  since  the  technology  of  measurement  is 
founded  on  the  technology  of  counting,  numbers  are  substituted  for 
the  measures  precisely  as  the  measures  were  substituted  for  direct 
sense-perception.  After  we  have  once  performed  the  operation  of 
dividing  a  unit  into  component  parts,  and  after  we  have  once  no- 
ticed that  the  parts  exhibit  the  same  properties  as  the  original  unit, 
then  no  obstacle  presents  itself  to  our  continuing  in  thought  to  in- 
finity the  subdivision  of  the  number  which  stands  for  the  measure. 
But  in  doing  so  we  imagine  that  we  have  also  divided  both  the 
measure  and  system  that  is  measured,  into  infinity.  And  this  leads 
us  to  the  notion  of  a  continuum  having  the  properties  which  we 
specified  at  the  beginning  of  this  article. 

But  it  is  not  permissible  to  assume  that  everything  that  can  be 
done  with  a  sign  or  a  number  can  also  be  done  with  the  thing  desig- 
nated by  that  sign  or  number.  Admitting  that  the  number  which  is 
employed  to  specify  a  distance  can  be  divided  into  infinity  without 
any  possibility  whatever  of  meeting  with  obstacles,  still  the  possi- 
bility of  such  division  by  no  means  necessarily  applies  to  the  dis- 
tance itself.  There  is  nothing  that  presents  the  appearance  oi  a  con- 
tinuum but  may  still  be  composed  of  discrete  elements,  provided 
only  those  elements  be  sufficiently  small  as  compared  with  our 
smallest  practically  applicable  measures,  or  provided  only  they  be 
sufficiently  numerous. 

Wherever  we  imagine  we  discover  a  continuum,  all  we  can  say 
is,  that  we  can  institute  the  same  observations  with  respect  to  the 
smallest  observable  parts  of  the  system  in  question  as  we  can  in 
the  case  of  larger  systems,  and  that  we  observe  that  the  behavior 
of  those  parts  is  quite  similar  to  that  of  the  parts  of  larger  systems. 
The  length  to  which  these  observations  may  be  carried  can  be 
decided  by  experience  only.  Where  experience  raises  no  protest, 
we  may  hold  fast  to  the  notion  of  a  continuum,  which  is  in  no  wise 
injurious  and  represents  a  convenient  fiction  only. 


THE  SO-CALLED  MYSTERY  PLAYS. 


BY   E.    F.    L.    GAUSS. 

'T'^HE  return  during  the  coming  summer  of  the  Passion-Play  at 
J.  Oberammergau  in  Bavaria  has  revived  and  increased  the  in- 
terest in  this  most  famous  of  all  mystery-plays,  perhaps  more  so  in 
this  country  than  elsewhere.  It  may  be  timely,  therefore,  to  inquire 
into  the  history  and  nature  of  these  plays,  with  special  reference  to 
the  one  above  named,  which  dates  in  its  present  form  from  the 
year  1633,  and  has  since  then  been  repeated  every  ten  years,  save 
when  adverse  circumstances  prevented  its  performance. 

While  religious  plays  of  a  similar  nature  existed  before  the 
Christian  era,  and  some  are  known  of  more  modern  people  other 
than  Christians,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Christian  mystery-plays  are 
as  old  as  the  story  of  Christ.  From  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
services,  there  was  more  or  less  of  a  dramatic  element  in  them, 
which  has  developed  with  the  Church.  This  is  due  to  the  instinct 
in  man  to  express  his  religious  sentiments  and  feelings  by  act  as 
well  as  by  word,  and  is  more  or  less  shared  by  all  religious  services. 
Indeed,  every  art  of  man  has  grown  out  of  this  human  impulse  and 
need.  Architecture,  as  an  art,  began  with  the  erection  of  temples 
to  the  gods,  giving  painting  and  sculpture  the  necessary  foundation 
and  the  opportunity  for  development.  If  it  were  not  innate  in  these 
arts  to  give  expression  to  the  spiritually  highest  conception,  there 
would  not  be  the  revolt  against  the  realistic  tendencies  of  our 
present  time. 

The  pure  dramatic  art  especially,  representing  the  highest  ideal 
types,  not  in  colors  and  dead  materials  as  sculpture  and  painting,  but 
by  imitation  through  living  figures,  has  sprung  from  the  unavoidable 
acting  in  religious  services.  We  need  only  point  to  the  worship  of 
Dionysos  by  the  Greeks,  which  consisted  chiefly  in  mimic  represen- 
tations of  the  exploits  of  the  god. 


4i6 


THE  OPEN  COURT. 


But  as  the  religious  conceptions  grew  from  the  crude  to  higher 
ideals,  culminating  in  the  dynamic  God-idea  of  the  Christian  faith, 
so  grew  the  ideals  of  dramatic  representation  upon  the  religious 
field.  Whoever  is  familiar  with  the  services  and  ceremonies  of  the 
Roman  and  Greek  Catholic  Church,  must  have  been  struck  by  the 
dramatic  force  in  them.  But  especially  on  certain  holidays  of  the 
Church,  such  as  Christmas,  the  Feast  of  the  Wise  Men  from  the 
East,  Palm   Sunday,  Good   Friday,  the  day  of  Christ's  burial,  ami 


SATAN,  ATTIRED  AS  A  BISHOP,  SLAYS  Tf 

PREACHER  ZACHARIJAH  WITH  THE 

ASSISTANCE  OF  THE  COOK. 


A. 

%" 

aA 

^cL 

%:/     ^->     -        ??ft. 

m 

3.    THE  SON  IS  SLA1> 


^ 

■  ^.^^k 

t^^ 

^^^^3 

'J 

m 

^m 

"^^^ 

^^Mk 

^*^'S,e 

^^i^^s 

2.    SATAN  APPEARS  IN  DISGUISE  AT  THE 
VINTAGE. 


4.    SATAN  ANNOUNCES  THE  DEATH  OF  THE 
SON  AT  THE  MOUTH  OF  HELL. 


Scenes  from  M.  Jacob  Ruff's  Religious  Dramatisation  of  the  Story  of 
Job  and  the  Parable  of  the  Vineyard. 

Satan  is  introduced  as  sowing  the  seeds  of  sedition  in  the  minds  of  the  servants  of 
the  vineyard  and  induces  them  to  slay  the  son  of  their  master.  • 

Easter  Sunday,  the  services  have  unfolded  from  an  early  date  into 
actual  dramatic  plays.      Particularly  striking  among  these  in  some 

1  Performed  at  Zurich,  1539  A.  D.,  on  May  26.     From  Konnecke,  after  contemporaneous  illus- 
trations. 


THE   SO-CALLED   MYSTERY-PLAYS. 


417 


countries  are  the  representations  of  Christ's  entrance  into  Jerusa- 
lem on  Palm  Sunday  and  of  his  resurrection  on  Easter  Day.  In 
the  latter,  priests  dressed  as  women  approach  the  tomb,  and  upon 
hearing  the  assurance  of  the  angel  seated  there,  "He  is  not  here, 
he  is  risen  !  "  return  to  the  altar,  announcing  to  the  assembled  con- 
gregation :  "Christ  is  risen  !  "  The  great  processions  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church  are  to  this  day  dramatic  representations  of  features  in 
the  life  of  Christ  or  in  the  history  of  the  Church. 

The  mystery-plays  in  all  countries  were  largely  of  the  same 
character,  since  they  have  the  same  foundation  and  the  same  origin, 
the  coloring  only  varying  in  small  measure  with  the  characteristics 
and  peculiar  religious  conceptions  of  the  people.  They  reached 
their  climax  in  the  latter  half  of  the  middle  ages,  when  the  perform- 


GOD  THE  FATHER  SATAN  GOD  THE  SON 

The  Main  Actors  in  the  Medieval  Mystery-Plays. 

ance  of  the  larger  plays  lasted  several  days.  Their  texts,  taken  from 
the  Gospels  and  the  legends  of  the  Church,  were  mostly  crude  and, 
while  generally  written  in  the  language  of  the  country,  profusedly 
interspersed  with  Latin  words  and  phrases.  As  a  rule  their  authors 
were  clerics,  in  most  cases  monks  or  nuns.  But  while  the  poetic 
value  of  the  mystery-plays  was  but  small,  we  may  assume  that  they 
were  all  most  excellently  presented  as  to  acting  and  scenic  effect. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  the  great  solemnity  of  these  plays 
did  not  protect  them  against  the  intrusion  of  jokes  and  comic  inter- 
mezzos, for  which  an  opportunity  was  offered  in  the  part  played 
by  the  devil,  the  deeds  of  Judas,  and  the  bitterness  of  the  Jews. 
The  latter  especially  fared  ill  in  these  plays,  and  it  may  be  supposed 


1  From  Bilderatlas  zur  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Nationallitteratur,  by  Dr.  Gus^av  Konnecke, 
Marburg,  1895,  p.  93. 


4l8  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

that  their  portraiture  in  them  had  not  a  little  to  do  with  the  con- 
tempt in  which  the  Jews  were  held  in  the  middle  ages. 

The  oldest  of  the  passion  plays  known  is  that  of  St.  Gall, 
Switzerland,  which  came  down  to  us  from  the  fourteenth  century. 
In  England  the  mystery-plays  were  generally  only  performed  in 
connexion  with  the  processions  on  Corpus  Christi  day.  In  Austria, 
the  Tyrol,  and  Germany,  they  were  prevalent  up  to  the  eighteenth 
century,  while  in  France  a  special  community,  the  "Confr^rie  de 
la  Passion,"  was  founded  for  the  purpose  of  producing  and  enact- 
ing passion-plays.  From  the  north  of  France  we  have  only  mys- 
tery-plays of  the  fifteenth  century,  but  these  in  large  numbers.  It 
is  worthy  of  notice  that  while  Italy  is  the  centre  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  where  its  ceremonies  are  matters  of  daily  observance  and 
therefore  most  familiar  to  the  people,  we  know  of  only  one  Italian 
passion-play,  and  that  was  published  as  late  as  1888  at  Turin. 

The  performance  of  the  mystery-plays  was,  as  indicated  before, 
originally  part  of  the  church-services  and  very  simple.  The  per- 
formers were,  as  a  rule,  either  priests  or  members  of  sacred  orders, 
monks  or  nuns.  The  latter  were  at  one  time  very  prominent  in 
them,  because  the  Virgin  and  Mary  Magdalene  were  necessarily 
represented. 

One  of  the  simplest  among  the  early  plays  consisted  in  "The 
Lamentations  of  Mary"  at  the  death  of  her  son,  forming  the  lyric  in- 
troduction to  the  celebration  of  Easter.  Soon,  however,  the  mystery- 
plays  became  in  a  measure  worldly,  inasmuch  as  they  were  played 
by  worldly  companies  in  public  places,  generally  at  fairs  and  marts. 
In  fact,  the  name  of  these  latter  in  some  modern  languages,  partic- 
ularly in  German,  is  derived  from  "missa"  or  "mass,"  because 
they  ordinarily  took  place  in  connexion  with  the  observance  of  the 
more  important  church  feasts. 

On  such  occasions  the  mystery-plays  were  performed  upon 
special  stages,  roughly  erected  in  the  market-places,  or  even  more 
commonly  in  the  street  between  the  houses,  extending  from  one 
side  to  the  other.  These  stages  ordinarily  consisted  of  three  di- 
visions, heaven,  earth  and  hell,  which  could  be  opened  to  rear  and 
front,  or  on  large  places  to  all  four  sides,  so  that  the  performance 
could  be  witnessed   by  all   the  people  gathered  around  the  stage. 

One  of  the  most  characteristic  mystery-plays  of  the  middle 
ages  was  that  of  the  "Wise  and  Foolish  Virgins,"  which  was  very 
popular  for  several  centuries,  especially  in  Germany.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  this  play  Christ  (the  ^'dominica persona,^'  as  he  was  called 
in  most  of  the  mystery-plays)  appears  in  the  uppermost  part  of  the 


THE  SO-CALLED  MYSTERY-PLAYS. 


419 


Stage  (heaven),  surrounded  by  Mary  and  the  angels.  Then  the 
virgins  come  upon  the  scene  in  the  middle  part  of  the  stage  (earth). 
The  story  is  played  as  it  is  related  in  Matthew  with  some  additions, 
showing  Mary  interceding  for  the  foolish  virgins.  Thereupon  the 
lower  part  of  the  stage  (the  jaws  of  hell)  hitherto  closed,  opens. 
Lucifer  and  a  host  of  devils  and  of  the  damned  are  seen.  They 
remind   Christ  that  he  had  promised  to  be  a  just  judge  and  claim 


Old  English  Mystery  Play. 

As  performed  on  a  portable  stage  erected  in  a  public  market-place, 
usually  on  the  occasion  of  some  church  festival. 


the  foolish  virgins,  who,  after  repeated  vain  intercessions  from  Mary, 
are  delivered  up  to  the  Prince  of  Darkness,  and  are  bound  by  the 
devils  with  chains,  and  dragged  below.  They  disappear  with  the 
cry  of  despair,  "We  deserve  the  wrath  of  God,  we  are  eternally 
lost !  "  while  above,  Christ,  Mary,  the  angels,  and  the  wise  virgins 
are  seen  in  blissful  union.  Thus  ends  the  most  dramatic  of  all 
mystery-plays  of  old.      How  powerful  the  effect  of  these  plays  was 


420  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

upon  the  spectators,  is  shown  by  the  case  of  Frederic,  Landgrave 
of  Thuringia,  who,  upon  witnessing  one  of  the  performances  of  this 
play  just  described,  fell  into  an  hysterical  state,  which  deprived 
him  of  his  reason  and  caused  his  death  three  years  after. 

