gleams" which "come and go." That vocate of what we will call relatively is to say, what to the sceptic was indis- Transcendentalism — if we suppose tinguishable from what Mr. Balfour powers of reflection to be coupled with calls "a desire," was to the Sage a sensible endowments so limited - de"need." bating within themselves as to whether But this survey leads us to look back these new-born feelings were really further along the lines of evolution; indicative of something beyond, or and in so doing we get a further merely self-caused feelings consistent presumption from analogy which with primitive solipsism. We now strengthens the argument. Consider stand above this process, which has the gradual development of sensitive-been in great measure accomplished. ness to the environment, which, by a We see that the relative transcendenseries which can be traced with toler- talist was right, that evolution was able completeness, brings the living the gradual unfolding of the consciousbeing first to the vaguest consciousness ness to external nature. But we are of what is not itself, then to more dis- still conscious in ourselves of vague tinct relations with other beings aui-indications of a new insight into a mate and inanimate, to the increased higher and further Reality. The relidifferentiation of the senses, and soon gious consciousness, which includes to what is the first symptom of a sense the sense of "need," gives at least a which is destined to place the inhab-dim presage of further and higher itant of this small planet in immediate knowledge, of things as much beyond relations with that vast natural uni- our present comprehension as that verse which is known to astronomers. which is perceived by the sight of man The earthworm has, we believe, no rudiment of a special organ of vision, yet he will move in response to the light if you turn a bull's-eye lantern on him. The story of the advance from earthworm to man is a suggestive one.1 It is a story of the gradual unfolding of the sentient organism to what is in some sense a great Reality outside it. At each stage in the advance, the germ And little as can be gained on the of what is to be ultimately a means same lines from the wayward history of wide knowledge is mysterious and of man during his comparatively brief uncertain. That very sensitiveness to career, we have at least the rise into light which in man gives so definite a definiteness of the Christian ethics, perception of his fellow-creatures, which carried further and spread far made the starfish (in all probability) wider the wonderfully deep sense only dimly aware of the presence of which we find in the Psalms of the some moving object intercepting the light. We could conceive at each stage the advocate of Naturalism and the ad "In the lowest forms of animal life the whole surface is sensitive to light, and organs of vision have no doubt arisen in the first instance from limited areas being especially sensitive to light in conjunction with a deposit of pigment. Lens-like structures... were subsequently formed; but their function was not in the first instance to throw an image of external objects on the percep tive part of the eye, but to concentrate the light on it. From such a simple form of visual organ it is easy to pass by a series of steps to an eye capable of true vision." (F. Balfour's Comparative Em bryology, ii. 471.) is beyond what is accessible to the eyes of the Coelenterata. Does not the course of evolution raise at least a presumption that these new and mysterious glimpses do in fact point to a further reality? Is evolution, so loug a process upwards to wider knowledge, to turn suddenly and begin a process downwards to mere delusion ? near presence of the living God, so distinct from the vague and distant Theism of (for instauce) the Vedas, so intimate in the personal relations coutemplated, and in great measure realized; and yet carried into practical and general action by the doctrine of the Incarnation to a degree which without it could never have been possible. If the survey of the early course of ages leads us to look at the religious instinct from the first as a dim sensitiveness to a new world, whose character is shadowed forth in the conscience, giving doubtless, as imperfect senses as sharing whatever degree of relativity sensible knowledge possesses, some of his most startling paradoxes fall; and an adequate recognition of the province of latent reasoning and its tests would still further diminish the force of his destructive criticism. Mr. Balfour's constant dilemma, 66 reason or ❝ instinct," practically identifying "reason" with complete philosophical analysis, ignores here the third ground of a rational instinct which represents a latent rational process, ascertainably such. give, new error as the necessary accompaniment of new knowledge (hence the superstitions and distortions which have discredited the religious instinct), surely we have here, in the later purifying and focussing of the ethical ideals, a step at least in the direction of a rational indication both of the truth that what is manifest is a new sensitiveness to a new light, and of the nature of the reality towards which the religious consciousness is advancing. And as there is a rational as distinct from a blind instinct, so there is an open-eyed as distinct from a blind sense of need. And so understood, we believe Mr. Balfour is on right lines in giving us a groundwork for our acceptance of the great presupposition of theology, a Wise and Holy Author of the Universe, the satisfaction which that assumption ministers to an urgent and constant need. On the whole it would appear that the strength of Mr. Balfour's main position depends on his faithful adherence, in its interpretation, to the quasiinductive method on which it is really founded. Where his observations have been patient and accurate, his conclusions are true and powerfully stated. He not only successfully disposes of the claims of Naturalism as a sufficient philosophy, and of the naturalistic account of ethics and of human reason, The nature of the justification is at but he gives the individual good ground least in keeping with the character of to look for what his own reason cannot the assumption. If the need points to lead him to by a direct path, in those a great reality, a fuller and higher emgreat religious assumptions without bodiment and source of those ethical which our nature remains so incom-and rational instincts which the need plete, and our deepest needs continue represents, it is to be expected that