w. WUXDT'S LOGIK, n. 463 Whilst the former separates man into the branches determined by descent and historic influences, but pictures each of these in every aspect of its spiritual life, the latter starts with a single determinate community in order to contemplate the isolated facts involved in it, and then to subject these to examination in respect of their mutual relations. 1 The discussion of these distinctions leads to a short account of the functions of one of the principal instruments at their disposal, viz., Statistics, and the employment of this science in the Theory of Probability and for practical, legislative and other purposes. Political Economy follows as the next of the Moral Sciences whose methods are to be discussed. Its treatment is divided into two sections, devoted respectively to the abstract view of the subject most familiar to Englishmen, of which Ricardo is the typi- cal representative, and to the modern historical school of which something is known in our country by the writings of Cliffe Ae, and (at second hand) of Roscher. The former of these is severely criticised, being complained of, amongst other grounds, as resting on assumptions which are far too wide of the truth to be able to claim the support, often urged on its behalf, of the analog}' of Mechanics ; and also as leading almost inevitably to confusion between what is and what it is expected shmdd be.* With this abstract procedure is contrasted the concrete or historical one, the radical distinction between them being found in the use they respectively make of statistics : the former only appealing to them for verification and partially, the latter starting from them as the groundwork and aiming at a complete examina- tion of all that are in any way relevant. The work concludes with a brief criticism of the various hods of Philosophy, the results being naturally examined, in part, in the light of the foregoing discussion of the methods of the detailed Sciences. JOHN VENN. 1 Otherwise expressed "Die unterscheidenden Eigenschaften der Yolker, mit denen sich die Ethnologic beschaftigt, wie die inneren Zustande der Bevolkeruugen, welche die Demologie untersocht ". - The prevalence of this system amongst ourselves is found to be con- nected with the greater egoism of the British character as compared with the broader ethical standard of the German. Such deductions from national character seem a little hazardous. If the facts had had to be explained in the reverse way, might we not have had it pointed out that the painful elaboration of historical details was connected with the incurably empirical tendency of the Briton ? This would probably have been the verdict fifty years ago.
