terial. But the classifying and name-giving instinct is ineradicable, and its excesses are a perpetual source of illusion here, and in the neighboring fields of grammar and literary criticism. And so while agreeing with Mr. Bréal that Semantics is a much more interesting and, in its unsystematic way, more instructive subject than the study of vowels and consonants, we cannot admit that it is or can be a science even in the limited sense in which the term is applicable to what has hitherto been known as comparative philology. Nor has our opinion been altered by the perusal of Professor Wundt's recently published "Völkerpsychologie." He demonstrates with superfluity of logic that every change of meaning has a cause. But so has every action of man. We do not therefore regard political history as a science. There is doubtless a reason why the French word for liver (foie) is derived from ficatum (fig-fed) and not from jecur; or why pig(e) in Danish means what the French call a young person," and not the less poetical young thing to which it is limited in our own tongue. But the reason in each instance is historical and (for purposes of human science) accidental. Such facts cannot be converted into a science by the application to illustrations taken from Trench and Bréal of Wundt's own ponderous subdivision of what the rest of us call associations into assimilations, complications, and apperceptions. We are none the wiser for being told that the familiar metaphor from sight to sound in the phrase "a clear voice" (clarus) is a case of " primary complicative Bedeutungswandel " falling under the formula ndA (E B)—ndE (AB)-ne B. We are only moved to apologize to Mr. Bréal for finding fault with the excessive complication . of his terminology. PAUL SHOREY.

A GLIMPSE OF OLD NASSAU.* The crude material without which history could not be written or the historical novel launched on its record-breaking career, is presented to the reader in the Journal and Letters of Philip Vickers Fithian, as edited by Mr. John Rogers Williams for the Princeton Historical Association. Ill-spelled, worse punctuated, and well-nigh without literary form or grace of style, these extracts from an observant

young man's private papers are still vastly entertaining and instructive, in detached passages: their humor being all the richer because unconscious, and their instruction the more welcome because unpremeditated.

Fithian was born in New Jersey in 1774; studied at Princeton, 1770-72, at the same time with Henry Lee, Aaron Burr, and James Madison; devoted himself to the study of theology after leaving college; acted as tutor in Councillor Robert Carter's family, Westmoreland County, Va., 1773–74; was sent as missionary among the pioneer settlers of Western Virginia and Pennsylvania; enlisted as chaplain in the New Jersey militia, July 12, 1776; served under Washington; and died of camp epidemic, Oct. 8, 1776..

Manners and customs at Old Nassau are described in his Princeton letters. A few extracts may be of interest to present students.

"Every Student must rise in the Morning, at farthest

by half an hour after five; the grammar Schollars being most of them small, & lodging also in Town at some Distance from the College, are, in Winter, excused from attending morning Prayrs.

"The Bell rings at five, after which there is an Intermission of half and [sic] hour, that everyone may have time to dress, at the end of which it rings again, & Prayrs begin; And lest any should plead that he did not hear the Bell, the Servant who rings, goes to every Door & beats till he wakens the Boys, which leaves them without Excuse."

"After morning Prayrs, we can, now in the Winter, study an hour by candle Light every Morning. "We breakfast at eight; from Eight to nine, is time of our own, to play or exercise,"

We sup at seven; At nine the Bell rings for Study; And a Tutor goes through College, to see that every Student is in his own Room; if he finds that any are absent, or more in any Room than belongs there, he notes them down, & the day following calls them to an Account.

"At nine any may go to bed, but to go before is reproachful."

"We rise on Sabbath mornings & have Prayrs as usual."

two of our Members were expelled from the College yesterday; not for Drunkenness, nor Fighting, not for Swearing, nor Sabbath-Breaking; But they were sent from this Seminary, where the greatest Pains and Care are taken to cultivate and encourage Decency, & Honesty, & Honour, for stealing Hens! Shameful, mean, unmanly Conduct!"

*PHILIP VICKERS FITHIAN: Journal and Letters, 17671774. Edited for the Princeton Historical Association by John

"seeking the way to heaven "; but, as the editor adds, poor Glover "appears to have mistaken a path to some neighboring hen-roost, for the way to Heaven, as he was expelled from the college the following winter for stealing turkeys." The fashion in college pranks has certainly changed since Fithian's day.