we unsatisfied a process which has some should not "know as we are known" analogy (though but a partial one) to by a Reason so far above our own. the formation of great hypotheses to A dog cannot understand the means explain natural facts. whereby its master does effectually convey to it his will, and secure its obedience. We have no help for it but to surrender ourselves to what are so far non-rational causes of belief, that we cannot rise to their apprehension by direct logic; and the experience of consequent harmony and growth may well be at least one principal element in the justification of our trust. But it is obvious that utterly blind and stupid guesses at Nature's methods would be quite useless in leading to true results. And so too, if Mr. Balfour's destructive criticism of the analytical processes (notably in the chapter on the "Philosophical Basis of Naturalism") are as valid as he seems to suppose, a reason so misleading, when we can observe it closely, will not seem fitted to suggest, with any prospect of accuracy, the general lineaments of a Life-philosophy. And further, once the bridge is crossed which joins us to the world of reality, according to Joubert's saying, "In poetry I should fear to go wrong if I differed from poets, in religion if I differed from the Saints," Author But here we believe that Mr. Balfour's observation of the relevant facts is at fault. The reasoning processes, ity, whose credentials are discerned if patiently surveyed, do not yield such through the rational and moral light, bewildering results as he supposes. If has great value in carrying us further. physical science is clearly understood Those in whom need and satisfaction have been deepest may well determine | have therefore fallen outside our scope. the line of further advance. We may instance as an example the admirable treatment of "Beliefs, Formulas, and Realities." Throughout the book we have a com bination, especially suited to our own The justification, then, of our religious convictions solely by the satisfaction they afford to what we have called a blind sense of need, while it harmonizes with one strain in Mr. Bal-time, when the temperament of a Pasfour's disparagement of human reason, cal is so general, of a deep sense of the and with a pessimistic interpretation of difficulties of man's position, and of the his saying that "certitude is the child need for light we do not possess, with of custom " a saying which naturally an equally deep sense that a practical recalls David Hume. - appears to us acquiescence in scepticism or Agnosti both inadequate and out of harmony cism would be to deny what is best in with the general drift of his striking our nature. That a great reality be book. And so, too, a blind surrender yond us is the source of all that is to Authority is an inadequate account highest in us is for Mr. Balfour a cenof the trust in Authority, the necessity and value of which, in the social and religious life, he so powerfully exhibits. We can accept his analysis and his conclusion only with the reservations we have indicated. Theism as the presupposition of Theology is accepted, as an external world is allowed as a necessary presupposition to science. In neither case can a complete logical proof be given. In both cases our intellectual (and ethical) nature points to their rational necessity for the completion of the scheme of human knowledge. The analysis of past experience in the one case and of the phenomena of consciousness in the other indicate a conclusion which they cannot reach. In both cases the last link of the process is outside the province of human reason, but that is (in the case of Theism) at least in harmony with the supposition that a Higher Power is acting on us, whose evidence is in our own life and growth, but whose proportion to ourselves is not such as to allow that we should hold it in the grasp of our limited faculties. The directly practical object of Mr. Balfour's book has made it necessary to consider chiefly its main conclusion, and it has been impossible to do this briefly. We regret that the profoundest portions of a work, most suggestive throughout, and in parts very powerful, passages characterized by a philosophical comprehensiveness and wisdom which are not equally apparent in some of the destructive criticisms it contains, tral belief which no detailed defeat of From The Fortnightly Review. La femme est toujours femme et jamais ne sera THE story of Sophie Kovalevsky is the story of a life divided against itself, of a conflict in which the comba 1 Souvenirs d'Enfance de Sophie Kovalevsky, écrits par elle-même, et suivis de sa biographie par Mme. A.-Ch. Leffler, Duchesse de Cajanello (Paris, Hachette et Cie.). Vospominania Detsva, published in the Vestnik the same year into Swedish, under Madame KoEvropy of July and August, 1890; translated in valevsky's direction, with the title "Ur Ryska Lifvet." sky, has been recently translated into English Vera Barantzova, a novel by Madame KovalerWard and Downey, 1895. on the floor." In the morning a pleasant odor of coffee added itself to the many already existing, and "Niania," herself half clad, dispensed coffee and rolls to the children in their beds; only by and by would the time come for them to be washed and dressed. "It must be admitted," says Madame Kovalevsky, "that much time was not spent on our toilettes. 'Niania' passed a wet towel over our faces and our hands, passed a comb once or twice through our tangled hair, put on a frock with several buttons missing, and we were ready." The necessary attention to the chamber seems to have been taken in hand by "Niania" in much the same style. "Without troubling herself about us, she would sweep the floor, raising a thick cloud of dust, throw the coverlets over our little beds, shake the mountain of pillows on her own bed, and the room was all right for the day.' Anna, being some years older, escaped for a while to the French governess; but Sophie and her little brother "remained and played with their toys on the great leather-covered divan with the horsehair protruding through its many holes." "Niania " sometimes told tants were differing sides of the same | reinforced at night by a young servant personality. It was a contest for su- girl, who extemporized a bed for herpremacy between heart and brain, in self by spreading "a piece of grey felt which it is difficult to say which carried off the victory. The latter could indeed point to the brilliant successes which the world admired, but for these the former exacted payment in full