Aside  from  some  minor  performances  connected  with  the  ser- 
vices of  the  Catholic  Church,  nothing  is  left  in  our  days  of  the  old 
mystery-plays,  except  the  great  Passion-Play  at  Oberammergau, 
and  in  minor  form  in  some  other  German  and  Swiss  villages,  refined 
and  purified  in  conception  as  well  as  in  its  dramatic  production. 
The  town  of  Oberammergau  itself  is  of  historic  interest.  The  Ro- 
mans used  the  place  as  a  trading-post  and  called  it  Coveliaca.  It 
has  always  been  a  thrifty  village  latterly,  especially  in  certain  in- 
dustries connected  with  the  religious  life  of  the  Catholic  people.  It 
is  not  known  whether  mystery-piays  were  performed  in  the  town  in 
the  middle  ages  or  previously,  but  there  are  strong  indications  that 
such  was  the  case. 

However  this  may  be,  the  fact  is  authenticated  that  in  1633  the 
present  Passion-Play  was  first  produced  there.  It  came  about  in 
this  wise  :  In  the  year  named  the  plague  visited  that  neighborhood 
and  claimed  a  great  many  victims  in  the  village.  The  inhabitants 
in  their  simple  faith  trusted  that  God  would  send  them  succor,  and 
they  made  a  vow  to  perform  "the  great  atoning-sacrifice  upon  Cal- 
vary to  the  glory  of  God."  The  vow  was  enthusiastically  partici- 
pated in  by  all  the  people  of  the  town  and  piously  carried  out. 
Miraculously — as  the  people  looked  upon  it — the  plague  ceased, 
and  in  their  gratitude  to  their  deliverer  and  in  their  desire  to  per- 
petuate their  thanks  through  their  children,  the  godly  peasants 
resolved  to  repeat  the  performance  every  ten  years,  the  present  year 
closing  the  twenty-sixth  decade. 

Originally  the  performances  took  place  in  the  most  primitive 
way  at  the  cemetery  of  the  village,  but  the  play  gradually  attracted 
large  numbers  of  people,  who  now  flock  to  witness  it  from  all  parts 
of  the  globe,  so  that  it  soon  became  necessary  to  erect  a  play-house 
in  the  village  and  to  repeat  the  play  a  number  of  times  during  the 
season.  But  not  until  1890  was  there  anything  but  a  board-fence 
surrounding  the  seats  of  the  auditorium,  beside  the  spacious  stage, 
all  uncovered.  This  year  there  is  a  large  and  commodious  build- 
ing, costing  62,000  dollars,  with  a  seating  capacity  of  from  4-5000, 
still  partly  without  a  roof,  as  is  also  the  greater  portion  of  the  stage. 
The  auditorium,  fitted  out  with  folding-chairs,  is  so  well  arranged 
that  every  foot  of  the  stage  is  clearly  in  view  from  even  the  cheap- 
est seat,  and  the  acoustic  properties  of  the  hall  are  most  perfect. 


THE  SO-CALLED  MYSTERY-PLAYS.  421 

The  stage  is  immense,  representing  chiefly  the  streets  and  build- 
ings of  Jerusalem  at  the  time  of  Christ.  Decorative  paintings  show 
the  original  "play-ground"  upon  the  cemetery,  the  old  commercial 
roads  of  the  Germans  ar.d  biblical  scenes.  Everything  is  most 
artistic. 

The  text  of  the  Passion-Play  was  originally  of  the  same  crude- 
ness  that  marked  the  early  mystery-plays,  and  is  claimed  to  have 
been  written  by  one  of  the  monks  of  the  neighboring  monastery  of 
Ettal.  In  the  course  of  time,  however,  the  words  were  repeatedly 
improved,  until  the  drama  reached  a  high  perfection  in  its  present 
form,  which  was  given  it  in  1850  by  the  priest  of  the  village,  Dai- 
senberger.  This  pious  man  was  for  many  years  the  spiritual  guide 
of  the  villagers,  and  to  his  wise  and  energetic  efforts  and  zeal  is  due 
the  great  interest  of  the  entire  world  in  the  Passion-Play,  which 
never  fails  to  make  a  deep  impression  upon  every  spectator  of  what- 
ever creed  and  views  he  may  be.  The  performers  are  all  people  of 
the  village,  and  those  impersonating  the  more  important  characters 
generally  play  them  a  number  of  seasons,  achieving  thereby  inter- 
national reputation. 

The  present  year  will  bring  an  almost  complete  change  in  the 
cast,  and  much  is  expected,  especially  of  the  two  persons  who  bear 
the  roles  of  Christ  and  Mary.  There  is  much  music  in  the  play,  and 
the  choruses  are  pronounced  by  experts  exceptionally  fine. 

Oberammergau  is  very  picturesquely  situated  between  high 
mountains  about  2550  feet  above  sea-level,  and  the  highest  of  the 
mountains  overlooking  the  village,  the  Kofel,  is  fittingly  crowned 
by  an  immense  stone-group  of  the  Crucifixion,  towering  above  the 
summit  more  than  forty  feet.  This  fine  piece  of  sculpture  was  erect- 
ed in  1875  by  the  admiring  friend  of  the  villagers,  King  Louis  II. 
of  Bavaria. 


THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  MAGIC. 


HE    EDIl'OK 


[concluded.] 


AFTER  the  old  magic  had  retreated  to  the  dingy  haunts  of  for- 
-  tune-tellers  and  to  the  equivocal  atmosphere  of  spiritualistic 
stances,  leading  the  lingering  life  of  a  consumptive,  modern  magic 
developed  rapidl}'  and  is  now  becoming  more  and  more  fascinating. 

In  speaking  of  modern  magic,  we  refer  to  the  art  of  the  pres- 
tidigitator, and  exclude  from  its  domain  the  experiments  of  hypno- 
tism as  well  as  the  vulgar  lies  of  fraud.  There  is  no  magic  in  the 
psychosis  of  an  hysterical  subject  who  at  the  hypnotiser's  suggestion 
becomes  the  prey  of  hallucinations  ;  nor  is  there  any  art  in  the  de- 
ceptions of  the  fortune-teller,  whose  business  will  vanish  when  the 
public  ceases  to  be  credulous  and  superstitious.  The  former  is  a 
disease,  the  latter  mere  fraud.  Magic  proper  (i.  e.,  the  artifices  of 
prestidigitation)  is  produced  by  a  combination  of  three  factors : 
(])  legerdemain  proper,  or  sleight  of  hand;  (2)  psychological  illu- 
sions, and  (3)  surprising  feats  of  natural  science  with  clever  con- 
cealment of  their  true  causes.  The  success  of  almost  ever}'  trick 
depends  upon  the  introduction  of  these  three  factors. 

The  throwing  of  cards  is  mere  dexterity  ;  Zollner's  famous  fig- 
ures of  parallel  lines  having  an  apparent  inclination  toward  one 
another  is  a  pure  sense-illusion  (see  the  cut  on  page  426);  so  is  the 
magical  swing  ;  while  fire-eating  (or  better,  fire-breathing)  is  a 
purely  ph3'sical  experiment.  But  it  goes  without  saying  that  there 
is  scarcely  any  performance  of  genuine  prestidigitation  which  is 
not  a  combination  of  all  these  elements. 

The  production  of  a  bowl  of  water  with  living  fishes  in  it  is  a 
combination  of  dexterity  with  psychology.  The  bowl,  covered  with 
an  India  rubber  membrane,  hangs  in  a  running  sling  fastened  to  a 
cord,  at  the  back  of  the  performer,  who  exhibits  to  the  audience 
a   napkin,    and   while   showing   them    that    it    contains    nothing    by 


THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  MAGIC.  423 

spreading  it  out  before  their  eyes,  he  bows  slightly  and  slips  the 
bowl  into  the  napkin.  Seizing  the  bowl  and  taking  off  the  India 
rubber  membrane  together  with  the  napkin  is  the  work  of  a  mo- 
ment;  and  yet  it  is  nothing  but  dexterity,  so  tempered  with  decep- 
tion that  the  audience  (unless  initiated  into  the  trick)  cannot  dis- 
cover the  cause  of  the  bowl's  appearance. 

When  a  performer  makes  a  dollar  disappear  by  holding  it  up 
in  his  left  hand  and  catching  it  with  his  right,  we  have  a  psychical 
illusion.  The  movement  of  the  right  hand  merely  diverts  the  at- 
tention, for  the  dollar  remains  in  the  left  hand  and  is  hidden,  while 
the  right  hand  in  which  every  spectator  expects  it  to  be,  is  slowly 
opened  and  shown  to  be  empty. 

The  trick  with  the  glass  dial  (which  is  now  exhibited  by  both 
Mr.  Kellar  and  Mr.  Hermann,  the  nephew  of  the  late  Alexander 
Hermann)  is  purely  physical.  The  machinery  used  by  them  is 
apparently  different,  though  Mr.  Kellar's  apparatus  is  the  more 
perfect;  for  in  neither  case  is  any  sleight  of  hand  needed  nor  any 
psychological  diversion,  except  in  letting  the  accomplice  behind 
the  stage  know  the  number  to  which  he  should  point. 

As  an  instance  of  a  wonderful  trick  which  is  a  mere  sense-illu- 
sion we  mention  the  magic  swing,  which  is  explained  by  Albert  A. 
Hopkins  in  his  comprehensive  book  on  magic ^  as  follows: 

"Those  who  are  to  participate  in  the  apparent  gyrations  of  the  swing — and 
there  may  be  quite  a  number  who  enjoy  it  simultaneously — are  ushered  into  a  small 
room.  From  a  bar  crossing  the  room,  near  the  ceiling,  hangs  a  large  swing,  which 
is  provided  with  seats  for  a  number  of  people.  After  the  people  have  taken  their 
places,  the  attendant  pushes  the  car  and  it  starts  into  oscillation  like  any  other 
swing.  The  room  door  is  closed.  Gradually  those  in  it  feel  after  three  or  four 
movements  that  their  swing  is  going  rather  high,  but  this  is  not  all.  The  appai'ent 
amplitude  of  the  oscillations  increases  more  and  more,  until  presently  the  whole 
swing  seems  to  whirl  completely  over,  describing  a  full  circle  about  the  bar  on 
which  it  hangs.  To  make  the  thing  more  utterly  mysterious,  the  bar  is  bent  crank 
fashion,  the  swing  continues  apparently  to  go  round  and  round  this  way,  imparting 
a  most  weird  sensation  to  the  occupants,  until  its  movements  begin  gradually  to 
cease  and  the  complete  rotation  is  succeeded  by  the  usual  back  and  forth  swinging. 
The  door  of  the  room  is  opened,  and  the  swinging  party  leave.  Those  who  have 
tried  it  say  the  sensation  is  most  peculiar. - 

"The  illusion  is  based  on  the  movements  of  the  room  proper.     During  the 

^Magic,  Stage  Illusions,  and  Scientific  Diversions,  Including  Trick  Photography.  Compiled 
and  edited  by  Albeit  A.  Hopkins.  With  400  illustrations.  New  York  :  Munn  &  Co.  1898.  Price, 
$2.50.  We  noticed  this  book  in  the  January  number  of  The  Ope'n  Court,  but  are  glad  to  call 
our  readers'  attention  to  it  again,  as  it  will  be  a  welcome  addition  to  the  library  of  those  who 
enjoy  the  seances  of  our  prestidigitators  and  would  like  to  possess  a  work  of  ready  reference  on 
the  subject. 

2  See  the  illustrations  on  pages  424  and  425.  The  illustration  on  page  424  shows  the  true 
position  of  the  swing,  that  on  page  425  shows  the  illusion  produced  by  a  ride  in  the  swing. 


424 


THE  OPEN  COURT. 


entire  exhibition  the  swing  is  practically  stationery,  while  the  room  rotates  about 
the  suspending  bar.   At  the  beginning  of  operations  the  swing  may  be  given  a  slight 


True  Position  of  the  Swing. 

push  ;  the  operators  outside  the  room  then  begin  to  swing  the  room  itself,  which  is 
really  a  large  box  journaled  on  the  swing  bar,  starting  it  off  to  correspond  with  the 


THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  MAGIC. 


425 


movements  of  the  swing.    They  swing  it  back  and  forth,  increasing  the  arc  through 
which  it  moves  until  it  goes  so  far  as  to  make  a  complete  rotation.     The  operatives 


Illusion  Produced  by  a  Ride  in  the  Swing. 


do  this  without  special  machinery,  taking  hold  of  the  sides  and  corners  of  the  box 
or  ' '  room. "  At  this  time  the  people  in  the  swing  imagine  that  the  room  is  stationary 


426 


THE  OPEN  COURT. 


while  they  are  whirling  through  space.  After  keeping  this  up  for  some  time,  the 
movement  is  brought  gradually  to  a  stop,  a  sufficient  number  of  back  and  forth 
swings  being  given  at  the  //;/«/(■  to  carry  out  the  illusion  to  the  end. 

