Chapter VIII: Discovery and Invention: Science and Literature (1)

PROGRESS OF HUMANE SENTIMENT: PROGRESS TOWARD THE UNITY OF MANKIND.

As an era of invention and discovery, the nineteenth century is a rival of the fifteenth.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES.--Too much was already known of the globe to leave room for another so stupendous discovery as that of the New World. Nevertheless, many important geographical discoveries have been made, especially since about 1825. Geographical societies without number have been founded, of which the Royal Geographical Society in England (1830) is one of the best known. Geographical knowledge is increased in two ways,--first, by the discovery of places not before known; and secondly, by the scientific examination of countries and districts, with accurate surveys, and the making of maps. In both these departments, especially in the latter, the recent period won distinction. The _Russians_ in their advance rendered the regions of Northern and Central Asia accessible to travelers. Not only India, but also extensive districts in Central Asia, have been explored by the British. China has been traversed by a succession of travelers, and Japan has unbarred its gates for the admission of foreigners. Abyssinia has been traversed. The mystery respecting the sources of the Nile has been dispelled by _Speke_, _Grant_, and _Baker_. In 1822 and 1825 _Clapperlon_, in two journeys, went over the whole route from Tripoli to the coast of Guinea. In 1830 _Richard_ and _John Lander_ settled the question as to the outlet of the _Niger_. _Barth_, and other later explorers, have carried forward the study of the course of this great river, in the exploration of which _Mungo Park_ lost his life (1806). In 1816 the Congo was explored to the falls of Yellala. The travels of _Schweinfurth_, _Livingstone_, _Barth_, _Cameron_, and _Stanley_ have greatly enlarged our acquaintance with formerly unknown portions of the African continent. In 1879 _Stanley_, commissioned by King _Leopold_ of Belgium, opened up communication with the populous basin of the Congo. During the struggle of the European states to acquire colonial territory, no part of the continent remained unexplored. European rivalries also had similar important consequences to geography in Asia, especially in the Trans-Caspian region and in Tibet. Dr. Sven Hedin was the most successful of the explorers in Tibet, traversing wholly unknown districts. Unknown regions on the American continent, in South America, in far north-western North America, and in Labrador, have been visited. The same is true of the interior of Australia. The eagerness to find a north-western passage (and later in scientific exploration) has led to hazardous and not unfruitful expeditions under _Ross_, _Parry_, _Franklin_, _Kane_, _Markham_, _McClintock_, _Greely_, and other voyagers. In 1875 _Markham_ reached the highest latitude that up to that time had been attained (83° 21' 26"). A still higher point (86° 14') was reached by Dr. Nansen who in 1893 started to drift in the _Fram_ across the polar regions. In 1892 Lieutenant Peary crossed Greenland from the west coast to a part of the north-east coast never before visited. The Antarctic seas were also explored first by the _Challenger_ in 1874. By 1900 the farthest point reached was 78° 50'. Geography has become a much more profound and instructive science. The physical character of the globe, and of the atmosphere that surrounds it, have been studied in their relation to man and history. Physical geography, or physiography, has thus arisen. In recent years scientists have gone far in the study of the physical geography of the sea, in making maps of its bottom, and in the endeavor to define the system of oceanic winds and currents. In connection with physical geography, the distribution of animal life on the land and in the depths of the sea has been studied, and much valuable information gained.

FOUR INVENTIONS.--Among the useful inventions of the present century, there are four which are of preëminent consequence. The honor connected with each of these, as is generally the case with great inventions, belongs to no individual exclusively. Several, and in some cases many persons, can fairly claim a larger or smaller share in it. (1) The most efficient agent in bringing the _steam-engine_ to perfection was _James Watt_ (1736-1819), a native of Scotland. (2) In connection with the application of steam to navigation, no name stands higher than that of _Robert Fulton_. (3) Carriages on railroads were at first drawn by horses. In 1814 _George Stephenson_, in England, invented the locomotive, and afterwards (1829) an improved construction of it.

The first great railroad for the transportation of passengers began to run between Manchester and Liverpool in 1830. Remarkable achievements in engineering have been connected with the construction of railways. The Alps were pierced, and the Mont Cenis tunnel was completed in 1871. The principal civilized countries have gradually become covered with networks of railways. The whole method of transportation of the products of industry has been altered by them. Besides their vast influence in facilitating and stimulating travel and trade, they have modified the method of conducting warfare, with very important results. (4) In contriving the _electric telegraph_, _Wheatstone_, an Englishman, _Oersted_, a Dane, and _Henry_, an American, had each an important part. The most simple and efficient form of the telegraphic instrument is admitted to be due to the inventive sagacity of _Morse_ (1837). His instrument was first put in use in 1844. The first submarine wires connecting Europe with America transmitted messages in 1858, between England and the United States. Since that time numerous submarine cables have been laid in different parts of the globe. Upon the invention of the telegraph, another invention--that of the _telephone_--has followed, by which conversation can be held with the voice between distant places. By the phonograph it has become possible to reproduce audibly songs, speeches, and conversations. Still more recently a system of wireless telegraphy has been invented by which messages may be sent even across the Atlantic without the use of a cable.

