Page:Philosophical Review Volume 12.djvu/682

666 'generals,' inasmuch as it allows the play of relatively 'free' ideas in the realm of action.

2. The outcome in the matter of animal imitation. Here the extreme negative conclusions of Thorndike are fairly overthrown. It is shown, I think conclusively, that animals do imitate one another; the question being only when and where. I think it is a fair interpretation of Hobhouse's observations, taken with earlier ones, to say that such imitations are mainly, at any rate, and below the monkeys, in the line of the normal activities of the species; and that in all other cases of imitative acquisition the function is along the line of somewhat facile or already partially acquired function. This is consistent with the principle of "kinesthetic equivalents" now pretty well established for action in general. Even the human imitator can only do imitatively things that he can do—that is, for which he has some kinesthetic equivalents derived from former action. There are many other points of interest which it would be profitable to discuss. On the whole, it is safe to say that Mr. Hobhouse has produced an interesting and valuable book on comparative psychology.

Professor Flint of Edinburgh has written so much on matters connected with Natural Theology, and his work has been so widely read and commented on, that one cannot expect a book from his pen to bring to the fore any philosophical or theological views with which his readers are not already familiar. What he writes always shows range of reading, historical perspective, deliberate judgment, and an unusual familiarity with French literature, which in the matter of his last work stands him in especially good stead. He has, moreover, a way of selecting illustrative material from comparatively unknown authors which is saved from pedantry by its fine appositeness, and which serves to both clarify his theme and inform his reader. Then, too, he knows how to write English that can be understood, and his views are frankly expressed. These characteristics, together with his common sense Scotch philosophy, have secured him a wide audience, and they are all manifest in his latest work on Agnosticism.

Still, the book will not be read as it would have been a quarter of