all the incidents which had a part in shaping Mr. Spencer's career, and in directing his thoughts to the course they took, are plainly set down, with the several stages in the development of his scheme, and the order in which its different parts were conceived or brought forth. Two chapters are then devoted to Mr. Spencer's earlier work—to the preparation for the Synthetic Philosophy—and to the Synthetic Philosophy itself. Here pains are taken to place in its proper light Mr. Spencer's connection with the modern doctrine of evolution, and to show him to be the originator of it—antedating Darwin and all others many years in the conception and first publishing of it, as we have often shown in the Monthly. These chapters deal to a considerable extent with the abstract and metaphysical aspects of Mr. Spencer's work, but only as a necessary introduction to what is to follow; for it is not the author's purpose to consider the philosophy as an abstract conception or a piece of metaphysical rationalistics, but rather to demonstrate it as a scheme of life and of reigning natural law; and he does this with a success that is nothing less than remarkable. This is, in fact, one of the most important characteristics of the volume. No pains are spared to make prominent the practical element in Mr. Spencer's philosophy, to exhibit the bearing of his writings on current problems, and to show how the system fits to all the various relations of the world's growth and the exigencies and duties of life. Of all men's, Spencer's thought has been most potent in shaping and directing the intellectual movement of the latter half of the century; and it has been so by reason of the immediate bearing of his teachings not only on the everyday questions that occupy men's minds, but also on those larger problems which are pressing on all sides for solution. Every man of whatever calling or aim who reads them attentively will find in them what will aid him in the pursuit of his profession or his object. This bearing appears throughout in Mr. Hudson's book, and especially in the chapters on the Spencerian sociology and on the ethical system and the religious aspect, not because of efforts to exhibit it—for such efforts are wholly absent—but logically and naturally, as a part of the thing itself. Mr. Hudson is at some pains to explain the exact meaning of Mr. Spencer's "Unknowable," and to correct the impressions that have been industriously cultivated by prejudiced antagonists that he is a materialist or an agnostic in any atheistic sense; a pains which is supererogatory as to persons who will carefully read what Mr. Spencer says, but may be necessary as to those who come to his writings burdened with the endless reiteration of misrepresentations. Those who read this little book can hardly fail to be impressed with the great importance and wholesome character of Mr. Spencer's writings, and to desire to know more of them.
Folk Tales of Angola. Fifty Tales, with Ki-Mbundu Text, Literal English Translation, Introduction, and Notes. Collected and edited by Heli Chatelain. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., for the American Folklore Society. Pp. 315, with Map. Price, $3.
The author visited Africa as pioneer and linguist of Bishop Taylor's self-supporting missions. In his studies of the native language he found that all the dialects spoken at Loanda and Angola and those of the adjoining districts formed one language, and that that language—the Ki-Mbundu—was worthy of the founding of a literature. He published some elementary books in it, and by the aid of an intelligent native was able to take down a large number of folk tales, riddles, songs, and proverbs, of which the present volume is only a first installment of what he intends to publish. After comparing the whole material, the author has found that many of the myths, favorite types or characters, and peculiar incidents which have been called universal, can also be traced through Africa from sea to sea, and that African folklore is not a tree by itself, but a branch of one universal tree. Though Portuguese and Arabian influence is evident in many of the stories, still the bulk of the tales is purely native. African folklore is especially rich in animal stories or fables. The folklore of the Bantu appears to be remarkably homogeneous and compact, while the Nigritic folklore, after the exotic elements connected with Islam are eliminated from it, is found to be virtually the same. The mythologies and superstitions of the various tribes are easily reducible to one
