Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 20.djvu/874

852 that many such authors have contradicted themselves unwittingly by giving lists of the superstitions of the people against whom they made the charge. In all his own studies on the subject he has not found a people, "no matter how savage, who have no religion, if the word is used in its broadest sense, to embrace all superstitions." He also denies that any of our Indians were primarily monotheists, or that the belief in a Supreme Being has existed among them for any considerable time, and asserts that no approach to monotheism had been made before the discovery of America by Europeans, and that the idea of the Great Spirit mentioned in books on the aboriginal tribes of America is an introduction by Christianity. The body of the work consists of citations from a host of authors illustrative of the condition of Indian thought and development in respect to religion, and especially in regard to the doctrine of spirits, fetichistic superstitions, rites, and ceremonies connected with the dead, animal worship, the worship of trees and plants, of remarkable natural objects, and of the heavenly bodies, the animistic theory of meteorology, and priestcraft. The whole is as interesting as it is instructive, and as instructive as it is interesting, and is believed by Mr. Dorman to show that a gradual development from the rudest superstition, rather than a degeneracy from monotheism, has taken place; and that "the religion of the aboriginal tribes of America was a system of superstitions, all of which are explicable by the doctrine of the agency of multitudes of spirits, and in no other way."

is first drawn to the historical summary which immediately follows the list of officers and professors, and relates the different steps in the organization and development of the university in detail. It shows that the introduction of Western learning into Japan dates from between 1703 and 1711; that an observatory was established in 1744; that a translation office was instituted in 1811 to translate Dutch books; that the Dutch language was taught in 1858, and the English, French, German, and Russian languages were introduced, and courses in mathematics, botany, and chemistry were established in and after 1858; and that instruction was given mainly in the English language in 1867. The subsequent course of the university has been in the direction of expansive development, and need not be reviewed minutely. Instruction is given in the departments of law, science, and literature, which names cover nearly all that is included in similar departments in Western institutions, and some other matters peculiarly Japanese and Chinese, by American and European and Japanese professors. The law department includes English and French law, and ancient and present Japanese law; the scientific department is comprehensive; the literary department includes English literature, philosophy, political philosophy and economy, history, Buddhism, and Japanese and Chinese literature. More than fifty professors, assistants, and teachers are employed, two hundred and five students and ninety-two graduates are registered, and fifteen students are entered as sent abroad to England, France, and Germany.

object is, to present the character of the revolution which Bacon endeavored to effect in scientific method, as well as the nature of his philosophical opinions generally, in a form intelligible and interesting to readers who have no technical acquaintance with logic or philosophy. The several chapters include the life of Bacon, an account of his works, reviews of his "Survey of the Sciences," and his "Reform of Scientific Method," an examination of his philosophical and religious opinions, and an estimation of his influence on philosophy and science. On the last point, Professor Fowler believes that the influence and direction given by Bacon to science were of "the very highest importance." He called men to study the I ways and imitate the processes of nature,