The Suez Canal, a channel for ships, connecting the Mediterranean
with the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and opening thus a shorter
highway by water between Europe and the East, was officially opened
on the 17th of November, 1869.

USES OF STEAM.--The practical applications of steam, besides its use in the propulsion of vessels, and of carriages on railways, are numberless. It is used, for example, in automobiles, in traction engines, in plowing and harvesting machinery, in fire-engines, in road-rollers, and in all sorts of hoisting and conveying machinery.

Steam forge hammers were invented by _Nasmyth_, an engineer of
Manchester, in 1839. In a multitude of industrial occupations, where
water-power was once used, or tools and machines whose use involved
muscular exertion, the work is now done by the energy of steam. More
recently electricity has been displacing steam not only on street
railroads and suburban railroads, but also in many other industrial
processes, as well as the lighting of buildings and streets.

TOOLS AND MACHINES.--In modern days no small amount of skill has been directed to the devising of tools and machines for the more facile and exact production of whatever costs labor. Factories have become monuments of ingenuity, and museums in the useful arts. Improved machinery lightens the toil of the sailor. Machines in a great variety facilitate agricultural labor. They open the furrow, sow the seed, reap and winnow the harvest. In-doors, the sewing-machine performs a great part of the labor formerly done by the fingers of the seamstress. The art of printing has attained to a marvelous degree of progress. _Hoe's_ printing-press, moved by steam, seizes on the blank paper, severs it from the roll in sheets of the right size, prints it on both sides, and folds it in a convenient shape,--all with miraculous rapidity. Inventions in rock-boring and rock-drilling have made it possible to tunnel mountains. The use of explosives for mechanical purposes is a highly important fact in connection with the modern labor-saving inventions.

INDIA RUBBER.--Shoes made of _caoutchouc_, the thickened milky juice of the india-rubber plant, were imported from Brazil to Boston as early as 1825. Improvements in the use of this material, in the solid form and in solution, were made by Mr. _Macintosh_ of Glasgow, and _Thomas Hancock_ of Newington, England, about 1820. From the dissolved caoutchouc, a coating was obtained making garments water-proof. In 1839 _Charles Goodyear_, an American, discovered the process of vulcanizing india-rubber,--that is, producing in it a chemical change whereby its valuable qualities are greatly enhanced. The material thus procured was applied to a great number of uses. It enters into a great variety of manufactured articles.

ENGINERY OF WAR.--A continual advance has been made in the construction of the implements of war. The whole science and art of war have been fundamentally changed, mainly in consequence of these modern inventions. Reference may be made to the invention of _rifled cannon_, heavier ordnance, breech-loading guns, and shells and explosive bullets. It was the _needle-gun_ of the Prussians, which gave them a signal advantage in their war with the French. The building of armored battle ships has been followed by the construction of small swift vessels from which to launch torpedoes at the battle ships. Other swift vessels have been constructed to pursue and destroy the torpedo boat. High explosives and smokeless powder have also been invented.

THE TELESCOPE AND MICROSCOPE.--Among the instruments which have promoted the extension of science, the microscope, with its modern improvements, is one of the most interesting. It has aided discovery in botany, in physiology, in mineralogy, and in almost all other branches of science. It has even assisted in the detection of crime. The large refracting telescopes have been constructed within the last few decades. Telescopes have recently been used with increasing success in photographing the heavens with accuracy.