The greater part of the volume is devoted to the Virginia diary and letters. Like William Ellery Channing twenty-five years later, Philip Fithian went from college to a tutorship in a Virginia gentleman's family; like him he was meanwhile fitting for the ministry; like him he was sometimes homesick; and like him he was debarred for pecuniary reasons from much of the gay life of the Old Dominion. He, no less than Channing, noted the differences, social, moral, and temperamental, between the Southerners and the Northerners. "The people are extremely hospitable," he writes, "and very polite, both of which are most certainly universal Characteristics of the Gentlemen in Virginia." He adds, however, that "some swear bitterly, but the practice seems to be generally disapproved." In describing "Miss Priscilla," Councillor Carter's eldest daughter, he says:

"She is small of her age, has a mild winning Presence, a sweet obliging Temper, never swears, which is here a distinguished virtue, dances finely, plays well on key'd instruments, and is on the whole in the first Class of the female Sex."

The condition of the negroes is deeply deplored by Fithian, as it was later by Channing under very similar circumstances. A peck of A peck of corn and a pound of meat was the total weekly allowance of provision to each slave on the Carter plantation. The inhuman punishments inflicted on offenders by neighboring slaveowners are described. "There is a righteous God," adds the diarist, "who will take venge

ance on such Inventions."

The Journal records the traits of school-boy and school-girl nature, ever old yet ever new, which the writer notes in his young charges from day to day. Bob is flogged by his father for trying to shirk the dancing lesson by concealing till the last moment his shoeless condition. Another pupil is in trouble with vulgar fractions. The girls amuse their teacher by aping the ways of their elders. A note for the naturalist is the New Jersey diarist's surprised comment on Virginia's exemption from mosquitoes late in July, too! Apparently the Jersey variety of that insect was famous even in colonial times.

The latest entry from the Journal is dated Oct. 25, 1774. A selection from Fithian's later correspondence and diaries, if such are preserved, ought to be of value. The editor's Introduction leaves the reader at least a faint hope that another volume may be forthcoming. PERCY FAVOR BICKNELL.

A DICTIONARY OF ARCHITECTURE.*

Up to the present time some excuse was to be made for the architect, in this country, and for the student and lover of the building arts, who have not had within easy reach an English Dictionary of Architecture. An important and expensive Dictionary of Architecture was completed some seven years ago, after forty years spent in its making, by a society organized for its publication in England, but few copies found their way to this country, and the field with a satisfactory work of the kind. Mr. has been open to whomever should enter it Russell Sturgis's recent work, "A Dictionary of Architecture and Building," has, therefore, It is now pracevery opportunity of success. tically completed, one volume being in print, one in press, and the third and final one in manuscript. Mr. Sturgis, who has borne the heavy burden of editorship, came to his task well equipped to perform the duties assigned to him, and his assistants are all men eminent in the arts and crafts of which they write.

Glossaries and encyclopædic articles exist, and the general dictionaries may be depended upon for definitions, and also for pronunciation, along which line the work under consideration makes no move. It comprehends, however, the function of glossary and encyclopædia, defining words and subjects alphabetically arranged, and expanding definitions into descriptive articles varying in length from a short paragraph to several thousand words. A system of cross references, well applied and extensive, enables the student to view a particular object from many sides and to behold it in its relation to kindred sorts, while to each special article is appended a list of books, etc., in which the subject under consideration may be further and more broadly studied. This feature makes this Dictionary of great value in a ref erence library.