"  The  room  is  as  completely  furnished  as  possible,  everything  being,  of  course, 
fastened  in  place.  What  is  apparently  a  kerosene  lamp  stands  on  a  table,  near  at 
hand.  It  is  securely  fastened  to  the  table,  which  in  its  turn  is  fastened  to  the  floor, 
and  the  light  is  supplied  by  a  small  incandescent  lamp  within  the  chimney,  but 
concealed  by  the  shade.  The  visitor  never  imagines  that  it  is  an  electric  lamp,  and 
naturally  thinks  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  a  kerosene  lamp  to  be  inverted 
without  disaster,  so  that  this  adds  to  the  deception  materially.  The  same  is  to  be 
said  of  the  pictures  hanging  on  the  wall,  of  the  cupboard  full  of  chinaware,  of  the 
chair  with  a  hat  on  it,  and  of  the  baby  carriage.  All  contribute  to  the  mystifica- 
tion. Even  though  one  is  informed  of  the  secret  before  entering  the  swing,  the 
deception  is  said  to  be  so  complete  that  passengers  involuntarily  seize  the  arms  of 
the  seats  to  avoid  being  precipitated  below." 

The  illusion  is  purely  an  instance  of 
misguided  judgment,,  which  is  commonly 
but  erroneously  called  illusion  of  the 
senses^  and  belongs  to  the  same  category 
as  the  well-known  Zollner  figures  men- 
tioned above  and  consisting  of  heavy  lines 
crossed  slantingly  by  lighter  lines.  The 
heavy  lines  are  parallel  but  appear  to 
diverge  in  the  direction  of  the  slant.  (See 
cut.  ) 

To  conjure  ghosts  has  alwa3's  been 
the  highest  ambition  of  performers  of  ma- 
gical tricks  and  we  know  that  the  magic 
lantern  has  been  used  for  this  purpose 
since  mediaeval  days.  Benvenuto  Cellini 
chronicles  a  strange  story  in  his  fascinating 
biography,  which  we  recapitulate  in  Mr. 
Hopkins's  words  : 

"Cellini,  as  guileless  as  a  child  in  matters  of  science,  desiring  to  study  sor- 
cery, applied  to  a  Sicilian  priest  who  was  a  professed  dabbler  in  the  occult  art. 
One  dark  night  they  repaired  to  the  ruins  of  the  Coliseum  at  Rome  ;  the  monk 
described  a  circle  on  the  ground  and  placed  himself  and  the  great  goldsmith  within 
its  mystic  outlines  ;  a  fire  was  built,  intoxicating  perfumes  cast  on  it,  and  soon  an 
impenetrable  smoke  arose.  The  man  of  the  cowl  then  waved  his  wand  in  the  air, 
pronounced  sundry  cabalistic  words,  and  legions  of  demons  were  seen  dancing  in 
the  air,  to  the  great  terror  of  Cellini.  The  story  of  this  spirit  seance  reads  like  an 
Arabian  tale,  but  it  is  easily  explainable.  The  priest  had  a  brother  confederate 
concealed  among  the  ruins,  who  manipulated  a  concave  mirror,  by  means  of  which 
painted  images  were  thrown  on  the  smoke." 


Zollner's  Illu.sion. 


For  an  explanation  of  similar  cases  of  misguided  judgment  see  7'/ie  Monist,  Vol.  III.,  p.  152. 


THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  MAGIC.  427 

The  same  author  describes  the  further  perfection  of  the  art  of 
conjuring  ghosts  by  Robertson  and  then  by  Mr.  Pepper,  as  follows  : 

"In  the  height  of  the  French  Revolution,  when  the  guillotine  reeked  with 
blood  and  the  ghastly  knitting-women  sat  round  it  counting  the  heads  as  they  fell 
into  the  basket,  a  Belgian  optician,  named  Etienne  Gaspard  Robertson,  arrived  in 
Paris,  and  opened  a  wonderful  exhibition  in  an  abandoned  chapel  belonging  to  the 
Capuchin  convent.  The  curiosity-seekers  who  attended  these  seances  were  con- 
ducted by  ushers  down  dark  flights  of  stairs  to  the  vaults  of  the  chapel  and  seated 
in  a  gloomy  crypt  shrouded  with  black  draperies  and  pictured  with  the  emblems  of 
mortality.  An  antique  lamp,  suspended  from  the  ceiling,  emitted  a  flame  of  spectral 
blue.  When  all  was  ready  a  rain  and  wind  storm,  with  thunder  accompanying, 
began.  Robertson  extinguished  the  lamp  and  threw  various  essences  on  a  brazier 
of  burning  coals  in  the  center  of  the  room,  whereupon  clouds  of  odoriferous  incense 
filled  the  apartment.  Suddenly,  with  the  solemn  sound  of  a  far-off  organ,  phan- 
toms of  the  great  arose  at  the  incantations  of  the  magician.  Shades  of  Voltaire, 
Rousseau,  Marat,  and  Lavoisier  appeared  in  rapid  succession.  Robertson,  at  the 
end  of  the  entertainment,  generally  concluded  by  saying  :  '  I  have  shown  you,  cit- 
izens, every  species  of  phantom,  and  there  is  but  one  more  truly  terrible  specter — 
the  fate  which  is  reserved  for  us  all.'  In  a  moment  a  grinning  skeleton  stood  in 
the  center  of  the  hall  waving  a  scythe.  All  these  wonders  were  perpetrated 
through  the  medium  of  a  phantasmagoric  lantern,  which  threw  images  upon 
smoke." 

The  art  of  conjuring  ghosts  was  perfected  when  the  introduc- 
tion of  large  show  windows  called  Professor  Pepper's  attention  to 
the  usefulness  of  glass  as  affording  a  transparent  mirror.  Mr.  Hop- 
kins says : 

"  Clever  as  was  Robertson's  ghost  illusion,  performed  by  the  aid  of  the  phan- 
tasmagoric lantern,  it  had  one  great  defect:  the  images  were  painted  on  glass  and 
lacked  the  necessary  vitality.  It  was  reserved  for  the  nineteenth  century  to  pro- 
duce the  greatest  of  spectral  exhibitions,  that  of  Professor  Pepper,  manager  of  the 
London  Polytechnic  Institution.  In  the  year  1863,  he  invented  a  clever  device  for 
projecting  the  images  of  living  persons  in  the  air.  The  illusion  is  based  on  a  simple 
optical  effect.  In  the  evening  carry  a  lighted  candle  to  the  window  and  you  will 
see  reflected  in  the  pane,  not  only  the  image  of  the  candle  but  that  of  your  hand 
and  face  as  well.  The  same  illusion  may  be  seen  while  travelling  in  a  lighted  rail- 
way carriage  at  night ;  you  gaze  through  the  clear  sheet  of  glass  of  the  coach  win- 
dow and  behold  your  "  double"  travelling  along  with  you.  The  apparatus  for  pro- 
ducing the  Pepper  ghost  has  been  used  in  dramatisations  of  Bulwer's  "Strange 
Story,"  Dickens'  "  Haunted  Man  "  and  "  Christmas  Carol,"  and  Dumas'  "Corsican 
Brothers."  In  France  the  conjurers  Robin  and  Lassaigne  presented  the  illusion 
with  many  novel  and  startling  effects." 

The  illustration  on  page  428,  reproduced  from  Carl  Willmann's 
work,  sufficiently  explains  all  details. 

The  Indian  basket  trick  is  a  shocking  performance,  still  prac- 
tised in  Hindustan  in  the  open  streets.  A  child  is  placed  in  an 
oblong  osier  basket  strapped  so  tight  that  it  cannot  escape,  then 
a  sword  is  thrust  into  the   basket,  which  on   being  withdrawn  drips 


"^  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

■"'In':;-,      T'"  7''^""  '^  te„or-s,nc.e„,  but  when  the   basket 

IS  opened  it  is  found  empt}'. 


an.  J!"  "f """"  "  ""'P'"      ■^'"  P"'°""er  has  several  assist- 
ants of  s,™.Iar  appearance  around   hin,,  all  of  then,  dressed  orarly 


THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  MAGIC. 


429 


alike.  The  child  crawls  out  through  an  unnoticeable  slit  where 
two  ends  overlap  ;  and  while  the  conjurer  puts  his  knee  against 
the  basket,  apparently  to  fasten  the  strap  as  tightl}^  as  possible,  the 
prisoner  hides  under  his  flowing  robe  and  then  joins  the  other  as- 
sistants. 

Herr  Willmann  describes  practically  the  same  trick  under  the 
title  "Spirit  box,"  designed  to  prove  the  permeability  of  matter.  A 
medium  is  placed  in  the  box,  and  after  some  hocus-pocus  the  man- 
ager reopenes  it  and  declares  it  to  be  empty;  for  the  purpose  of 
proving  his  assertion  he  turns  it  over  toward  the  public,  and  when 


The  "  Spirit-Box,"  or  Mysterious  Trunk. 


the  lid  is  opened,  the  medium,  who  remains  all  the  while  in  his 
place,  has  become  invisible,  because  he  is  hidden  by  the  interior 
part  of  the  double  wall,  which  now  seems  to  be  the  bottom  of  the 
box.  The  box  stands  upon  a  podium,  in  order  to  show  that  the 
medium  could  not  have  escaped  through  the  floor.  The  adjoined 
illustration  reveals  the  secret  of  the  trick,  the  explanation  of  which 
is  as  simple  as  the  effect  is  surprising. 

On  stages  which  allow  the  prestidigitator  to  use  traps,  a  trunk 
is  placed  so  as  to  allow  the  prisoner  to  escape  through  the  floor. 
The  movable  wall  of  the  trunk  in  such  a  case  swings  round  an  axis 


430 


THE  OPEN  COURT. 


which  lies  parallel  with  the  rope  that  is  afterwards  fastened  round 
the  trunk.  The  movable  wall  in  the  trunk  connects  with  a  trap  in 
the   floor,  and  while  visitors   from   the   audience   closel)'  watch  the 


fastening,  the   enclosed   person   makes  his  escape  with  the  greatest 
ease. 

Kellar  has  still  another  method  of  making  a  person  disappear, 


THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  MAGIC. 


431 


which  being  done  in  full  view  of  the  audience  is  extremely  perplex- 
ing.     The  trick  was  invented  by  Mr.  W.  E.  Robinson,  the  assistant 


k^. 


of  the  late  Hermann  and  is  based  upon  the  same  device  as  Pro- 
fessor Pepper's  ghosts.  Mr.  Hopkins  describes  it  as  follows  (see 
the  above  illustration): 


432 


THE  OPEN  COURT. 


"When  the  curtain  is  raised  the  square  frame  is  seen;  this  frame  is  braced 
laterally  by  side  pieces.  At  the  lower  part  of  the  frame,  within  easy  reach  of  the 
prestidigitator,  is  a  windlass.  Ropes  pass  from  this  windlass,  over  pulleys,  to  a 
crossbar  in  the  upper  part  of  the  frame.  A  lady  is  now  brought  upon  the  stage  and 
seated  in  a  chair,  which  she  grasps  tightly.  She  is  then  tied  tightly  to  the  chair 
with  ropes,  and  her  hands  are  chained  together.  The  prestidigitator  now  secures 
the  chair,  with  its  fair  occupant,  to  the  ropes  which  are  connected  with  the  wind- 
lass, by  means  of  hooks  which  fasten  to  the  top  frame  of  the  chair.  The  professor 
of  magic  now  winds  away  at  the  windlass  and  raises  the  chair  until  the  head  of  the 
victim  is  on  a  level  with  the  crossbar.  He  then  discharges  a  pistol,  and  at  the  same 
instant  the  lady  disappears  and  the  chair  drops  to  the  floor.  Such  is,  in  brief,  the 
mode  of  operation  of  the  trick  called  '  Gone.'  " 

The  explanation  is  simple.  The  frame  is  covered  between  the 
cross  bars  with  plateglass  which  is  invisible  and  leaves  the  lady  on 
the  chair  in  full  sight  so  long  as  the  light  falls  upon  her.  A  screen 
of  the  same  color  as  the  background  is  concealed  above  the  curtain 
and  placed  at  such  an  angle  as  to  allow  its  reflexion  to  pass  out  to 
the  audience.  The  prestidigitator  fires  several  shots  from  a  pistol, 
which  is  a  signal  for  his  assistant  to  turn  a  switch.  The  lady  is 
now  veiled  in  relative  darkness  while  the  screen  is  illuminated  and 
its  reflexion  on  the  plate-glass  conceals  her  from  sight.  She  drops 
the  chair,  which,  like  the  shots,  helps  to  divert  the  attention  of  the 
audience,  and  the  curtain  drops  before  further  investigation  can  be 
made.  The  illusion  is  perfect,  and  the  more  watchful  the  public 
are,  the  more  will  they  wonder  how  a  person  can  disappear  so 
completely  and  suddenly  before  their  eyes. 