measure. It is to Madame Kovalevsky's own pen that we are indebted for the interesting and charmingly told story of her childhood and early youth. These recollections, her first literary work of importance, were published in the last year of her life, and were received with a burst of admiration both in Russia and Scandinavia. Sophie Kovalevsky was born at Moscow about 1850. Her life, therefore, may be said to have run almost parallel with that important period in the history of her country which began with the Crimean war. Very curious is the series of vivid pictures she draws of a Russian upper-class household of forty years ago. The children, at this period of their lives, seem to have been permitted to catch only occasional glimpses of their parents, to whose presence they were summoned for a few minutes, previous to their departure for some social function, when they gazed admiringly at their father's orders and their mother's jewels. For the rest, they lived in their own appartment them stories about the "Twelvewith their nurse, an ignorant peasant headed Serpent," the "Black Death," woman, but warmly attached to the and others of the same stamp; and the family, and especially to little "Sonia," proceedings were often enlivened by whom rightly or wrongly-she be- the visits of the other servants and lieved to be less loved by her parents sundry gossips to drink tea with "Nithan either her elder sister or her little ania." The little Sophie, listening to brother. Madame Kovalevsky's ear- their conversations, learned amongst liest recollections were associated with other things that she herself had not this large, low room (so low that by been very heartily welcomed into the standing on a chair "Niania" could world. That the 66 Barinia' never touch the ceiling), with its close atmo- even looked at her," both she and sphere and its ever-present peculiar "Excellency "wanted a boy SO smell; itself a compound of innumer- much." Neither fresh air nor regular able other odors, of incense, of tallow exercise for the children seem to have candles, and the mixture used by entered into the ideas of "Niania." "Niania" for her rheumatism. Here The French governess, indeed, never the three children quite literally lived came to the room without holding her - here they spent their days; here handkerchief to her nose, and implorthey played, and ate, and slept they ing "Niania" to open the windows; and their nurse; their number being but the suggestion was always received by her with unconcealed irritation as a personal insult, and a mischievous foreign notion. not in those days-probably are not even in these easily procurable in remote country houses in Russia, and We are not surprised to learn that for one of the children's rooms at Palipoor little Sophie was, in her fifth year, bino sufficient wall-paper had not been attacked by a serious nervous illness. forthcoming. It had therefore been Happily for her, at this juncture her papered with old disused printed paper, father retired from active service, and amongst which were several sheets of withdrew with his family to his estate Ostrogradski's lectures on the differenof Palibino, in the government of tial and integral calculus; a reminis Vitebsk. At Palibino "Niania" would cence of General Kroukovsky's student probably have found it more difficult to days, and a hint, perhaps, that Sophie's preserve her cherished methods, but great mathematical gifts had not deher reign was destined to come to a scended to her from her father. This speedy close. The general had now a room possessed a strong fascination for good deal of time on his hands, and it the little seven-year-old maiden. Here occurred to him to investigate certain she was to be found daily, her attenof the domestic arrangements, with tion riveted on these walls, striving to results apparently startling to himself understand something of the strange and others. A domestic court-martial figures and stranger formulas. "I rewas promptly held; the French gov-member," says Madame Kovalevsky, erness was dismissed, "Niania" de-"that every day I used to spend hours graded to a lower rank-the care of before these mysterious walls, strug the children being exchanged for that gling to understand some of the senof the linen and an English govern- tences, and to find the order of the ess replaced these fallen authorities. sheets. By dint of long contemplation It is with a feeling of patriotic pride some of the formulas became fixed that we read Madame Kovalevsky's firmly in my memory, and even the account of the labors and the victories text, though I could comprehend nothof our brave compatriot. ing of it at the time, left its impression on my brain." She tried hard to turn our room into an English nursery, and to make us into English girls of the approved type. The task - God knows - was not an easy one, but thanks to a remarkable perseverance, she to some extent attained her ends. She introduced a wholly new element into the household. Although she had been brought up in Russia, she preserved all the characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon race, steadiness, method, tenacity of purpose. These qualities were precisely the reverse of those which characterized the rest of the household, and they account for the strong influence she exerted amongst us. When, several years later, her father was prevailed on to let her have some instruction in mathematics, the results were a surprise and a revelation to all concerned; not least to the little pupil herself. The mysteries of the walls now grew clear, and her progress was made by leaps and bounds. The differential calculus presented no difficulties to her, and her tutor found that she knew the formulas by heart, and arrived at solutions and explanations quite independent of his aid. There was no denying her talent; nevertheless General Kroukovsky regarded its Little Sophie, so recently in danger of becoming a nervous, sickly child, development with distrust, and someshowed a marked improvement in her thing like dismay. It was altogether health under the rational system estab- out of the ordinary course of things to lished by the admirable "Malvina see a little girl devoted to the differenJakovlevna." She once more took a tial calculus, and was a state of matters firm hold upon life, and proceeded that might become difficult to deal forthwith to point out in what direction with. Moreover, he had difficulties her vocation lay. enough on his hands. Already some The resources of civilization were painful experiences with his elder |