The definitions in the main have been fur

*A DICTIONARY OF ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING, Biographical, Historical, and Descriptive. Edited by Russell Sturgis. In three volumes, illustrated. Vol. I., A-E. New York: The Macmillan Co.

nished by Mr. Van Brunt and Professor Hamlin. Mr. Sturgis has contributed many articles but has left the longer to specialists in the various fields: thus Messrs. Blashfield, Crowinshield, and La Farge write on painting and color decoration; Messrs. Hutton and Purdy write on structural engineering; Mr. William Paul Gerhard writes on sanitary science; Mr. W. R. Letharby on design; Professor W. C. Sabine on acoustics; Mr. Charles A. Platt on gardens; while Messrs. R. Phene Spiers, C. H. Blackall, R. Clipston Sturgis, and Professor Hamlin write of the Architecture of AsiaMinor, Belgium, England, and Egypt, respectively. Mr. Barr Ferrée has furnished a list of the more important churches of Western Europe, with notes on each, to supplement the article on Churches. Sixty specialists, of whom the above are fairly representative, have contributed to the work.

Not only in the historical and descriptive departments is the work strong, but also in the department of biography. Mr. E. R. Smith, of the Avery Architectural Library, has contributed liberally in this field, furnishing the bulk of the material- furnishing, as a matter of fact, a goodly portion of the entire contents of the Dictionary. To each of the biographies Mr. Smith has appended a list of the buildings designed by the architect in question, and also, following the system used throughout the Dictionary, has added a list of the works which may be studied in further pursuit of the subject. In the matter of ascribing buildings to their proper designers, the work has been done in so thorough and scholarly a manner, original sources being sought and carefully sounded, that the result is a trustworthy presentation of the fruits of the best knowledge. Referring again to the contributors, it is noted that of the sixty or more on the list, two are Frenchmen resident in France, two Englishmen resident in England, one an American resident in Italy, and the remainder all of them resident in America, so that, while America has not developed a national architectural style, it cannot be laid at her door that she has not artistic and technical knowledge, skill, and vitality, sufficient to produce a comprehensive Dictionary of Architecture.

The work commends itself alike to the practicing architect and to the layman, and possesses so high an order of merit, and is so much of an undertaking, that it were almost ungracious to look for flaws. But faults do But faults do manifest themselves, both in the text, which

contains examples of distorted perspective, and among the illustrations, which now and again are lacking in lucidity and pointedness. For instance, the Alhambra is dismissed with eight short lines and two illustrations which in no way represent the structure, while Casas Grandes receives four times the number of lines and no illustration. The Alhambra is one of the best known piles in the literature of history and romance, and a sympathetic word concerning it would not have been amiss. The presentation of the drawing of the structural work in the "Court of the Lions" is as though one dealing with the topic of Humanity should present a model skeleton in illustration. As there is no cross reference to "Moorish Architecture" or to "Court," the subject presumptively is dismissed. The cut which is intended to illustrate the term "Alley" does so very blindly, in fact not at all; while the building represented appears again in a full page half-tone plate to illustrate the term, "Corbelling," which it does with equal blindness. The plate, however, makes a pleasing picture, which probably accounts for its introduction. The Editor deserves sincere thanks for drawing his illustration of "Collegiate " Architecture from the "real thing" rather than yielding to any temptation to present the exotic types which in their Eastern form are "Academy" Architecture, and in their proposed Western form are of the "Exposition" type of building. It is in the illustrations, however, that the work is weakest. They are drawn, as the text says, from many sources, and evidently no pains have been taken to create a uniformity either in method of reproduction or in scale. Reproductions of not too perfect wood-cuts are met on the same page with not too perfect reproductions of crude pen-drawings. The idea of proportioning the size and number of plates to the importance of the subject, seems not to have presented itself. While there are but few illustrations one would wish to have omitted altogether, there are points at which other illustrations would have been of service, notably in the fairly comprehensive article on Apartment Houses, which is illuminated with a halftone plate of a Parisian Apartment house but contains no plan from the French, who are masters in this special line of design.

But the defects are lost, almost, in the mass of well edited, pertinent material, and the shortcomings, possibly, are the unavoidable accompaniment of the speed with which the work has been produced; for that, considering

the magnitude of the work, was remarkable, and the Dictionary as it stands is to be gratefully received as a most necessary adjunct to the working library of the Architect, and a very desirable reference book on the shelves of the man of general culture. IRVING K. POND.

GILBERT WHITE OF SELBORNE.*

How mysterious, how incalculable, are the quality and the circumstance which give the work of a man's hand and brain a hold on immortality. How little can he who puts his imprint on the product of his thought and sends it forth to effect its purpose in the world, foresee the influence it shall have and the length of life it shall attain.