Tricks  performed  by  mediums  are  in  one  respect  quite  different 
from  the  feats  of  prestidigitators;  if  they  come  up  to  the  standard, 
they  are,  or  ought  to  be,  based  upon  the  psychic  dispositions  of 
people,  setting,  as  it  were,  traps  for  them  and  allowing  them  to  be 
caught  in  their  own  superstitions.  Believers  will  do  it  willingly  and 
be  grateful  for  the  deception,  while  determined  unbelievers  are 
either  altogether  hopeless  or  will  be  so  puzzled  as  to  be  likely  to 
become  believers.  But  sleight  of  hand  is  always  a  valuable  aid  to 
the  medium  ;  and,  as  tricks  pure  and  simple,  mediumistic  stances 
are  not  different  from  the  performances  of  prestidigitators ;  they 
differ  only  in  this,  that  they  claim  to  be  done  with  the  assistance  of 
spirits.  Mediums  must  be  on  the  lookout  and  use  different  meth- 
ods as  the  occasion  may  require.  They  produce  rappings  with  their 
hands,  or  their  feet,^  or  with  a  mechanism   hidden   in  their  shoes; 


1  One  of  the  Fox  Sisters  could  produce  rappings  through  a  peculiar  construction  of  the  bones 
of  her  foot,  and  Cumberland's  big  toe  was  blessed  with  a  tendon  of  its  own,  enabling  him  to  rap 
the  floor  quite  vigorously  without  being  detected. 


THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  MAGIC. 


433 


neither  do  they  scorn  the  use  of  rapping  tables  with  concealed  bat- 
teries and  electric  wires. 

A  most  convenient  spirit-table  is  described  by  Hopkins  in  his 
book  on  Magic,  p.  loi,  as  follows  : 

"The  battery  is  carried  in  the  lower  part  of  the  table,  where  the  three  legs 
join.  The  top  of  the  table  is  in  two  parts,  the  lower  of  which  is  hollow  and  the 
upper  very  thin.  In  the  center  of  the  hollow  part  is  placed  an  electro-magnet, 
one  of  the  wires  of  which  connects  with  one  of  the  poles  of  the  battery,  while  the 
other  is  connected  with  a  flat  metallic  circle  glued  to  the  cover  of  the  table.   Beneath 


''■2Y?F77}-'9Pm77//777/, 


■mu 


Rapping  and  Talking  Table. 


this  circle  and  at  a  slight  distance  from  it  there  is  a  toothed  circle  connected  with 
the  whole  pole  of  the  battery.  When  the  table  is  lightly  pressed  upon,  the  cover 
bends  and  the  flat  circle  touches  the  toothed  one.  This  closes  the  circuit,  and  the 
electro- magnet  attracting  the  armature  produces  a  sharp  blow.  When  the  hand  is 
raised  the  circuit  is  broken,  producing  another  sharp  blow.  By  running  the  hand 
lightly  over  the  table  the  cover  is  caused  to  blend  successively  over  a  certain  por- 
tion of  its  circumference.  Thus  contact  is  made  at  a  number  of  places,  and  th§ 
sharp  blow  is  replaced  by  a  quick  succession  of  sounds.  This  table  is  very  useful 
for  spirit  rappings;  as  the  table  contains  all  of  the  mechanism  in  itself,  it  can  be 
moved  to  any  part  of  the  room.  The  table  may  be  also  operated  from  a  distance 
by  employing  conductors  passing  through  the  legs  of  the  table  and  under  the  car- 


434 


THE  OPEN  COURT. 


pet.    By  substitutfng  a  small  telephone  receiver  for  the  electromagnet,  the  rapping 
spirits  may  be  talking  ones."^ 

Slate-writing  may  be  done  in  various  ways,  and  good  mediums 
will  alwa3's  change  their  methods.  One  of  them  is  described  by 
Mr.  Hopkins  as  follows  : 

"Two  ordinary  wooden-framed  slates  are  presented  to  the  spectators,  and  ex- 
amined in  succession  by  them.  A  small  piece  of  chalk  is  introduced  between  the 
two  slates,  which  are  then  united  by  a  rubber  band  and  held  aloft  in  the  prestidigi- 
tator's right  hand. 


ir^ 

^-^^       J^^ 

k.  1 

Ib^^^^h 

?i>^^^^^^^^^^a 

■1^^ 

—     '"~'  '^~— -~-^^^ 

^^fc.;..,    ■>.     - 

^^>^s^.^^^^ 

\  '^I^^^^Vi-szf^--'-:  ■-■- 

Spirit-Slates. 

"Then,  in  the  general  silence,  is  heard  the  scratching  of  the  chalk,  which  is 
writing  between  the  two  slates  the  answer  to  a  question  asked  by  one  of  the  specta- 
tors— the  name  of  a  card  thought  of  or  the  number  of  spots  obtained  by  throwing 
two  dice.  The  rubber  band  having  been  removed  and  the  slates  separated,  one  of 
them  is  seen  to  be  covered  with  writing.  This  prodigy,  which  at  first  sight  seems 
to  be  so  mysterious,  is  very  easily  performed. 

"The  writing  was  done  in  advance;  but  upon  the  written  side  of  the  slate,  A, 
there  had  been  placed  a  thin  sheet  of  black  cardboard  which  hid  the  characters 
written  with  chalk.     The  two  sides  of  this  slate  thus  appeared  absolutely  clean. 


1  A  similar  table  is  described  by  Willniann  in  Moiii 


U'litidcr,  pp.  58-59. 


THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW  MAGIC. 


435 


"  The  slate  B  is  first  given  out  for  examination,  and  after  it  has  been  returned 
to  him,  the  operator  says:  "Do  you  want  to  examine  the  other  one  also  ?  "  And 
then,  without  any  haste,  he  makes  a  pass  analogous  to  that  employed  in  shuffling 
cards.  The  slate  A  being  held  by  the  thumb  and  forefinger  of  the  left  hand  and  the 
slate  B  between  the  fore  and  middle  finger  of  the  right  hand  (Fig.  i),  the  two  hands 
are  brought  together.  But  at  the  moment  at  which  the  slates  are  superposed,  the 
thumb  and  forefinger  of  the  right  hand  grasp  the  slate  A,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  fore  and  middle  finger  of  the  left  hand  take  the  slate  B.  Then  the  two  hands 
separate  anew,  and  the  slate  that  has  already  been  examined,  instead  of  the  second 
one,  is  put  into  the  hands  of  the  spectator.  This  shifting,  done  with  deliberation, 
is  entirely  invisible. 

"  During  the  second  examination  the  slate  A  is  laid  flat  upon  a  table,  the  writ- 
ten face  turned  upward  and  covered  with  black  cardboard.     The  slate  having  been 


The  Sword-Trick. 


sufficiently  examined,  and  been  returned  to  the  operator,  the  latter  lays  it  upon  the 
first,  and  both  are  then  surrounded  by  the  rubber  band. 

"It  is  then  that  the  operator  holds  up  the  slates  with  the  left  hand,  of  which 
one  sees  but  the  thumb,  while  upon  the  posterior  face  of  the  second  slate  the  nail 
of  his  middle  finger  makes  a  sound  resembling  that  produced  by  chalk  when  writ- 
ten with.  When  the  operator  judges  that  this  little  comedy  has  lasted  quite  long 
enough,  he  lays  the  two  slates  horizontally  upon  his  table,  taking  care  this  time 
that  the  non-prepared  slate  shall  be  beneath  (Fig.  2).  It  is  upon  it  that  the  black 
cardboard  rests;  and  the  other  slate,  on  being  raised,  shows  the  characters  that  it 
bears,  and  that  are  stated  to  have  been  written  by  an  invisible  spirit  that  slipped  in 
between  the  two  slates." 

Another  very  ingenious   trick   consists   in   apparently  stabbing 
a  man  to  death,  the  bloody  end  of  the  sword  appearing  at  the  back, 


436  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

yet  leaving-  the  man  uninjured.  Since  the  audience  naturally  will 
suspect  that  the  point  emerging  from  the  back  is  not  the  true  end 
of  the  sword,  the  trick  has  been  altered  to  the  effect  of  replacing 
the  sword  with  a  big  needle  (A),  having  tape  threaded  through  its 
eye.  -When  the  assassin's  needle  has  passed  through  the  victim, 
it  can  be  pulled  out  at  the  other  side,  together  with  the  tape,  where 
it  appears  reddened  with  blood.  The  stabbing,  when  performed 
quickly,  before  the  spectator  begins  to  notice  that  the  blade  is 
somewhat  reduced  in  size,  is  most  startling,  and  makes  a  deep  im- 
pression on  the  audience;  but  the  artifice  through  which  the  manip- 
ulation is  rendered  possible  is  very  simple.  The  sword,  or  needle, 
used  for  the  purpose  is  made  of  a  very  thin  and  flexible  plate  of 
steel,  sufficiently  blunt  to  prevent  it  from  doing  any  harm.  The 
victim,  as  if  trying  to  ward  off  the  dangerous  weapon,  takes  hold 
of  it  and  causes  it  to  slip  into  the  opening  of  a  concealed  sheath 
(B),  which  he  carries  strapped  round  his  body,  whereupon  the  as- 
sassin makes  his  thrust.  The  interior  of  the  sheatli  contains  a  red 
fluid,  which  dyes  the  blade  and  helps  to  make  the  deception  com- 
plete. The  accompanying  illustration  sufficiently  explains  the  per- 
formance. 

A  magazine  article  cannot  be  exhaustive.  But  the  instances 
adduced  are  sufficient  to  prove  that  even  the  apparently  most  com- 
plete deception  admits  of  an  explanation  which  in  many  instances 
is  much  simpler  than  the  spectators  think.  Neither  the  marvellous 
feats  of  prestidigitators  nor  the  surprising  revelations  of  mediums 
should  make  us  believers  in  m3^sticism.  The  success  of  modern 
magic,  which  accomplishes  more  than  the  old  magic  or  sorcery 
ever  did,  is  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  the  reliability  of  science,  and 
even  where  "now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly,"  we  must  remain 
confident  that  when  we  grow  in  wisdom  and  comprehension  we 
shall  learn  to  see  "face  to  face." 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


KANT     AND     SPENCER. 


To  the  Editor  of  The  Opeti  Coia-t : 

This  is  Herbert  Spencer's  eightieth  birthday,  and  a  few  of  his  admirers  in  this 
antipodean  city  are  sending  him  a  congratulatory  message,  by  cable,  for  we  feel 
that  he,  of  all  English  philosophers,  has  influenced  us  most. 

I  have  spent  part  of  the  morning  in  reperusing  Dr.  Carus's  pamphlet  Kant 
and  Sfiencer,  and  I  would  like  to  say  that  it  seems  to  me  that  Dr.  Cams  has  mis- 
apprehended Spencer's  criticism  of  Kant. 

Much  controversy  is  raised  by  the  use  of  the  word  "intuition".  I  do  not  think 
Spencer  meant  by  that  word  anything  different  from  that  which  Dr.  Carus  means 
He  uses  "forms  of  intuition"  to  mean  just  what  Dr.  Carus  calls  "pure  intuition.' 
The  word  "intuition"  may  not  be  the  best  translation  of  "  Anschauung",  but  it  is 
the  English  word  used  by  various  translators  and  commentators.  See  Meiklejohn's 
Translation  p.  24,  Max  Miiller's  p.  23,  Vol.  H.  Watson  Kant  and  his  E)ig-lish 
Critics,  G.  Croom  Robertson's  Elements  of  General  Philosophy,  and  others. 

I  think  that  perhaps  Alfred  Fouillee  in  his  Histoirc  de  la  Philosophie  puts 
the  question  plainer.  He  says,  pp.  397  and  398,  "  D'apres  cela,  qu'est  ce  que  I'es- 
pace  et  le  temps  ?  Des  conditions  de  notre  sensibilite,  sans  lesquelles  nous  ne  pour- 
rions  rien  percevoir,  des  raoyens  par  lesquelles  nous  emissons  nos  sensations  en 
series  regulieres,  .  .  .  Ce  sont,  dit  Kant,  des  moules  on  cadres  dans  lesquels  les 
choses  viennent  prendre  la  forme  qui  nous  permet  de  nous  les  representer;  ce  sont, 
en  un  mot,  les  'formes  de  la  sensibilite'."  Indeed,  Meiklejohn's  and  Max  Miiller's 
translations,  which  almost  agree  in  this  respect,  word  for  word,  put  it  thus,  so  far 
as  Space  is  concerned  :  "It  (Space)  is  nothing  else  than  the  form  of  all  phenomena 
of  the  external  sense,  that  is,  the  objective  condition  of  the  sensibility,  under  which 
alone  external  intuition  is  possible." 

According  to  Kant,  as  Croom  Robertson  has  well  said,  "  The  human  mind 
brings  to  the  result  of  pure  sense-experience  certain  subjective  factors,  viz.,  (i) 
pure  intuitions  {reine  Anschauung-),  in  order  to  perception;  (2)  pure  categories  of 
concepts,  in  order  to  understanding;  (3)  pure  ideas,  in  order  to  reason."  These  are 
transcendental  and  a  priori.  Now  the  criticism  of  Mill,  Bain,  and  Spencer,  not  to 
mention  others,  on  this  position  of  Kant  is,  that  these  are  not  transcendental  nor  a 
priori. 

