received the acknowledgments which were his due from some of those who have profited largely by his labours.

We are unable on this occasion to enter into a full review of the work before us; the labours of life leave so little time to live; but we cherish the hope of being able at some future period to place before our readers an account of Comte's life and works. For the present it must suffice to state on what basis this work stands :-"Its object being in accordance with the essential purpose of true philosophy, to systematise human life as a whole on the principle of the subordination of the intellect to the heart. ... After frankly devoting the first half of my life to the development of the heart by the intellect, I saw its second halfconsecrated to the illumination of the intellect by the heart, so necessary to give the true character to great social truths. But how could I hope for these new inspirations unless I had myself experienced the full strength of that feeling which is most powerful to raise man from his primal self-absorption, by deriving its highest happiness from another ?" By a happy coincidence he became acquainted with Clotilde de Vaux, and had these strong emotions awakened at the very moment when his new work demanded personal experience of tender feelings. Thus she became the agent of his moral renovation, without which his mission must have remained incomplete. Looking at the matter from Comte's stand point, one cannot well help sliding into his conclusion. He was an organ of humanity, whose function it was to do a great philosophical work; half this work would have been abortive, had it not been for the tender feelings aroused in him by Clotilda; his love for her inspired him to the full accomplishment of his mission. Was she not then truly his Saint Clotilda, whose name shall justly be joined with his in the most distant memories of grateful humanity? The answer will depend upon the value of the work of the second part of his life. And that is the question.

Heredity: A Psychological Study of its Phenomena, Laws, Causes, and Consequences. Translated from the French of Th. Ribot. HENRY S. KING & Co., 1875.

On a former occasion, we noticed with praise M. Ribot's work entitled "Contemporary English Psychology," and we are happy to think the present work equally deserving of praise. The author displays the same gratifying acquaint

ance with the works of English writers which his former work evinced, and he has the advantage of a subject information concerning which will be more profitable to English readers. It might be interesting and useful to Frenchmen to have a lucid and concise abstract of the writings of Messrs. Mill, Bain, Lewes, Spencer, and Bailey, but it is natural to suppose that those of their own countrymen who were interested in philosophical questions, would study the original works of these authors. This is not so with the subject of Heredity." So far as we know, there is no complete work upon the subject in the English language; nothing at all certainly to be compared with the excellent Traité Physiologique et Philosophique de l'Hérédité Naturelle, by Dr. P. Lucas, which was published many years ago in France. It is strange that the valuable materials contained in that treatise should be so little known as they are in England. However, the doctrine of Darwinism, for which it did something to prepare the way, cannot fail eventually to make it better known. M. Ribot's work incorporates the results of Darwin's researches, as well as those of Moreau, Morel, and others in morbid psychology, and so goes beyond the level which Lucas was able to reach at the time when he wrote.

The physiological side of the question of heredity has been diligently studied, but not so its psychological side. It is this deficiency which the author proposes to supply in the present work. It is a study of the hereditary transmission of mental faculties, considered in its phenomena, its laws, its consequences, and especially in its causes; this study being preceded by a brief account of what is known of the phenomena and laws of physiological heredity. In the first part of the work he treats of the heredity of instinct, of the sensorial qualities, of memory, of the imagination, of the intellect, of the sentiments and passions, and of the will, as also of heredity and national character, and of morbid psychological heredity. In the second part he discusses the laws of heredity, direct and indirect, and considers the exceptions to the supposed laws. The third part is devoted to an exposition of the general relations between the physical and the moral nature, and points out how the doctrine of psychological and physiological heredity bears upon the elucidation of these relations. The last part deals with heredity in its relation to the law of evolution, and sets forth the psychological, moral, and social consequences of heredity. Readers will perceive, from this brief summary of contents, what varied, abundant,

and attractive fare is provided for them; and when we add that facts and opinions are brought together from all quarters, and methodically dealt with in a clear and vivid style, which will carry them on without much weariness through the perusal of the book, we have said all that we need now say in its favour. It was not easy, perhaps, to avoid repetition in such a treatise, and some vagueness of disquisition was unavoidable, where a solid basis of well-observed facts has not yet been laid, and where conjectures must often do duty for well-grounded inferences. But how few books would be written if men, forbearing to enunciate hypotheses, were to wait patiently until they had attained to certain principles ! The translator seems to have done his work well.

Selections from the Writings of Berkeley; with Notes and Introduction, by ALEXANDER CAMPBELL FRASER, LL.D. Clarendon Press Series. MACMILLAN & Co., 1875.