A hundred and fifty years ago there dwelt in an obscure village in the southern portion of England a quiet-minded clergyman, following the simple routine of daily duty which his tastes and his profession opened out to him. He was uncompanioned in his pursuits, and the solitary master of the "Wakes," a picturesque old house surrounded by ample grounds including garden, orchard, meadow, and woodland. The spirit of the naturalist animated him, affording him in his seclusion sources of endless, unaffected delight. Every object within the range of his activities excited curious inquiry and stimulated him to close observation and research. He studied the character and habits of the wild creatures round about, he learned the ways of the trees and the plants, he noticed the peculiarities of the soil and the rocks, and of the past life they entomb, and marked the variations in the seasons with a vigilant scrutiny.

Not an aspect or a mood of Nature passed him unnoted, and each, marked by a feature of importance, was stamped with minute particularity upon his retentive memory. There was an incessant gathering of interesting facts which had not before been reported for the benefit of science at large. The gentle curate had no means of measuring the value of his investigations. He was following the bent of his inclinations in single-heartedness and purity of aim. Love set him on to the work, and the

*THE NATURAL HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES of Selborne, and A Garden Kalendar. By the Reverend Gilbert White, M.A. Edited by R. Bowdler Sharpe, LL.D., with an Introduction to the Garden Kalendar by the Very Reverend S. Reynolds Hole, Dean of Rochester, and Numerous Illustrations by J. G. Keulemans, Herbert Railton, and Edmund J. Sullivan. In two volumes. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co.

honesty of his mind kept him true to the performance of it.

Selborne lies but fifty miles southwest from London, and it was the custom of the parish curate to leave his retreat by times for a brief communication with the life of the metropolis. He went up in the Spring of 1767, and came in contact with a man of like interests with himself, Thomas Pennant, Esq., a scientific writer of considerable authority, especially in the department of ornithology. Thence arose a correspondence between the two gentlemen which has made the name of Gilbert White famous in the annals of natural history.

For thirteen years these missives were despatched from the "Wakes" at Selborne, each one couched in formal yet unaffected style, and each laden with carefully considered, carefully recorded observations of the phenomena of Nature in the restricted region of the parish. The scope, variety, and accuracy of the writer's investigations alike excite our wonder, while the simplicity, the tenderness, the oblivion of self manifest in his character draw us to him

with affectionate admiration. He was the first of the students of Nature to glean his knowledge exclusively from personal investigation, who affirmed only that which he had proved, who was patient and trustworthy in experiment and conclusion. And these prime qualities, unconsciously entertained by him, have been duly appreciated among men of science.

The letters to Thomas Pennant, and a similar set addressed to the Honorable Daines Barrington, were published in 1789 under the general title of "The Natural History of Selbourne." A translation into the German appeared in Berlin in 1792. The death of Gilbert White occurred in 1793, and since that date over eighty editions of his book have been produced. Naturalists of eminence, as Sir William Jardine, Professor Bell, Frank Buckland, and Grant Allen, have in turn taken the work in hand, and by additional letters and other matter, revised and annotated, enhanced the worth of the original form.

It is included in Sir John Lubbock's list of "the best hundred books," and is 'regarded universally as a classic in the library of the naturalist. Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, of the British Museum, who is the editor of the beautiful edition of "Selborne " now before us, remarks in his introduction to the volumes:

"I have pondered a hundred times on the wonderful fact that the world should take such a heart-felt interest in the work of a retiring and modest eighteenth

century clergyman! . Apart from Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, and other places of historical interest in the British Islands, there is probably no place, save Stratford-on-Avon, to which the pilgrims of the Anglo-Saxon race render more respectful tribute than to the lowly head-stone which marks the grave of Gilbert White of Selborne. The occupant of that simple grass-grown grave would probably have been the most astonished of all people in the world could he have realized that his celebrity as an Englishman would have come near to equalling that of Shakespeare; and yet there exists at the present date as much affection, among naturalists at least, for the sayings and doings of Gilbert White as is felt for the records of Shakespeare and his time."