According  to  Spencer,  to  take  "  Space  and  Time",  they  have  been  derived  by 
"accumulated   and  consolidated  experiences",    not    in    the   individual   alone   but 


43^  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

through  heredity.    To  quote  the  words  of  Spencer  in  his  Essay  "  On  Space-Consci- 
ousness", published  in  Mind: 

"  It  must  also  be  pointed  out  that  since  on  the  evolution-hypothesis,  that  con- 
sciousness of  Space  which  we  have  lies  latent  in  the  inherited  nervous  system  and 
since,  along  with  those  first  excitations  of  the  nervous  system  which  yield  rudimen- 
tary perceptions  of  external  objects,  there  are  produced  those  first  excitations  of  it, 
which  yield  the  rudimentary  consciousness  of  the  Space  in  which  the  objects  exist 
—  it  must  necessarily  happen  that  Space  will  appear  to  be  given  along  with  these 
rudimentary  perceptions  in  their  form.  There  will  necessarily  very  soon  result 
something  like  that  inseparability  which  the  Kantists  allege.  Hence  we  cannot  ex- 
pect completely  to  decompose  into  its  elements  the  Space-consciousness  as  it  exists 
in  ourselves." 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  extract  wherein  the  difference  between  Kant  and  Spen- 
cer in  this  question  lies.  According  to  Kant  the  forms  of  Space  and  Time  have  not 
been  derived  from  experience.  According  to  Spencer  they  have  been  so  derived. 
Both  recognise  that  the  "  forms",  so  to  speak,  exist.  To  use  Dr.  Carus's  happy  ex- 
pression they  are  "at-sights",  but  their  "  whence  and  how"  is  the  question.  How 
have  these  moulds,  if  I  may  use  another  expression,  come  to  us  ?  There  they  are, 
like  the  mould  of  the  linotype-machine  into  which  the  molten  lead  of  experience  dis- 
appears, but  how  were  these  moulds  formed  ?  As  a  thorough-going  Evolutionist 
Spencer  says  they  are  the  product  of  ages  of  experiences.    {Z&e.\\\s  PsycJiology ,  2.  ed.) 

The  only  quarrel  that  one  might  have  with  Spencer  is  that  at  first  sight  it  might 
appear  that  Space  and  Time,  as  forms  of  sensibility,  are  confounded  with  the  ab- 
stract idea  of  Space  and  Time  ;  a  careful  perusal  of  his  Psychology  will  show,  how- 
ever, that  he  did  not  so  confound  them  (p.  360,  Vol.  II,  Psyc]iology).  It  is  plain,  I 
submit,  from  his  Essay  I  have  quoted,  that  he  rightly  appreciated  Kant's  position. 

I  do  not  think  Dr.  Carus  has  quite  apprehended  Spencer's  position  when  he  says 
that  Spencer  believes  that  Kant  said  "  that  Space  and  Time  have  no  application  in 
the  world  of  objects  (i.  e.,  the  non-ego)."  Spencer  puts  his  position  thus:  "To 
affirm  that  Time  and  Space  belong  to  the  ego,  is  simultaneously  to  affirm  that  they 
do  not  belong  to  the  non-ego."  Again  :  "The  Kantian  doctrine  not  only  compels 
us  to  dissociate  from  the  non-ego  these  forms  as  we  know  them,  but  practically  for- 
bids us  to  recognise  or  suppose  any  forms  for  the  non-ago  ".  I  do  not  know  if  a 
Kantian  would  object  to  this  statement,  save  in  the  words  I  have  italicised.  The  only 
"forms  of  intuition"  Kant  mentions  as  existing  in  order  to  perception  are  Space 
and  Time.     The  qualities  of  things,  etc.,  are  not  "forms". 

I  may  add,  one  point  in  which  a  Kantian  may  complain  of  Spencer  is  that  he 
has  not  recognised  that,  considering  the  time  in  which  he  lived  and  his  environment, 
Kant  was  an  advanced  Evolutionist.  There  are  passages  in  his  Antliropology,  which 
though  put  cautiously  and  suggestively,  show  that  he  believed  that  even  man  was  a 
product  of  Evolution.  Spencer  seems  to  me,  however,  to  be  right  in  saying  that  a 
thorough-going  Evolutionist  must  seek  for  the  origin  of  the  "forms  of  intuition" — 
Space  and  Time  —  in  experience;  Kant  did  not  do  so.  Whether  Spencer's  view  is 
accepted  or  not,  it  is  (  n  Evolutionist  lines  and  seems  to  me  the  only  rational  expla- 
nation given  at  present  of  how  these  forms  arose.  John  Stuart  Mill  and  Bain  suf- 
fer from  the  defects  of  the  old  English  school  — of  having  developed  their  psychol- 
ogy before  the  far-reaching  results  of  Evolution  — of  heredity  —  were  appreciated 
This  is  seen  if  one  refers  to  James  Mill's  Analysis  of  the  Human  Mind,  and  is 
also  apparent  if  the  first  edition  of  Bain's  works  be  perused. 

Wellington.  N.  Z.  Robert  Stout. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  439 


THE  OPEN  COURT  AND  ''  LEAVES  OF  GRASS  ' 

7'o  the  Editor  of  the  OJ<en  Court  : 

In  the  January  number  of  the  0;pen  Court  there  appeared  (amongst  other  good 
things)  a  portrait  of  the  Hon.  C.  C.  Bonney,  a  representative  individual ;  an  article 
written  by  that  gentleman  on  the  principles  of  the  Ope)i  Court,  a  representative  in- 
dividualistic magazine,  an  extract  of  great  beauty  from  the  last  prose-poem  of  that 
(perhaps  extreme)  incarnation  of  Individualism — Robert  Ingersoll ;  and  finally  an 
editorial  note  —  not  by  any  means  appreciative  —  respecting  the  writings  of  Walt 
Whitman,  whom  I  have  long  held  to  be,  par  excellence,   the  poet  of  individualism. 

In  an  article  in  the  March  number,  The  Jesuits  afid  the  Mohainmedans ,  the 
writer  (Dr.  Pfungst)  states  that  the  battle  between  Jesuitism  and  Republicanism  "is 
at  present  at  its  height";  by  that,  of  course,  is  to  be  understood  the  struggle  between 
Authority  on  the  one  hand  and  Individual  Freedom  on  the  other.  If  that  statement 
be  true,  it  represents  a  very  serious  state  of  affairs,  and  all  your  readers  and  all  sym- 
pathisers'with  the  Open  Court  idea  should  do  everything  in  their  power  to  cultivate 
Individuality  in  themselves  and  all  those  with  whom  they  may  be  associated,  and 
to  encourage  the  circulation  of  literature  bearing  on  the  subject  of  Freedom. 

Of  literature  of  the  kind,  I  know  of  none  more  powerful  than  Leaves  of  Grass, 
and  I  confess  to  a  feeling  of  some  disappointment  on  reading  the  admission  of  the 
Editor  that  "there  must  be  something  in  Walt  Whitman"  not  as  the  result  of  his 
own  study,  but  merely  on  the  authority  of  Professor  W.  K.  Clifford. 

Then  the  Editor  proceeds  to  remark  upon  Whitman's  "  breaches  of  etiquette" 
and  "immoral  penchants,"  evidently  not  recognising  that — read  in  their  meaning — 
the  Children  of  Adam  series  is  not  immoral,  that  it  is  not  written  for  the  sake  of 
mere  obscenity  ;  for  mark  these  words  from  Starting  froni  Paumanok  : 

"  And  sexual  organs  and  acts  do  you  concentrate  in  me  ;  for  I  am  determined 
to  tell  you  with  courageous  clear  voice,  to  prove  you  illustrious." 

He  does  not  say  "to  prove  you  obscene  and  impure,  '  but  "illustrious."  True, 
he  may  not  have  taken  the  most  judicious  means  for  robbing  Sex  of  its  obscene  as- 
pect and  rendering  it  "illustrious  ';  but  so  long  as  Sex  is  a  tabooed  subject  for  any 
but  physiological  literature,  so  long  will  the  majority  of  people  continue  to  regard 
it  as  impure. 

The  Editor  continues,  "his  lack  of  poetic  strength"  and  "  genuine  sentiment"; 
perhaps  I  am  mistaken,  but  I  do  wish  the  Editor  would  read  the  Song  of  the  Open 
Road  and  litis  Compost,  and  a  few  of  the  Druin  Taps,  particularly  Over  the  Car- 
nage rose  prophetic  a  Voice ;  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  here  he  will  find  both 
"genuine  sentiment"  and  "poetic  strength."  Then  the  "gardner  will  not  wind" 
blades  of  grass  "into  garlands  for  a  bride";  perhaps  not,  yet  it  is  as  well  not  to  be 
too  sure  about  that,  either  ;  if  the  Editor  will  examine  for  himself  some  of  the  com- 
monest varieties  of  grasses,  he  will  see  what  marvelous  beauty  they  possess  ;  when 
he  has  done  this  and  read  Leaves  of  Grass  in  a  friendly  (and  not  hypercritical) 
spirit,  I  hope  he  will  acknowledge  that  the  beautiful  grasses  of  the  fields  (and  there 
are  no  ugly  ones)  are  typical  of  dear  old  Walt  and  his  book,  and  might,  in  default 
of  Orange  Blossoms,  adorn  even  a  marriage-feast. 

Respecting  the  lines  "Stranger,  if  you,  passing,  meet  me,"  etc.,  the  Editor 
says,  "surely  there  is  no  objection  to  a  conversation  between  strangers,"  and  the 
"thought  is  trivial  and  not  worth  incorporating  in  a  poem."  No,  from  the  author 
of  the  Primer  of  Philosophy  there  can  be  no  objection  whatever  ;  but  how  many 


440  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

people  are  there  who  live  up  to  /i/s  philosophy  ?  I  take  those  lines  to  be  an  asser- 
tion of  Equality,  which  is  so  closely  allied  to  Freedom  and  Brotherhood,  that  the 
two  latter  imply  the  former.  Think  for  a  moment  how  many  strangers  will  volun- 
tarily speak  to  one  another,  and  then  say  whether  Whitman's  lines  are  justified  or 
not.      His  own  antithesis  to  the  lines  in  question  is  this  ; 

"  It  shall  be  customary  in  the  houses  and  streets  to  see  manly  aftection  ; 

"The  most  dauntless  and  rude  shall  touch  face  to  face  lightly; 

"  The  dependence  of  Liberty  shall  be  Lovers  ; 

"  The  continuance  of  Equality  shall  be  Comrades." 

The  Editor's  concluding  remark,  that  Witman's  popularity  is  closely  connected 
with  the  stir  which  will  always  be  unfailingly  produced  by  any  free  discussion  of 
the  "questionable  passages"  is,  I  think,  incorrect;  for  several  years  after  I  had  rec- 
ognised the  beauty  of  Lcar'cs  of  G?-ass,  I  did  not  encounter  the  book  in  its  com- 
plete form — having  to  content  myself  with  Stead's  Penny  Post  edition,  the  selection 
edited  by  Mr.  W.  M.  Rossetti  and  published  by  Chatto  &.  Windus,  and  the  little 
Canterbury  Poet  edition,  edited  by  Mr.  Ernest  Rhys  and  published  by  Walter 
Scott ;  and  I  am  fully  aware  that  most  of  the  admirers  of  Leaves  of  Grass  whom  I 
met  are  quite  unacquainted  with  the  Children  of  Adam  series,  and  that  some  are 
not  even  aware  of  its  existence.  If  in  America  that  is  not  the  case,  then  all  I  can 
say  is  that  the  sooner  an  "expurgated"  edition  is  published  there,  and  the  "harm- 
less" poems  circulated  far  and  wide  amongst  the  people  whom  Whitman  loved  so 
well,  the  better. 

The  Editor  complains  that  "long  strings  of  enumerations  are  not  poetry"; 
perhaps  not ;  like  the  Editor,  I  have  never  ' '  had  the  patience  to  read  them  through, " 
but  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  the  author  may  have  had  a  definite  purpose  in  insert- 
ing them,  and  that  perhaps  the  Song  of  the  Broad  Axe,  which  otherwise  contains 
some  noble  sentiments,  would  be  incomplete  without  such  enumerations.  I  have  no 
wish  to  represent  Whitman  as  faultless,  and  admit  that  much  of  his  work  is  "mere 
talk  "  and  that  it  is  "  sometimes  shallow. " 

"Most  of  the  admirers  of  Walt  Whitman  belong  to  the  class  of  eccentrics 
whose  indorsement  of  a  cause  is  not  always  a  recommendation";  perhaps  the  pres- 
ent writer  is  one  of  these;  but,  if  in  this  respect  he  is  a  sinner,  he  at  least  sins  in 
good  company  ;  for  he  has  always  understood  that  the  lucid  Open  Court  contribu- 
tor, Dr.  Moncure  D.  Conway,  was  one  of  Whitman's  warmest  admirers  and  friends  ; 
in  Liberty  in  Literature  the  late  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  extolled  and  eulogised  Leaves 
of  Grass  and  its  author ;  Wm.  M.  Rossetti  (of  a  poet  and  artist-family)  calls  Whit- 
man one  of  the  "  great  "  poets  ;  and  Leaves  of  Grass  has  drawn  admiration  from 
such  literary  men  as  R.  L.  Stevenson,  Sir  Edwin  Arnold,  Havelock  Ellis,  Robert 
Buchanan,  J.  A.  Symonds,  John  Burroughs,  Professor  Clifford,  and  others.  These 
may  belong  to  a  "class  of  eccentrics,"  but  whether  or  no,  I  should  feel  disposed  to 
take  their  "indorsement  of  a  cause"  as  "  a  recommendation." 

W.  H.  Trimble. 
DuNEDiN,  New  Zfaland,  April  24th,  1900. 


NEW  WORKS  ON  POLITICAL  ECONOMY  AND  POLITICAL 
SCIENCE. 