Both those who have, and those who have not, read Bishop Berkeley's philosophical writings, will thank the editor of this volume for the admirable selections which he has made from them, as well as for the introduction and copious notes with which he has enriched it. It is to be hoped that it may be the means of introducing many persons to the study of Berkeley's works. His easy, elegant, and singularly lucid style, affords an excellent model for imitation by those who desire to express deep thoughts on abstruse subjects in chaste and graceful language, while his philosophical doctrines cannot fail to be instructive for generations to come. It is hardly necessary to add that the editor has done his work well. We strongly recommend the volume, which is convenient in size, easy to handle, does not require cutting, and is printed in good type.

PART III.-PSYCHOLOGICAL RETROSPECT,

1. Insanity and Hospitals for the Insane, Public and Private, in Ireland, in 1873.

The Irish Blue-book for 1873-the twenty-third Report of the Inspectors and Commissioners of Control of Irish Asylums for the Insane-forms the first of what bids fair to be a much improved series of these interesting annual records. The improvement consists in the more systematic arrangement of the information regarding each of the twenty-two district Asylums, as well as the Central Asylum for

Criminal Lunatics at Dundrum near Dublin. The history and present condition of each of the twenty-three public institutions is given, with commendable fulness, and we have no doubt that future reports-when the Inspectors get accustomed to the new style-will contain information as complete as could be wished for.

If all three "blue-books" in connexion with the insane in these kingdoms could appear as nearly as possible at the same time, it would be most desirable, so that our readers might have a resumé of the state of insanity in the whole length of the United Kingdom at once. Owing, however, to the lateness of issue of the report before us, it is only now we are able to give the total number of those who, at the end of 1873, were registered as "persons of unsound mind," and were resident in public institutions or private asylums in Great Britain and Ireland-namely, 72,496. The total for the three kingdoms at the end of 1872, was 70,054. Their distribution each year was as follows:

These numbers do not include those found insane by inquisition, nor the private single patients nor "out-door paupers" enumerated by the English Commissioners; nor those resident in private dwellings, although "under official cognizance" of the Scotch board; nor the "Insane at large" enumerated by the Irish Inspectors. It is necessary to exclude all these from the respective totals, in order to institute a fair comparison between the three countries, for each board has special facilities for registering certain classes not taken notice of by the others. For example, the Irish board is enabled to give a very complete list of all the "insane at large," dividing them among three different grades of society, the upper classes yielding 117, the middle 2,046, and the lower 4,818, all enumerated by the Irish County Police in their respective districts-men trained in a special manner for the collection of statistics, at the compilation of which they are kept busy when not employed in the detection of crime or the suppression of Fenianism. There is no force of corresponding character or proportions in either of the other two countries. If, for instance, the English County Police had a similar duty to perform, we would doubtless hear of more than 6,839 insane poor residing with relatives or friends in

the whole of England and Wales. The incompleteness of such an enumeration will be apparent by placing it alongside the similar one for Ireland, namely, 4,818, the proportion between the estimated general population of the two countries at the end of 1873 having been about 23 to 5.

The distribution of the "registered insane" in Ireland, at the period referred to, was as follows:

The Inspectors are of opinion that insanity is certainly not on the increase in Ireland at present, but they seem to anticipate a gradual addition to the numbers in asylums owing to the increase in drunkenness, which in their view does not primarily cause genuine insanity. They throw out a hint that cases in which the disease of the brain has not gone so far as to affect the mind, are mistaken for cases of insanity among habitual drunkards. But whatever doubt there may be as to the vice referred to producing insanity in the individual himself, there can be none, they say, as to its giving rise to the insane or other cachexia in his offspring. It is, therefore, our duty to check " as far as human means can, the propagation of mental disease, which is so hereditary in its character." We shall be glad to learn from the Inspectors if they have any practicable scheme to offer the legislature by which we can deal with dipsomaniacs as we do with the ordinary class of insane persons, and thus secure to society at large "indirect but certain benefits." This is, in our mind, one of the foremost social questions of the day, and we would gladly have laid before our readers any suggestions from the Inspectors which might tend to its solution. We hope they will return to the subject.

The admissions into the District Institutions during the year amounted to 2,277, the new cases numbering 1,849, and the relapsed cases 428. It is satisfactory to learn from the Inspectors that the attention of the Government has been drawn to the "inconveniences" -they use an altogether too mild a term-which are attendant on the