INSTRUMENTS IN MEDICINE AND SURGERY.--The microscope has rendered inestimable service to the healing art. Rare ingenuity has been exerted in contriving surgical instruments by which difficult operations are performed with comparative safety and without pain. In medicine and surgery, the discovery of _anesthetics_ for the general or partial suspending of nervous sensibility is one of the triumphs of practical science in later times. _Chloroform_ was brought into general use in the medical profession in 1847; although it had been discovered, and had been used by individuals in the profession, much earlier. _Nitrous oxide_ was first used by _Horace Wells_, a dentist of Hartford, in the extraction of a tooth (1844). In 1846 the great discovery of anæsthetic _ether_, by _Morton_ of Boston, was first applied in surgery. _Jackson_ and others were claimants, with more or less justice, to a part in the honors of this discovery. Lately _cocaine_ has been found to benumb the sensibility of the more delicate membranes, as those of the eye and the throat. In _auscultation_, or the ascertaining of the state of the internal organs by listening to their sound, a very valuable instrument is the _stethoscope_. The principle of the _ophthalmoscope_, that wonderful instrument for inspecting the interior of the eye, was expounded by _Helmholtz_ in 1851. By its aid, not only the condition of that organ is explored, but indications of certain diseases in the brain, and in other parts of the body, are discovered. Helmholtz did an equal work in acoustics. The recent discovery and use of the _X-rays_ has assisted surgeons in locating foreign substances and in diagnosing disease.

THE SPECTROSCOPE: PHOTOGRAPHY.--In connection with the phenomena of light, the _spectroscope_, by which the chemical elements entering in the composition of the sun and of other heavenly bodies are ascertained, is one of the marvels of the age. The way was paved for this discovery by a succession of chemists and opticians,--_Fraunhofer_ (1814), _Brewster_ (1832), _Sir John Herschel_ (1822), _J. W. Draper_, and others; but the instrument was devised by _Kirchhoff_ and _Bunsen_. _Photography_, or the art of making permanent sun-pictures, is the result of the labors of _Niepce_ (who died in 1833), _Daguerre_ (1839), _Fox Talbot_, an Englishman, _J. W. Draper_, and other men of science and practical artisans. _Instantaneous_ photography has been of much service in the observation of eclipses and other astronomical phenomena. Progress has also been made in color-photography.

THE CONSERVATION OF ENERGY.--Perhaps the most important conclusion of physical science which has been reached in the recent period is the doctrine of the conservation of energy. Chemists had shown that the sum of matter always remains the same. In the transformations of chemistry no matter is destroyed, however it may change its form. Now, it has been proved that the quantity of power or energy is constant. If lost in one body, it reappears in another; if it ceases in one form, it is exerted in another, and this according to definite ratios. One form of energy is convertible into another: heat, light, electricity, magnetism, chemical action, are so related that one can be made to produce either of the others. This fact is termed the _correlation_ of physical forces. Connected with the discovery of it are _Meyer_ in Germany, and _Grove_ and _Joule_ in England. It has been expounded by _Sir William Thompson_, _Helmholtz_, _Tait_, _Maxwell_, etc. The truth was elucidated by _Tyndall_ in his _Heat considered as a Mode of Motion_, and by _Balfour Stewart_ in his _Conservation of Energy_. But _Count Rumford_, an American (1753-1814), the real founder of the Royal Institution, long ago opened the path for this discovery by furnishing the data for computing the mechanical equivalent of heat.

GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY.--In geology, from the publication of _Lyell's_ work (1830), the tendency has more and more prevailed to explain the geological structure of the earth by the slow operation of forces now in action, rather than by violent convulsions and catastrophes. In 1831 _Sedgwick_ and _Murchison_, likewise English geologists, commenced their labors. _Agassiz_ published his Essay on the Glaciers in 1837, the precursor of like investigations by _Tyndall_ and others. These are only a small fraction of the numerous body of explorers and writers in geological science. In the United States, _Benjamin Silliman_ (1779-1864), an eminent scientific teacher, lent a strong stimulus to the progress of geology, as well as of chemistry. Even in the branch of _paleontology_, or the study of the fossil remains of extinct animals, it would be impracticable to give the names of those who have added so much to our knowledge of the earth and its inhabitants in the ages that preceded man.

ASTRONOMY.--The great French geometers, _Lagrange_ and _Laplace_, made an epoch in astronomical science. Since their time, however, there has been a large increase of knowledge in this branch. The discovery of the planet Neptune (1846) by _Galle_, as the result of mathematical calculations of _Leverrier_, which were made independently also by _Adams_, was hailed as a signal proof of scientific progress; and, recently, the discovery of a fifth satellite of Jupiter. Besides Neptune hundreds of thousands of stars have been discovered and registered. Mathematical astronomy has advanced, while the study of nebulae and of meteors, and the investigation of the constitution of celestial bodies by the help of the spectroscope, are among the more recent achievements of this oldest of the sciences. Among the names identified with the recent progress of astronomy are _Sir John Herschel_ and _A. Herschel_, _Maxwell_, _Struve_, _Secchi_, _Bessel_, _Bond_, _Peirce_, _Newton_, _Newcomb_, _Young_, _Lockyer_, _Schiaparelli_.