One  of  the  latest  enterprises  in  the  publishing  world  is  the  Citizens'  Library 
of  /coNOfnics,  /'otitic's,  and  Sociology,  conducted  under  the  general  editorship  of 
Richard  T.  Ely,  Professor  of  Political  Economy  and  Director  of  the   School  of 


MISCELLANEOUS.  44I 

Economics,  Political  Science,  and  History,  in  the  University  of  Wisconsin.  It  is 
published  by  the  Macmillans.  The  design  of  the  library  is  to  "afford  such  com- 
plete information  concerning  the  theory  and  facts  of  the  three  sciences  mentioned, 
that  the  volumes  will  have  some  of  the  advantages  of  an  encyclopedic  work  com- 
bined with  those  of  separate  and  distinct  treatises."  Its  new  and  valuable  feature 
is  the  giving  to  the  public  of  information  of  importance  to  every  citizen,  which  must 
now  be  sought  in  a  great  multiplicity  of  sources,  and  often  sought  in  vain.  We 
have  the  explicit  statement  of  the  editor  to  the  effect  that  the  "utmost  pains  will  be 
taken  to  secure  the  greatest  possible  accuracy  in  all  statistic  tables  and  statements 
of  fact  and  theory,  and  that  no  partisan  bias  will  disturb  the  conclusions."  Fur- 
thermore, while  every  attempt  will  be  made  to  obtain  in  these  volumes  clearness  of 
statement  and  finish  of  literary  style,  the  interests  of  science  will  in  no  case  be  sac- 
rificed to  popularity,  the  expressed  aim  being  to  bring  every  volume  of  the  library 
up  to  the  present  standard  of  science  in  every  respect. 

Two  of  the  published  volumes  of  the  Libi-ary  are  by  the  editor,  Prof.  Ely, 
himself.  The  first  is  apparently  a  reprint  of  an  older  work.  Outlines  of  Economics 
(New  York  and  London:  the  Macmillan  Co.  Pages,  xii,  432.  Price,  $1.25),  which 
was  begun  as  a  revision  of  his  well-known  Introduction  to  Political  Econotny,  but 
became  in  the  re-elaboration  a  perfectly  new  work.  The  aim  of  the  Introduction 
was  to  furnish  historical  and  descriptive  material  chiefly,  while  the  aim  of  the  Oul- 
lines  is  to  give  a  systematic  sketch  of  theory.  It  begins  with  the  traditional  "His- 
torical Introduction,"  and  afterwards  takes  up  its  subject  proper  under  the  follow- 
ing headings  :  Production,  Transfers  of  Goods,  Distribution,  Consumption,  Public 
Industry,  and  the  Relation  of  the  State  to  Private  Enterprise,  Public  Expenditures, 
and  Public  Revenues,  ending  with  a  sketch  of  the  origin  and  development  of  eco- 
nomical theories.  The  book  is  a  text-book  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  and  is  supplied 
with  summaries  of  chapters,  set  questions  on  the  chapters,  a  list  of  subjects  for 
essays,  discussions,  and  debates,  courses  of  reading,  and  a  general  bibliography. 
The  book  is  simply  and  clearly  written,  and  excellently  adapted  for  private  study. 
The  second  work  by  Prof.  Ely  is  entitled  Monopolies  and  Trusts,  and  forms  part 
of  a  very  large  and  comprehensive  treatise  on  which  he  is  engaged,  to  be  called  The 
Distribution  of  Wealth.  The  book  is  a  timely  one.  The  author  believes  that  he 
has  made  an  original,  though  not  a  definitive,  contribution  to  economic  theory,  and 
has  presented  in  a  clear  manner  the  main  known  facts  and  the  main  points  of  view 
necessary  to  the  study  of  trusts  and  trust-legislation.  (New  York  and  London: 
The  MacMillan  Co.      1900.     Pages,  xi,  278.     Price,  $1.25.) 

The  Econotnics  of  Distribution,  by  John  A  Hobson,  is  the  third  published 
volume  of  the  Citizetis''  Library.  It  "endeavors  to  construct  an  intelligible,  self- 
consistent  theory  of  Distribution  by  means  of  an  analysis  of  those  processes  of  bar- 
gaining through  which  economic  distribution  is  actually  conducted,  the  results  of 
industrial  co-operation  being  apportioned  to  the  owners  of  the  factors  of  production 

in  the  several  stages  of  production In  particular,  it  claims  to  prove  that  all 

processes  of  bargaining  and  competition,  by  which  prices  are  attained  and  the  dis- 
tribution of  wealth  achieved,  are  affected  by  certain  elements  of  force  which  assign 
'forced  gains'  and  other  elements  of  'economic  rent'  to  the  buyers  or  the  sellers. 
There  is  thus  established  the  existence  of  a  large  fund,  partaking  of  the  nature  of 
those  monopoly  and  differential  rents,  long  ago  recognised  in  the  case  of  land,  which 
furnish  no  stimulus  to  voluntary  industrial  energy,  and  which  can  be  taken  for 
public  service  by  taxation  without  injury  to  industry."  Surplus  value  emerges 
from  all  forms  of  bargaining,  but  is  greater  in  the  case  of  capitalistic  bargainings. 


442  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

Inequality  is  ineradicable  ;  it  should  be  redressed  by  taxation  ;  but  if  that  is  im- 
possible, public  monopolies  will  have  to  be  substituted  for  private  monopolies. 
(New  York  and  London:  The  Macmillan  Co.    igoo.    Pages,  vii,  361.   Price,  $1.25.) 


A  second  revised  and  enlarged  edition  of  Dr.  Carl  C.  Plehn's  Introduction  to 
Public  Finance  has  just  appeared.  It  is  intended  as  an  elementary  text-book  con- 
taining a  brief  and  simple  outline  of  the  knowledge  necessary  to  prepare  students 
for  independent  research,  brief  discussions  of  the  leading  principles  that  are  gener- 
ally accepted,  a  statement  of  unsettled  principles  with  the  grounds  for  controversy, 
and  sufficient  references  to  easily  accessible  works  and  sources  to  enable  the  student 
to  form  his  opinions  for  himself.  The  renewed  interest  which  is  now  being  taken 
in  our  system  of  taxation  has  given  a  present  import  to  the  financial  questions  con- 
nected with  the  conduct  of  the  government,  and  Dr.  Plehn's  book  is  one  that  will 
help  us  to  inform  ourselves  concerning  the  difficulties  of  the  present  situation  and 
the  most  likely  paths  leading  to  its  reform.  (New  York  and  London  :  The  Mac- 
millan Co.      1900.     Pages,  xii,  384.) 


We  have  at  last  a  text-book  on  political  economy  designed  especially  for  farm- 
ers. It  is  by  Dr.  George  T.  Fairchild,  LL.  D.,  of  Berea  College,  Kentucky,  and 
bears  the  title,  Rural  Wealth  and  Welfare.  The  author  believes  he  need  offer  no 
apology  for  his  restatement  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  economics.  "Eco- 
nomic literature,"  he  says,  "has  usually  dealt  too  exclusively  with  the  phenomena 
of  manufactures  and  commerce  to  gain  the  sympathy  of  rural  people."  And  if  the 
rural  population  of  the  country  is  ever  to  obtain  a  sound  comprehension  of  the  facts 
and  theories  of  the  science  of  public  wealth  and  welfare,  it  can  be  done  only  by  bring- 
ing the  subject  home  to  farmers'  families  in  an  elementary  way,  and  in  connexion 
with  subjects  with  which  they  are  by  experience  acquainted.  (New  York  and  Lon^ 
don  ;  The  Macmillan  Co.      1900.     Pages,  xiii,  381.     Price,  $1.25.) 


Mr.  Alfred  J.  Ferris  has  presented  some  very  readable  considerations  in  his 
book,  Pauperizing  the  Rich  :  An  Inquiry  into  the  Value  and  Significance  of  Un- 
earned Wealth  to  Its  Owners  and  to  Society.  They  may  be  regarded  by  some 
thinkers  as  Eutopian  ;  they  may  be  illogical ;  but  they  at  least  have  the  merit  of 
being  presented  with  conviction  and  naturalness.  The  central  idea  of  the  book  is 
that  of  a  redistribution  of  incomes  on  a  basis  of  the  people's  property  in  ideas. 
"We  do  not  wish,"  the  author  says,  "to  repudiate  the  well-founded  claims  of  the 
Self-Made  Man;  we  have  no  thought  of  denying  to  industry  its  just  rewards.  But 
let  us  render  to  industry  the  fruits  of  its  labors :  to  the  whole  human  race  let  us 
render  the  fruits  of  its  glorious  inheritance, — its  property  of  ideas."  The  author  is 
opposed  to  the  indiscriminate  administration  of  charities,  which  results  in  pauperi- 
sation, but  includes  in  the  "  charitable  list"  of  the  world  all  persons  who  have  in- 
herited fortunes  and  shown  themselves  unequal  to  the  task  of  making  them  produc- 
tive both  for  themselves  and  the  human  race.  He  terms  this  class  "  millionaires- 
by-charity,"  and  hence  the  title  of  his  book,  Pauperizing  the  Rich.  (Philadelphia  ; 
T.  S.  Leach  &  Co.      1899.     Pages,  xiii,  432.     Price,  $1.25.) 


Every  one  has  experienced  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  trustworthy  information 
concerning  the  "Welfare-Institutions"  and  the  profit-sharingsystems  which  numer- 
ous employers  of  labor  maintain  for  their  employees  ;  but  the  difficulty  has  been 


MISCELLANEOUS.  443 

removed  by  a  recent  work  by  Nicholas  Paine  Gilman,  having  the  title,  A  Dividend 
to  Labor.  "  Welfare-Institutions  "  is  the  name  given  in  economic  parlance  to  the 
libraries,  hospitals,  baths,  improved  dwellings,  theaters,  gymnasiums,  schools,  sav- 
ings banks,  etc.,  etc.  conducted  in  connexion  with  the  great  industrial  organisations 
of  the  world.  They  all  of  them  are  of  the  nature  of  an  "  indirect  dividend  to  labor, " 
as  Mr.  Gilman  phrases  it,  and  form  an  intermediate  stage  between  the  old  wages 
system  pure  and  simple  and  the  more  modern  profit-sharing  system.  Mr.  Gilman 
prefaces  his  work  with  an  exposition  and  discussion  of  existing  industrial  conditions  ; 
narrates  the  life  of  Robert  Owen,  the  great  English  manufacturer,  who  was  a 
pioneer  in  this  direction  ;  describes  the  welfare-institutions  of  Germany,  the  patronal 
institutions  of  France,  Holland,  and  Belgium,  the  British  employers'  institutions, 
and  lastly,  the  numerous  but  less  systematic  instances  of  American  liberality  to 
workmen.  The  most  famous  cases  of  profit-sharing  institutions  are  carefully  dis- 
cussed, such  as  the  Maison  Baille-Lemaire,  the  Bourne  Mills,  the  Proctor  and  Gam- 
ble Company,  the  South  Metropolitan  Gas  Company,  and  the  N.  O.  Nelson  Com- 
pany. Mr.  Gilman  is  fair  to  both  sides  in  his  expositions,  and  his  work  may  be 
consulted  with  confidence  in  all  cases.  (Boston  and  New  York  :  Houghton,  Mifflin 
&  Co.      1899,     Pages,  viii,  400.     Price,  $1.50.) 


We  have  not  the  space  to  enter  into  either  a  criticism  or  a  discussion  of  Mr. 
Charles  H.  Chase's  Elementary  Principles  of  Economics.  It  is  a  very  pretentious 
book,  having  been  presented  to  the  public  in  the  firm  conviction  that  it  will  prove 
to  be  "the  beginning  of  a  i^c/t-w^t' of  political  economy."  With  all  his  admiration 
for  the  great  writers  of  the  past,  Mr.  Chase  is  forced  to  confess  that  they  "have 
failed  to  lay  a  solid  foundation  for  the  science  in  an  adequate  nomenclature  with 
exact  definitions,  in  the  clear  and  definite  statement  of  the  object  of  economics,  or 
political  economy,  and  in  the  formulation  and  statement  of  the  fundamental  propo- 
sitions,"— all  of  which  he  believes  he  has  supplied  We  shall  mention  as  a  specimen 
of  his  reflexions  the  discussion  of  the  standard  of  value :  neither  gold,  nor  silver, 
nor  copper,  nor  iron,  nor  any  commodity  whatever  is,  in  Mr.  Chase's  opinion,  a  true 
standard  of  value,  neither  is  labor;  the  irwe  sidinAd^rd^'is  Ifie  ai'erag-e  of  cornmodities 
— the  average  price  of  commodities  uniform  under  all  conditions.  The  practical 
difficulty,  however,  is  to  get  hold  of  this  average  commodity,  and  we  are  consequently 
obliged  to  assume  a  fictitious  commodity  moving  along  the  lines  representing  the 
average  change  in  the  labor  cost  of  commodities.  The  government  by  its  bureau 
statistics  would  determine  the  total  amount  of  new  wealth  reserved  each  year  for 
the  satisfaction  of  desires  pure  and  simple.  The  amount  of  this  wealth  would  then 
be  divided  by  the  total  number  of  individuals  producing  it,  and  the  comparison  of 
the  resulting  quotients  for  the  successive  years  would  give  an  unvarying  unit  or 
standard  of  value  for  these  several  years.  (Chicago:  Charles  H.  Kerr  &  Co.  1900. 
Pages,  xvi,  405.) 