But little is known of the life-history of Gilbert White. In his writings self was put behind him, yet it could not be kept out of sight. Enough was visible to make us long to know more. He was a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and held a curacy under his uncle Charles, Rector of Bradley and Vicar of Swarraton. His family were people of position, and he had evidently leisure and means. biography is promised in the near future by the present editor of his works, and from his enthusiasm and the material at his command, we may expect as full and authentic a narrative as can at this late date be made out.

A

The two-volume edition which Dr. Sharpe now presents, is in all respects worthy of praise. Every pains has been taken to do justice to the memory and the achievements of Gilbert White, and the book stands as the loving tribute of one of the foremost of modern naturalists to one who served science nobly in its early stages a century and more ago. The volumes are richly illustrated with nearly two hundred full-page drawings and an almost equal number of smaller size. SARA A. HUBBARD.

FAITH AS A THEORY AND AS AN
EXPERIENCE.*

The swing of our time is from theories to facts. Though the movement has an extreme and reactionary tendency, it is a most wholesome one. No

* REASONS FOR FAITH IN CHRISTIANITY, with answers to Hypercriticism. By John McDowell Leavitt, D.D., LL.D. New York, Eaton & Mains; Cincinnati, Jennings & Pye.

THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCES OF REVEALED RELIGION. The Bishop Paddock Lectures. By Rev. Charles Woodruff Shields, D.D., LL.D. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. THE AGE OF FAITH. By Amory H. Bradford, D. D. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

JESUS CHRIST AND THE SOCIAL QUESTION. By Francis Greenwood Peabody. New York: The Macmillan Co.

THE NEW EPOCH FOR FAITH. By George A. Gordon. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA. By Alfred Caldecott, D.D. New York: The Macmillan Co.

where is it more declared than in religion. Religious belief, which had become remote, obscure, and speculative, is now earnestly interrogated on all sides, and incessantly asked for its vouchers. And yet in spite of this clamor of inquiry which has been so annoying to many persons, the period is marked by an accumulation of religious facts and religious experiences which places it above, not below, beyond, and not in the rear of, other periods. This is seen in the books before us. A portion are theoretical, apologetic, and comparatively ineffective. Another portion are practical, and stand for a temper that is conquering the world.

"Reasons for Faith in Christianity" and "Scientific Evidences of Revealed Religion," though quite diverse in form, are very like in purpose and spirit. The main object of each of them is the defense of the Bible as a special, preeminent, divine revelation, a revelation that does not so much crowd other revelations into the background as exclude them altogether. Dr. Leavitt, the author of the first volume, is exclamatory in style, and expects to carry the defenses of the enemy with a rush. His words are full of enthusiasm, and are fitted to give much satisfaction to those who entertain the same opinions as the speaker-the method is that of a speaker rather than that of a writer - and who wish only to have them confirmed. Dr. Leavitt has information rather than knowledge. He does not make a well-defined point and bring his knowledge to bear closely upon it. He covers a wide range of themes, such as one might find in a series of discourses. What he says on hypercriticism would have point if it were only put less sweepingly.

Dr. Shields, the author of the second book, has a lucid, pleasing, and persuasive style, and one whose first impression is of carefulness and candor. This first judgment is not fully sustained when we weigh up the entire discussion. He regards the divine revelation in the Scriptures as "infallible and inerrant, the very word of God." And yet, when he has made all the allowances which he is inclined to make for the personal qualities of the writer, the circumstances of the time, the intelligence of those to whom the word was addressed, and the errors incident to transcription, we are hardly able to see in what this special divine element consists. The nature of inspiration cannot be blurred advantageously in such a discussion as this of the evidence of revelation. In what exactly does a special inspiration consist, and what is the proof of it? Much of the proof that the author offers is not pertinent to the discussion. If the fact that the astronomical implications of the Scriptures are more frequently than otherwise consistent with the facts of Astronomy proves special inspiration, then the text-books on Astronomy, still more exact in their agreement, should also be a Revelation.

The author lays considerable emphasis on the assertion that we cannot regard the Bible as errant in science and history and inerrant in ethics and religion. To this we make no objection. Indeed,