PROGRESS IN CHEMISTRY.--In chemistry the major part of the more rare elements have been discovered since the century began. It was proved in 1819 that the capacities for heat which belong to the atoms of the different elements are equal. In the same year _Mitscherlich's_ law was propounded,--the law of _isomorphism_, according to which atoms of elements of the same class may replace each other in a compound without altering its crystalline structure. Chemists have directed their attention to the _molecular_ structure--the ultimate constitution--of various compounds. _Faraday_ (1791-1867) developed the relations of electricity to chemistry. _Liebig_ (1803-1873), a German chemist, in connection with numerous laborers in the same field, made interesting contributions in the different departments of chemical science. Among the recent elements which have been discovered are argon, which enters into the composition of air, helium, and radium.

BIOLOGY.--No branch of natural science has been more zealously cultivated of late than _biology_. Among those who have given an impulse to the study of natural history, one of the most eminent names is that of _Charles Darwin_. His work on _The Origin of Species_ (1859) advocated the opinion that the various species of animals, instead of being all separately created, spring by natural descent and slow variation from a few primitive forms of animal life. He laid much stress upon "natural selection," or the survival of the strongest or fittest in the struggle for existence. With the name of Darwin should be associated that of _Wallace_, who simultaneously propounded the same doctrine. The general doctrine of _evolution_, or of the origin of species by natural generation, has been held in other forms and modifications by _Richard Owen_, and other distinguished naturalists. One of the most noted opponents of the evolution doctrine in zoology was _Louis Agassiz_ (1807-1873), a very able and enthusiastic student of nature. One of its most eminent expounders and defenders was _Huxley_. Some have sought to extend the theory of natural development over the field of inorganic as well as living things, and to trace all existences back to nebulous vapor.

ARCHEOLOGY.--Geology lends its aid to _archeology_, or the inquiry into the primitive condition of man. Not only has much light been thrown on obscure periods of history, by the uncovering of the remains of Babylon, Assyria, and other abodes of early civilization, and by the deciphering of monumental inscriptions in characters long forgotten; but the discovery of buried relics of prehistoric men has afforded glimpses of human life as it was prior to all written memorials. One of the most instructive writers on this last subject is _Tylor_ in his _Primitive Culture_, and in other works on the same general theme.

PHILOSOPHY AND LITERATURE.

PHILOSOPHY IN FRANCE.--_Victor Cousin_ (1792--1867), a brilliant
thinker and eloquent lecturer and writer, founded in France the
_eclectic school_ of philosophy. He aimed to construct a
positive view on the basis of previous systems, which he classified
under four heads,--_idealism_, _sensualism_,
_skepticism_, and _mysticism_. In his teaching, he sought a
middle path between the German and the Scottish schools, leaning now
more decidedly to the one, and now to the other. _Jouffroy_
(1796-1842), the most prominent of _Cousin's_ disciples, but
more exact and methodical than his master, wrote instructively,
especially on _aesthetics_ and _moral
philosophy_. Philosophy in France took an altogether different
direction in the hands of _Auguste Comte_ (1798-1857), the
founder of the _positivist_ school. He taught that we know only
phenomena, or things as manifested to our consciousness, and know
nothing either of first causes, efficient causes, or of final causes
(or design). We are limited to the ascertaining of facts by
observation and experiment, which we register according to their
likeness or unlikeness, and their chronological relation, or the
order of their occurrence in time.

SCOTTISH PHILOSOPHY.--The most distinguished expounder of the
_Scottish_ philosophy, and the most learned of that whole
school, was _Sir William Hamilton_ (1788-1856). He maintained
the doctrine of _natural realism_,--that we have a direct, "face
to face" perception of external things. He held that the range of the
mind's power of conceptive thought lies between two
_inconceivables_, one of which must be real. Thus we can not
conceive of free-will (which would be a new beginning), nor can we
conceive of an endless series of causes. Free-will--and the same is
true of the fundamental truths of religion--is verified to us as real
by our moral nature. A Scottish writer of ability, who, however,
opposed the peculiar tenets of the Scottish school, was
_Ferrier_ (1808-1864). Among the other philosophical writers of
Scotland, affiliated, but with different degrees of dissent, with the
school of Reid and Hamilton, are Professors _Fraser_ and
_Calderwood_, and the late _James McCosh_.

PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLAND.--More allied to the philosophy of Hume and of
Comte are the metaphysical theories of _John Stuart Mill_
(1806-1873). _Intuitions_ were regarded by Mill as the
impression produced by a frequent conjunction of like experiences,
and thus to be the product of sensation. _Causation_ was
resolved into the invariable association of phenomena, by which an
expectation is created that seems instinctive. Another writer of the
same general tendency, who seeks for the explanation of knowledge in
the materials furnished by the senses, is _Alexander Bain_, a
Scottish author, versed in physiology. _Herbert Spencer_
constructed a general system of philosophy on the basis of the theory
of evolution. He holds that our knowledge is limited to
_phenomena_, which are the manifestation in our consciousness of
things which in themselves are unknown; and that behind and below all
is "the Unknowable,"--an inscrutable force, out of which the universe
of matter and mind is developed, and which gives to it unity and
coherence.

PHILOSOPHY IN GERMANY.--In Germany the decline of the school of
_Hegel_ was succeeded by a sort of anarchy in
philosophy. _Herbart_ (1776-1841), a contemporary of
_Hegel_, framed a system antagonistic to Hegelian
idealism. Among numerous metaphysical authors, each of whom has a
"standpoint" of his own, are the justly distinguished names of
_Fichte_ (the younger), _Ulrici, Trendelenburg_, and
_Hermann Lotze. Lotze._ in his _Microcosm_, has unfolded,
in a style attractive to the general reader, profound and genial
views of man, nature, and religion. A remarkable phenomenon in German
speculation is "pessimism,"--the doctrine gravely propounded in the
systems of _Schopenhauer_ and _E. Von Hartmann_, that the
world is radically and essentially evil, and personal existence a
curse from which the refuge is in the hope of annihilation. In its
view of the world as springing from an unconscious force, and of the
extinction of consciousness as the state of bliss, as well as in its
notions of evil as inwrought in the essence of things, this
philosophy is a revival of Indian Oriental speculation. Historical
and critical writings in the department of philosophy abound in
Germany. The histories of philosophy by _Ritter, Erdmann, Zeller,
Kuno Fischer,_ and _Lange_, are works of remarkable merit.

PHILOSOPHY IN ITALY.--Among the Italian metaphysicians, the two
writers who are most noteworthy are _Rosmini_ (1797-1855), who
taught idealism; and _Gioberti_ (1801-1882), whose system is on
a different basis,--a gifted writer who was equally conspicuous as a
statesman and a philosopher.

PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNITED STATES.--Philosophy in America has been
zealously cultivated, both in connection with theology and apart from
it, by a considerable number of teachers and writers. Among them are
_James Marsh, C. S. Henry, Francis Wayland, L. P. Hickok,
H. B. Smith_, and other eminent authors, mostly of a more recent
date.

POLITICAL ECONOMY.--_Ricardo_ (1772-1823), who followed _Adam
Smith_ (p. 492), dealt more in abstractions and processes of
logic, than his predecessor. The writings of _Ricardo_, together
with the discussions of _Malthus_ (1766-1834) on population,--in
which it was maintained that the tendency to an increase of
population outstrips the increase of the means of subsistence,--led
to numerous other writings.

Political economy was handled in productions by _James Mill_
(1821), _J. R. McCulloch, N. W. Senior_ (1790-1864),
_R. Torrens_ (1780-1864), _Harriet Martineau_ (1802-1876),
_Thomas Chalmers_, the celebrated Scottish divine, Archbishop
_Richard Whately, Richard Jones_ (1790-1855), a critic of the
system of _Ricardo_, and others. An eminent writer, an expositor
with important modifications of the Ricardian teaching, is _John
Stuart Mill_ (1806-1873). _Fawcett_ and other able authors
have followed for the most part in Mill's path. An English author of
distinction in this field is _J. E. Cairnes_ (1824-1875). The
French school of economists have adhered to the principles of _Adam
Smith_ much more than have the Germans. Among the most noted of
the French authors in this field are _Say_ (1767-1832), whose
views are founded on those of _Smith; Sismondi_ (1773-1842),
who, however, departs from the English doctrine, and favors the
intervention of government to "regulate the progress of wealth";
_Dunoyer_ (1786-1862); _Bastiat_ (1801-1850), one of the
most brilliant advocates of free-trade; _Cournot_ (1801-1877),
who applies, with much acumen, mathematics to economical questions.
In America, since the days of _Franklin_ and _Hamilton_,
both of whom wrote instructively on these topics, a number of writers
of ability have appeared. Among them are _H. C. Carey_, who
opposes the views of _Ricardo_ and _Malthus_, and defends
the theory of protection; _Francis Bowen_, also a protectionist;
_F. A. Walker, Perry_, etc. In Italy, there have not been
wanting productions of marked acuteness in this department. Of the
numerous German writers, one of the most eminent is _List_
(1798-1846), a critic of _Adam Smith_, and not an adherent of
the unqualified doctrine of free-trade. In the list of later English
writers, the names of _Bagehot, Leslie, Jevons_, and
_Sidgwick_ are quite prominent. With regard to free-trade and
protection, the latter doctrine has been maintained in two
forms. Some have regarded protection as the best _permanent_
policy for a nation to adopt. Others have defended it as a
_provisional_ policy, to shield manufactures in their infancy,
until they grow strong enough to compete, without help, with foreign
products. After the repeal of the corn-laws in England (1846), the
free-trade doctrine prevailed in England. Since _Comte_
published his exposition of _Sociology_ (1839), the tendency has
arisen to consider political economy as one branch of this broader
theme. With it the controversies pertaining to socialism are
intimately connected.