Prof.  Franklin  Henry  Giddings,  of  Columbia  University,  has  attempted  in  his 
work.  Democracy  and  Empire  (New  York  and  London  :  The  Macmillan  Co. 
igoo.  Pages,  x,  363.  Price,  $2.50),  the  rather  difficult  task  of  supplying  the  psy- 
chological, economic  and  moral  foundations  of  the  two  popular  impulses  which  are 
now  uppermost  in  determining  the  political  conduct  of  modern  nations,  and  for 
America  especially  his  lucubrations  are  in  the  highest  sense  opportune.  His  studies 
in  theoretical  sociology  long  ago  led  him  to  the  belief  that  the  combining  "of  small 
states  into  larger  political  aggregates  must  continue  until  all  the  semi  civilised,  bar- 


444  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

barian,  and  savage  communities  of  the  world  are  brought  under  the  protection  of 
the  larger  civilised  nations."  And  further  studies  convinced  him  that  the  future  of 
civilisation  depended  largely  upon  the  predominant  influence  of  either  the  English- 
speaking  people  of  the  world  or  of  the  Russian  Empire.  He  saw  here  a  steady  trend 
toward  imperialism.  On  the  other  hand,  he  remained  convinced  "that  the  demo- 
cratic tendencies  of  the  nineteenth  century  are  not  likely  to  be  checked  or  thwarted 
in  our  own  or  in  future  generations."  There  existed  here  plainly  two  antithetical 
tendencies  which  demanded  reconciliation.  There  is  no  mistaking  of  the  real  issue. 
' '  Democracy  and  empire,  paradoxical  as  such  a  relationship  seems,  are  really  cor- 
relative aspects  only  of  the  evolution  of  mankind."  This  is  the  problem  of  the 
present  crisis,  and  one  which  calls  for  explanation  by  means  of  a  thorough  study  of 
the  psychology  of  society  and  of  the  fundamental  economical  and  ethical  motives  of 
human  effort.  The  titles  of  the  chapters,  which  will  indicate  the  general  trend  and 
scope  of  the  discussions  of  this  bulky  volume,  are  as  follows :  The  Democratic 
Empire  ;  The  Ethical  Motive  ;  The  Psychology  of  Society  ;  The  Mind  of  the  Many  ; 
The  Costs  of  Progress  ;  Industrial  Democracy  ;  The  Trusts  and  the  Public  ;  The 
Railroads  and  the  State  ;  Public  Revenue  and  Civic  Virtue  :  Some  Results  of  the 
Freedom  of  Women  ;  The  Nature'  and  Conduct  of  Political  Majorities  ;  The  Des- 
tinies of  Democracy  ;  The  Relation  of  Social  Democracy  to  the  Higher  Education  ; 
The  Popular  Instruction  Most  Necessary  in  a  Democracy  ;  The  Shadow  and  the 
Substance  of  Republican  Government ;  The  Consent  of  the  Governed;  Imperialism; 
The  Survival  of  Civil  Liberty  ;  The  Ideals  of  Nations ;  The  Gospel  of  Non-Resist- 


Prof,  Frank  J.  Goodnow  has  aimed  in  his  Politics  and  Admiiistratiou  to  show, 
"from  a  consideration  of  political  conditions  as  they  now  exist  in  the  United  States, 
that  the  formal  governmental  system  as  set  forth  in  the  law  is  not  always  the  same 
as  the  actual  system  "  ;  and  he  has  coupled  with  this  aim  the  endeavor  "  to  indicate 
what  changes  in  the  formal  system  of  the  United  States  must  be  made,  in  order  to 
make  the  actual  system  conform,  more  closely  than  it  does  at  present,  to  the  politi- 
cal ideas  upon  which  the  formal  system  is  based."  All  this  has  involved  a  study 
of  the  operations  of  our  government,  of  the  nature  and  mechanism  of  our  political 
parties,  and  of  its  distinctive  type  of  leader,  the  "boss."  The  concrete  remedies 
which  he  proposes  for  the  amelioration  of  the  present  state  of  affairs  is  a  greater 
centralisation  of  our  state  administrative  system  on  the  model  of  the  national  ad- 
ministrative system,  and  the  subjection  of  the  political  party  to  effective  public 
control,  with  the  view  of  making  the  parties  and  its  leaders  more  responsive  to  the 
public  will.  (New  York  and  London:  The  Macmillan  Co.  1900.  Pages,  xiii, 
270.      Price,  $1.50.) 

Our  own  nation  having  entered  upon  a  colonial  career  in  the  Philippines,  Porto 
Rico,  and  in  a  measure  also  in  Cuba,  all  thinking  Americans  will  be  in  favor  of  es- 
tablishing a  colonial  system  of  civil  service  which  shall  be  efficient  and  absolutely 
free  from  political  pressure.  It  will  be  instructive,  therefore,  to  learn  what  light 
can  be  derived  from  the  experience  of  other  nations  in  this  field.  Since  the  excel- 
lent work  of  the  late  Dorman  B.  Eaton  on  English  civil  service  was  published,  there 
has  been  a  radical  change  in  the  British  system,  and  on  the  other  hand  there  is  no 
book  in  any  language  containing  the  latest  information  on  the  methods  of  recruiting 
officials  for  the  colonies  of  Holland  and  France.  A  new  book  by  A.  Lawrence 
Lowell,  entitled  Colonial  Civil  Service  and  treating  of   "the  selection  and  training 


MISCELLANEOUS.  445 

of  colonial  officials  in  England,  Holland,  and  France,"  will  accordingly  be  welcomed 
by  students  of  political  affairs.  Appended  to  the  volume  is  an  historical  account 
of  the  British  East  Indian  College  at  Haileybury,  by  Prof.  H.  Morse  Stephens. 
(New  York  and  London  :  The  Macmillan  Co.    igoo.   Pages,  xiv,  346.    Price,  $1.50.) 

T.  J.  McC. 


BOOK  REVIEWS  AND  NOTES. 

Der  Schmuck  des  Menschen.      By  Emil  Selenka.      Berlin  ;  Vita,  Deutsches  Ver- 
lagshaus.      igoo.     Pages,  72. 
This  is  an  extremely  attractive  book,  elegantly  got  up,  with  ninety  reproduc- 
tions from   photographs  taken   by  Prof.  Dr.  Hans  Meyer,  Prof.  Dr.  M.  Buchner, 
and  others  on  their  travels  round  the  world. 

The  author's  problem  is  the  nature  of  ornament,  and  the  treatment  betrays 
the  assthetician,  as  does  also  the  style  of  publication.  Seeing  that  ornament  tends 
to  become  a  part  of  ourselves.  Professor  Selenka  endeavors  to  discover  the  law  of 
ornament  as  well  as  its  social  significance. 

Professor  Selenka  emphasises  the  fact  that  ornament  is  a  kind  of  pictorial  lan- 
guage ;  its  purpose  is  to  tell  our  neighbors  of  our  preferences,  be  they  imaginary 
or  real  (p.  13).  He  compares  it  to  the  language  of  physiognomical  expression  as 
treated  by  Darwin,  and  regarded  among  natural  scientists  as  common  to  all  the 
races  of  the  earth.  Further  our  author  insists  that  he  has  discovered  a  law  of  orna- 
ment, and  that  its  development  is  not  a  matter  of  subjective  imagination,  but  of 
objective  facts  which,  according  to  him,  are  determined  by  the  bodily  form  of  man. 
He  distinguishes  six  kinds  of  ornament :  (i)  There  are  two  which  are  intended  to 
show  to  advantage  man's  upright  gait,  finding  expression  in  hanging  ornaments; 
(2)  direction  ornaments,  which  latter  are  indications  of  the  direction  of  his  move- 
ments, as  for  instance  the  feathers  in  the  hair  of  the  Indians;  further,  there  are  (3) 
ring  ornaments,  such  as  bracelets,  collars,  etc.;  (4)  ornaments  of  aggrandisation, 
that  is  to  say,  things  that  increase  the  size  of  certain  limbs, — epaulets  and  various 
kinds  of  headgear;  (5)  ornaments  of  color,  such  as  flowers  stuck  in  the  hair;  and 
(6)  dress  to  set  the  color  of  the  body  in  relief. 

These  subjects  are  treated  in  several  chapters,  and  illustrated  by  fine  figures. 
The  author  sums  up  his  opinions  with  some  aesthetic  remarks  on  true  and  false  or- 
nament, and  concludes  his  book  on  initial  and  final  forms  of  ornament. 

While  we  appreciate  the  fact  that  the  book  is  tastily  gotten  up  and  the  subject 
interestingly  treated,  we  cannot  help  saying  that  Professor  Selenka's  discrimination 
of  the  various  kinds  of  ornaments  dwells  on  externalities  and  scarcely  touches  the 
main  problem  he  has  set  out  to  solve.  Our  author  might  have  enhanced  the  treat- 
ment of  the  subject  by  explaining  the  historical  origin  of  ornament,  which  (as  an- 
thropology is  likely  to  prove)  did  not  rise  from  the  aesthetics,  but  vice  versa  is  giv- 
ing rise  to  conditions  which  slowly  produce  an  aesthetical  instinct.  It  is  a  significant 
fact  that  all  ornament  originally  served  a  religious  or  better  talismanic  purpose  be- 
fore it  became  ornament.  The  first  ear-rings,  nose-rings,  and  lip-rings  were  not 
worn  to  satisfy  man's  aesthetical  judgment  but  served  the  purpose  of  protecting 
these  entrances  against  the  influence  of  evil  spirits ;  so  did  the  amulets  which  are 
now  worn  as  ornaments  on  necklaces.  They  became  ornaments  only  when  their 
significance  as  amulets  was  no  longer  understood. 

An  anthropologist  might  thus  be  disappointed  in  the  author's  treatment  of  the 


446  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

subject,  but  the  beautiful  pictures  alone  are  worth  the  price  of  the  book,  which  we 
can  therefore  heartily  recommend.  P.  c. 


Confucius.  The  Secret  of  his  Mighty  Influence.  His  views  upon  the  great  prob- 
lem of  human  life  and  destiny.  By  Thomas  IVJiittiey.  Chicago  :  Seibert, 
Wermich  &  Quetsch.  Price,  10  cents. 
The  pamphlet  on  Confucius  by  Mr.  Thomas  Whitney  is  an  excellent,  short  elu- 
cidation of  the  moral  principles  laid  down  by  the  great  sage  of  the  Celestial  king- 
dom, Confucianism  is  the  sole  religious  system  in  the  world,  which  is  established 
on  the  ground  of  positivism,  free  from  all  supernatural  conceptions  and  which 
nevertheless  has  given  comfort  to,  and  has  gained  the  admiration  of,  millions  of 
souls.  As  the  writer  rightly  says,  "  Confucius'  doctrine  converges  at  the  perfecting 
of  humanity  and  the  making  up  of  the  superior  man."  "  To  him  there  was  nothing 
miraculous  or  supernatural  about  this.  The  law  of  the  unfolding  of  man's  spiritual 
nature  was  to  him  as  natural  as  the  unfolding  of  the  oak  from  the  acorn,  a  provision 
of  our  nature,  innate,  the  same  as  is  the  full  fruit  in  the  germ  of  the  seed."  The 
one  point,  however,  on  which  I  cannot  agree  is  the  writer's  emphasising  too  much 
the  "Will  of  Heaven"  in  expounding  the  doctrine  of  Confucius,  as  if  he  conceived 
it  as  a  Christian  does.  The  truth  is,  to  the  Chinese  mind  nothing  was  so  foreign 
as  the  idea  of  a  personal  God  or  a  willing  being  above  man  and  nature.  The  heaven 
or  lien  was  a  very  vague  idea  for  Confucius,  being  almost  tantamount  to  the  sense 
of  natural  law  for  scientists.  T.  Suzuki. 


Mr.  F.  J.  Gould  is  favorably  known  as  a  writer  on  agnosticism  and  a  popular- 
iser  of  religious  history  and  literature,  and  we  are  glad  to  call  attention  to  two 
books  of  his  which  may  suit  with  the  ideas  of  some  of  our  readers.  The  first  book 
is  entitled  Tales  from  the  Bible  (pages,  103,  price,  is.  6d.),  and  aims  to  give  a  ra- 
tional view  of  the  Old  Testament  in  a  manner  suitable  to  the  capacity  of  chil- 
dren. The  author  would  introduce  the  child  to  Bible  literature  through  a  simple 
manual  in  which  the  picturesque  old  legends  are  related,  but  accompanies  the 
stories  with  suggestions  and  warnings  which  will  prevent  children  "from  believing 
that  all  the  narratives  of  the  Bible  are  historical  and  its  teachings  pure."  In  the 
second  book  (pages,  176,  price,  2s.),  he  has  done  the  same  work  for  the  New  Testa- 
ment, first  seeking  to  make  his  young  readers  understand  the  Gospel,  and  then  if 
possible  "  to  open  to  them  the  natural  charm  of  the  early  Christian  legends."  In 
doing  this  he  "  has  not  scrupled  to  take  away  or  to  add  or  to  modify  details."  The 
legend  is  separated  as  far  as  possible  from  the  fact,  on  the  basis  of  an  examination 
of  recent  criticism.  Some  will  object  to  the  books  that  they  represent  a  purely 
personal,  and  in  many  respects  a  biassed,  view  of  the  Bible  ;  but  this  must  be  true 
in  a  large  measure  of  every  attempt  to  make  Bible  history  and  literature  compre- 
hensible. Mr.  Gould  has  at  any  rate  well  brought  out  the  connexion  of  the  whole, 
and  a  coherent  and  systematic  impression  cannot  fail  to  be  produced  in  the  young 
mind  by  his  stories.  With  modification  of  details  and  in  some  cases  of  interpreta- 
tion, the  books  might  be  found  of  assistance  by  persons  of  widely  varying  opinion. 
(London  :  Watts  &  Co.,  17  Johnson's  Court,  Fleet  St.) 