The disciples of _Adam Smith_ have contended for the
non-intervention of governments in the industrial pursuits of the
people. They are to be left to the natural desire of wealth, and the
natural exercise of competition in the pursuit of it. The prevalent
theories of _socialism_ are directly hostile to this--called the
_laissez-faire_--principle. Socialists would make government the
all-regulative agent, the owner of land and of the implements of
labor.

ENGLISH ESSAYISTS.--In literature the later time has seen an extraordinary multiplying of periodicals and newspapers, among whose editors and contributors have been included numerous writers of much celebrity. In Great Britain, several famous authors first acquired distinction mainly by historical and critical articles in reviews. This is true of _Thomas Babington Macaulay_ and _Thomas Carlyle_. Each of them became a historian. _Macaulay_, an ardent Whig, with an astonishing familiarity with political and literary facts, wrote in a spirited and brilliant style a _History of England from the Accession of James II_. to the death of his hero, _William III. Carlyle_, with a unique force of imagination and a rugged intensity of feeling, original in his thought, yet strongly affected by German literature, especially by _Richter_ and _Goethe_, wrote in his earlier days a _Life of Schiller_. He wrote later a history of the French Revolution, in which the scenes of that tragic epoch are depicted with dramatic vividness; and a copious _History of Frederick the Great_. Among the most characteristic of his writings are his _Heroes and Hero-Worship_; the "Latter-Day Pamphlets," in which is poured out his contempt of democracy; and the _Life of John Sterling_,--the counterpart of a biography of _Sterling_, written in a different vein by a learned and scholarly divine, _Julius Hare_.

Of essayists in a lighter, discursive vein, one of the most popular, who has already been referred to (p. 544), was the Scottish writer, _John Wilson_ (1785-1854), the author of numerous tales and criticisms, and of diverting papers written under the name of "Christopher North." Without the fancy and humor of Wilson, yet master of a style keeping within the limits of prose while verging on poetry, was _Thomas De Quincey_, the author of _The Confessions of an Opium Eater, Essays on the Roman Emperors_, etc.

HISTORICAL WRITINGS IN ENGLAND.--The literature of history has been enriched by British authors with important works besides those named above. _Grote_ and _Thirlwall_ each composed histories of Greece which are the fruit of thorough and enlightened scholarship. The work of _Grote_ is a vindication of the Athenian democracy, a view the antipode of that taken in the work on Grecian history by _Mitford_. An elaborate work on the _History of the Romans under the Empire_ is one of several historical productions of _Charles Merivale. Stanhope_ [Lord _Mahon_] composed a narrative of the War of the Spanish Succession, and other useful histories. Sir _W. F. P. Napier_ wrote a _History of the War in the Peninsula_, in which the campaigns of _Wellington_ in Spain are described by an author who took part in them. The constitutional history of England has been treated with satisfactory learning and judgment by _Hallam, May,_ and _Stubbs_. The Puritan revolution has been described with masterly skill and judicial fairness by _S. R. Gardiner_. In the earlier field, Mr. _Edward A. Freeman_ labored with distinguished success, the _History of the Norman Conquest_ being his principal work in this branch of historical inquiry. _J. R. Green_ is the author of an attractive history of the English people. _J. A. Froude_ wrote with engaging literary art a _History of England in the Reign of Elizabeth_, which attempts, in the preliminary part, an apology for the character and conduct of _Henry VIII_. _Spencer Walpole_ has written a _History of England since 1815_. _Ramsay_ has written the _Foundations of England, Angevin England, Lancaster, and York_. _John Hill Burton_, a Scottish author, educated as a lawyer, composed vigorously written histories of Scotland and of the reign of Queen Anne. _Lecky_ wrote in a pleasing style a _History of England in the Eighteenth Century_, besides a _History of Rationalism in Europe_, and a _History of European Morals from Augustus to Charlemagne_. In ecclesiastical history, _Milman_, whose leading work is the _History of Latin Christianity_, Dean _Stanley_, and Bishop _Creighton_ have been the principal writers.