The  same  company  has  just  issued  for  the  Rationalist  Press  Association  a  col- 
lection of  able  essays  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Robertson,  entitled  Studies  in  Religious  Fal- 
lacy. Mr.  Robertson  takes  as  his  text  such  subjects  as  Drummond's  Natural  Laiv 
in  the  Spiritual  World,  Lang's  Views  on  the  Origin  of  Religion  and  on  Miracles, 


MISCELLANEOUS.  447 

Mr.  Gladstone  on  the  Atonement  and  on  Butler,  Freeman  on  Christianity,  Tolstoy 
on  the  Ethics  of  Jesus,  etc.     (Pages,  227.) 

The  Rationalist  Press  Association  have  also  fathered  the  views  of  a  little  book 
by  Joseph  McCabe,  called  The  Religion  of  the  Tzuentieth  Century,  wherein  are 
expounded  the  tenets  of  the  agnostic  faith  by  a  convert  from  Roman  Catholicism. 
(London:  Watts  &  Co.,  17  Johnson's  Court,  Fleet  St.  1898.  Pages,  102.  Price,  is.) 
The  Evolution  of  Man :  /lis  Religious  Sysfefns  and  Social  Customs  is  the  title 
of  a  work  by  Dr.  W.  W.  Hardwicke,  issued  by  the  same  publishers,  and  being  a 
compilation  of  modern  views  of  the  development  of  religion  from  the  point  of  view 
of  a  free  thinker.     (Pages,  xiv,  300.     Price,  5s.) 


A  collection  of  essays  by  the  leaders  of  the  ethical  societies,  entitled  Ethics  and 
Religion,  is  published  to  repel  the  imputation  that  these  societies  do  not  rest  upon 
any  philosophical  basis.  The  public,  it  is  said,  "  is  liable  to  mistake  the  absence 
of  philosophical  theory  for  a  lack  of  philosophical  insight"  among  the  members  of 
the  union  ;  but  it  is  contended  that  this  absence  may  be  a  proof  "of  their  philo- 
sophic discipline  and  habit,  and  of  their  familiarity  with  the  growth  of  metaphysical 
systems";  in  other  words,  "  that  they  possibly  expect  to  end,  but  certainly  entertain 
no  hope  of  beginning,  with  a  system  of  universal  truth."  The  essays  are  by  J.  R. 
Seeley,  Felix  Adler,  W.  M.  Salter,  Henry  Sidgwick,  G.  Von  Gizycki,  Bernard  Bo- 
sanquet,  Leslie  Stephen,  Stanton  Coit,  and  J.  H.  Muirhead.  The  majority  of  them 
were  written  ten  years  ago  ;  they  then  gave  character  and  direction  to  the  ethical 
movement,  and,  being  the  thoughts  of  the  founders,  it  is  considered  important  that 
they  should  be  preserved.  (  London  :  Swan  Sonnenschein  &  Co.  New  York  :  The 
Macmillan  Co.      1900.      Pages,  ix,  324.     Price,  $1.50.) 


We  are  in  receipt  of  a  brochure  of  139  pages  bearing  the  title  Hinduism  An- 
cient and  Modern  as  Taught  in  Origittal  Sources  and  Illustrated  in  Practical 
Life,  by  Rai  Bahadur  Lala  Baij  Nath,  B.  A.,  Fellow  of  the  University  of  Allaha- 
bad. "The  object  of  the  publication  is  to  present  the  teachings  of  Hinduism,  as 
gathered  from  its  most  authentic  and  recognised  sources,  on  all  important  phases 
of  the  social,  religious,  and  philosophic  life  of  the  Hindus,  in  a  simple  manner, 
free  from  unnecessary  details,  technicality,  and  all  controversial  matter."  It  is  an 
enlarged  and  amended  edition  of  some  papers  contributed  by  the  author  to  the 
National  Oriental  Congresses  of  Paris  in  1797  and  of  Rome  in  1899. 


The  Annual  Literary  Index  for  1899,  by  the  Publishers'  Weekly  of  New 
York,  gives  the  titles  and  names  of  the  authors  of  all  the  articles  which  have  ap- 
peared in  the  leading  American  and  English  periodicals  for  1899,  an  index  to  the 
general  literature  of  the  year,  a  list  of  the  American  and  English  bibliographies 
published  in  1899,  an  index  to  the  dates  of  the  principal  events,  a  necrology  of  the 
writers  who  have  died,  etc.  The  index  of  dates  practically  serves  as  an  index  to 
the  files  of  any  newspaper  for  1899.  For  libraries,  newspaper  offices,  and  students 
who  have  to  consult  the  literature  of  the  year,  this  Index  is  indispensable. 


One  of  the  latest  issues  of  the  Temfle  Primers,  noticed  at  length  in  the  June 
Often  Court,  is  The  Civilization  of  India  by  Romesh  C.  Dutt.  The  little  book 
portrays  in  brief  outlines  the  development  of  the  literature,  art,  philosophy,  science, 
and  industries  of  India,  for  some  four  thousand  years,  and  contains  illustrations  of 
several  of  the  most  prominent  monuments  and  temples,  together  with  three  maps. 
(London  :  J.  M.  Dent.     New  York  :  The  Macmillan  Co.     Pages,  vi,  146.) 


448  THE  OPEN  COURT. 

i 

The  latest  issue  of  the  Zeitfragoi  des  christUchen  Volkslehens  is  by  M. 
Reichmann,  and  treats  of  the  attractive  subject  of  Catholicism  and  Protestantism 
in  France.  The  author  concludes  with  the  reflexion  that  whereas  the  Catholic 
nations,  as  political  and  commercial  powers,  have  succumbed  to  the  Protestant 
nations,  nevertheless  there  has  been  built  up  within  Germany  an  immensely  pow- 
erful and  threatening  imperium  in  the  shape  of  the  consolidated  Roman  Catholic 
interests. 


M.  Georges  Blondel  has  written  an  historical  and  critical  study  of  the  Passion 
Play  of  Oberammergau  in  his  Drame  de  la  Passion,  giving  also  practical  hints  to 
travellers  purposing  to  visit  Oberammergau  this  year,  descriptions  of  excursions 
into  the  romantic  vicinity,  the  plans  of  the  theater,  and  two  maps.  The  little 
brochure  costs  i  fr.  25,  and  is  published  by  Victor  LeCoffre,  Paris,  Rue  Bona- 
parte 90. 

Carl  Reissner,  of  Dresden  and  Leipsic,  is  the  publisher  of  a  series  of  German 
b  ographies  entitled  Men  of  llw  Day.  Krupp,  Nansen,  Nietzsche,  Liszt,  and 
Windthorst  were  among  the  first  numbers.  The  latest  is  a  vivid  portrayal  of  the 
life  and  activity  of  the  great  German  scientist,  Ernst  Haeckel,  by  Wilhelm  Bolsche. 
The  little  book  is  adorned  with  a  good  portrait  of  Haeckel. 

We  are  in  receipt  of  the  first  few  numbers  of  a  new  weekly  called  The  Indian 
Kc-.'iezc,  published  by  G  A.  Natesan  &  Co.,  Madras,  India.  The  scope  of  the  re- 
view is  a  broad  one,  and  not  only  are  the  political  and  literary  affairs  of  India  thor- 
oughly discussed,  but  considerable  attention  is  given  to  events  of  importance  out- 
side of  India.      The  subscription  price  is  5  Rs.  annually. 


The  first  number  of  the  first  volume  of  the  new  series  of  I.e  Museon,  a  philo- 
logical, historical  and  religious  review  established  in  1881  by  the  distinguished 
Orientalist,  M.  Ch.  de  Harlez,  has  been  issued,  and  contains  an  article  on  the 
"  Mysteries  of  the  Greek  Letters"  by  A.  Hebbelynck,  and  one  on  "The  Preposi- 
tional Verb"  by  Raoul  de  la  Grasserie,  besides  reviews. 


Emanuel  F.  Goerwitz's  translation  of  Kant's  Dreams  of  a  Spirit-Seer  has 
been  edited  by  Mr.  Frank  Sewall.  The  little  work  is  a  humorous  critique  by  Kant 
of  the  philosophers  of  his  day,  using  Swedenborg  as  a  mark  for  his  blows.  Mr. 
Sewall  seeks  to  show  that  in  his  later  inquiries  Kant  was  indebted  to  Swedenborg 
for  some  of  his  most  famous  philosophical  theories 


The  editor  of  The  Open  Court,  Dr.  Paul  Cams,  will  sail  for  Europe  on  July 
18,  with  the  steamer  I^eittschland,  to  participate,  as  an  official  delegate  from  the 
United  States,  in  the  Religious  and  Philosophical  Congresses  of  the  Paris  Exposi- 
tion. 

L'Annce  de  I'ef^lise  for  1899  has  appeared.  It  is  the  year-book  of  the  Catholic 
church,  and  contains  the  statistics  of  its  condition  and  operations.  The  editor  is 
Ch.  Egremont.     (Paris:  Librairie  Victor  LeCoffre.      1899.     Pages,  664.) 


Students  of  Jewish  history  and  literature  will  find  much  good  advice  for  pur- 
suing their  work  and  selecting  their  materials  in  the  syllabus  issued  by  The  Chau- 
tauqua System  of  Jewish  Education  (Philadelphia,  P.  O.  Box  825). 


-T^TJ-r^        TT    IT     TT7NT      "^^^    SWELLEST    bicycle    in    AMERICA 
1    aI  H!^      J    LJx_-/lXlLiN  Prices:   $35.00,  $45.00  and  $50.00 

Riders  who  want  The  Best  Money  Will  Buy  ride  the  JULIEN.     Wheels  sent  on  ap- 
proval on  payment  of  charges  one  way. 

JULIEN  CYCLE  WORKS,  447  W.  Sixty=Third  St.,  Chicago. 


A  First  Book  in  Organic  Evolution 

An  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the 

DEVELOPMENT  THEORV 

By  D.  KERFOOT  SHUTE,  M.  D. 

Professor  of  Anatomy  in  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Columbian  University,  Member  of  the  Association 
of  American  Anatomists,  Member  of  the  Washington  Microscopical  Society,  etc. 

Pages,  xvi  + 285,  39  illustrations — 9  in  natural  colors.  Price,  cloth, 
$2.00  (7s.  6d.). 

"It  is  a  presentation  of  the  subject  for  the  general  reader  which  is  mas- 
terly, clear,  and  entertaining.  A  profound  subject  is  thoroughly  grasped  ; 
a  technical  subject  is  made  plain  ;  and  a  complex  subject  is  made  simple. 
I  am  especially  delighted  with  it  as  a  book  for  auxiliary  reading  in  the  High 
Schools  and  Colleges  of  the  country.— J/a/<?r/.  W.  Powell,  Smithsonian 
Institution,  Washington,  D.  C. 

THE  OPEN  COURT  PUBLISHING  CO.,  ,.,^^'^^ri  s.. 

London  :  Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Trubner  &  Co. 


The  Soul  of  Man 

An  Investigation  of  the 
Facts  of  Physiological 
and  Kxperimental  Psy- 
chology. By  Dr.  Paul 
Carus    

Second  Edition.  Just  Published. 

With  an  Appendix  on 
the  latest  researches  in 
Physiology.  182  Dia- 
grams. Pp.,  482.  Price, 
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THE 

HISTORY  OF  THE  DEVIL 

AND 

THE  IDEA  OF  EVIL 

FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIME  TO  THE  PRESENT  DAY 

BY 

DR.   PAUL   CARUS 

With  illustrations  from  ancient  and  modern  demonology,  as  recorded  on  monuments 
and  in  literature. 

Offering  a  complete  comparative  history  and  analysis  of  the  idea  of  evil,  with  philosoph- 
ical, ethical,  and  religious  comments. 

The  author  reviews  the  broad  field  of  the  conceptions  of  evil  among  the  various  nations 
of  the  earth.  Beginning  with  prehistoric  Devil-worship  and  the  adoration  of  demon  gods 
and  monster  divinities,  he  surveys  the  beliefs  of  the  Summero-Accadians,  the  Persians,  the 
Jews,  the  Brahmans,  the  Buddhists,  the  early  Christians,  and  the  Teutonic  nations.  He 
then  passes  to  the  demonology  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Reformation,  and  modern  times,  dis- 
cussing the  Inquisition,  witchcraft,  and  the  history  of  the  Devil  in  verse  and  fable.  The 
philosophical  treatment  of  the  subject  is  comparatively  brief,  but  the  salient  points  are 
clearly  indicated  in  every  connexion.  The  pictures  are  numerous,  and  will  aid  considerably 
the  reader's  comprehension. 

No  expense  has  been  spared  to  make  the  book  exemplary  in  every  respect. 


Printed  In  two  colors  from  large  type  on  fine  paper. 

Bound  in  cloth,  Illuminated  witb  cover  stamp  from  Dore.    Five  hundred  8vo  pages,  with  311 
illustrations  in  black  and  tint.    Price,  when  published.  $6.00.    READY  IN  AUGUST. 


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