ENGLISH NOVELISTS.--The series of "Waverley novels" by _Walter Scott_ (1771-1832) had an unbounded popularity. Pervaded by a cheerful, healthy tone, they presented fascinating pictures of life and manners, and kindled a fresh sympathy with the Middle Ages and with the spirit of chivalry. The poems of Scott depicted, in a metrical form, like picturesque scenes, and knightly combats and adventures. The fictions of Scott gave rise to a school of writers, one of whom was _G. P. R. James_ (1801-1860). A new and different type of novel appeared, in connection with which the names of _Dickens_ (1812-1870) and _Thackeray_ (1811-1863) are preëminent. Both are humorists; in _Dickens_ especially, humor runs into broad caricature. Both present pictures of society and of common life. They illustrate the tendency of the novel at present to rely for its attraction upon scenes and incidents of ordinary life, and the minute portraiture of manners and of character. _Dickens_ owes his popularity largely to the unique sort of drollery and the genuine pathos that are mingled in his pages. _Thackeray_ is a satirist, with a keen eye to detect the weaknesses of humanity, but with a deep well of sympathy, veiled, however, and sedulously guarded from sentimentalism, by a tone of banter and a semblance of cynicism. Measured by their popularity with the cultivated class, the novels of Mrs. _Lewes_ (_George Eliot_) stand next in rank to the productions last referred to. In some of her tales, the artistic motive and spirit are qualified by the didactic aim, or the underlying "tendency,"--the purpose to teach, or to promote a favorite cause,--which has become a frequent characteristic in modern fiction. Among the other English novelists, _Bulwer_ (1805-1873), whose later stories are free from the immorality that stains the earlier, is one of the most widely read. The novels of _Charles Kingsley_ (1819-1875) are among the justly popular productions in this department. Among the novelists of the late Victorian Era were _Charles Keade_, _Blackmore_, _Stevenson_, _Kipling_, _Meredith_, _Hardy_, and Mrs. _Humphry Ward_.

ENGLISH POETS.--_Alfred Tennyson_ (1809-1892), the author of _The Princess_, _In Memoriam_, and the _Idylls of the King_, held the first place among the poets of his day. An adept in the metrical art, he combines in these mature productions, with terseness of diction and fresh, striking imagery, deep reflection and sympathy with the intellectual questionings and yearnings of the time. In his lyrical poems the fullness of his power is seen. He was, without question, a consummate literary artist. _Browning_ (1812-1889), careless of rhythmical art, with a defiance of form, but with dramatic power, in his descent to "the under-currents" of the soul, placed himself open to the reproach of obscurity. Among English poets of high merit in the recent period stand the names of the delightful humorist _Thomas Hood_ (1798-1845), _Arthur Clough_ (1819-1861), and more recently, _Matthew Arnold_ (1822-1888).

With this reference to the poets may be coupled the name of the most eloquent and suggestive of the English writers on art, _John Ruskin_.

THEOLOGY IN ENGLAND.--Theological scholarship in Great Britain, after a long season of partial eclipse, again shone forth in the present period. Critical works relating to the Scriptures have been produced, which are on a level with the best Continental learning. About 1833, there began at Oxford what has been called the "Tractarian movement," from a series of "Tracts for the Times," relating to theology and the Church, which were issued by its promoters. The party thus originating were called "Puseyites," as Dr. _Edward Pusey_ (1800-1882), the author of learned commentaries, and of works in other departments of divinity, was their acknowledged leader. They formed one branch of the class called "High Churchmen." They laid great emphasis on the doctrine of the "apostolic succession" of the ministry, the necessity and efficacy of the sacraments administered by them, and the importance of visible ecclesiastical unity. They claimed to stand in the "middle path" between the Church of England and the Church of Rome. One of the leading associates of _Pusey_ was _John Keble_ (1792-1866), the poet, author of _The Christian Year_. The most eminent writer in this group of theologians was _John Henry Newman_ (1801-1890), who won general admiration by the subtlety of his genius and its rare felicity of expression. He entered the Church of Rome, and was advanced to the rank of a cardinal. One of the principal literary undertakings of the recent period is the Revision of the Authorized Version of the Bible, by associated companies of English and American scholars. In the long catalogue of influential writers in theology, it is practicable to refer here to a few suggestive names. _Thomas Chalmers_ (1780-1847) was equally noted as a glowing preacher, an eloquent defender of the Christian faith, and a lucid expounder of the Calvinistic system. _Edward Irving_ (1792-1834) was a pulpit orator of unsurpassed eloquence in his day, whose peculiar view as to the restoration of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, that were granted in the apostolic age, gave rise to a religious body calling itself the "Catholic Apostolic Church." _Frederick Denison Maurice_ (1805-1872) was one of the leaders of the "liberal," or "Broad Church," portion of the English Episcopal Church. His writings have exerted a strong influence. In the same general direction, but of a more critical and argumentative tone, were _Richard Whately_ (1787-1863), Archbishop of Dublin; and _Thomas Arnold_, who, in addition to his influence as a teacher, classical scholar, and historian, engaged actively in discussions on the questions relating to Church and State.

LITERATURE IN AMERICA: POEMS AND TALES.--The period which we are now considering witnessed a gratifying development of belles-lettres and historical literature in the United States. At the outset, two writers appeared who acquired a transatlantic fame. _Washington Irving_ (1783-1859) in 1818 published _The Sketch Book_, in a series of pamphlets. It had been preceded by _Knickerbocker's History of New York_ and other humorous publications. Among his later writings were included the _Life of Columbus_, the _Life of Mohammed_, and the _Life of Washington_. The refinement and charm of his style, which brought back the simplicity of Goldsmith, satisfied the foreign critics who had ridiculed the florid rhetoric of previous American authors. _James Fenimore Cooper_ (1789-1851) published _The Spy_, the first of his novels, which attracted much attention, in 1821. This was followed, two years later, by _The Pioneers_, the first of the famous "Leatherstocking" series of novels, in which Indian life and manners were portrayed. Cooper was also the founder of the "sea-novel," a line of fiction in which he was followed by an English writer, _Marryat_ (1792-1848). _Richard H. Dana_ and _Fitz-Greene Halleck_ were poets who had a much higher than the merely negative merit of freedom from tumidity, the bane of the earlier American bards. Not only in verse, but also in his prose tales, _Dana_ manifested genius. Several later poets, acknowledged at home and abroad, well deserve the name. Such are _Bryant_ (1794-1878), whose poems, pensive and elevated in their tone, lack neither vigor nor finish; _Longfellow_ (1807-1882), a poet of exquisite culture, whose purity of sentiment, as well as polish and melody of diction, have made him a favorite in both Europe and America; _Whittier_ (1807-1892), whose spirited productions are pervaded with a glowing love of liberty and humanity. _Lowell_ (1819-1891) has justly earned fame as a poet and a critic; and, as a poet, in both serious and humorous compositions. The "Biglow Papers" are without a rival in the species of humor that characterize them. Distinction as a poet and a prose writer belongs likewise to _Oliver Wendell Holmes_ (1809-1894), who was especially successful as an author of "poems of society." _Edgar Allan Poe_ (1809-1849), faulty in his moral spirit as he was wayward in his conduct, exhibited, both in his poems and tales, which are unique in their character, the traits of a wild and somber genius. _Ralph Waldo Emerson_ (1803-1882), admired as a poet, but more generally as an essayist, valuing insight above logic, has commented on nature, man, and literature with so rare a penetration and felicity of expression that _Matthew Arnold_ has placed his productions on a level with the Meditations of the Emperor _Marcus Aurelius_. In the list of American novelists the foremost name is that of _Nathaniel Hawthorne_. In his romances the subtle analysis of the workings of conscience and sensibility, in particular the obscure--including the morbid-action of these powers, is combined with perfection of style and of literary art. The novels of _Harriet Beecher Stowe_, especially those which relate to slavery and depict negro character, have had a world-wide currency. Among other novelists were _Paulding_ and _Sedgwick_, and more recently, _Howells, James, Bret Harte, Cable_, and _Aldrich_. The most distinguished humorist has been _S. M. Clemens_ (Mark Twain).

Good work has been done by Americans in literary history and criticism. The _History of Spanish Literature_, by _George Ticknor_, is the fruit of many years of labor by a competent scholar.

HISTORICAL WRITINGS IN AMERICA.--Creditable works have been produced in America in the department of historical literature. The lives of Washington and Franklin, and other biographical and historical writings of much value, have been composed or edited by _Jared Sparks. George Bancroft_ (1800-1891) published, in successive editions, the results of extensive researches in the history of the United States. Works on the same subject have been published by _Richard Hildreth_ and many others. _John G. Palfrey_ is the author of an excellent history of New England. _William H. Prescott_ by his _History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella_, his histories of Spanish conquest in America, and his fragment on the reign of Philip II. of Spain, has deservedly attained to a high distinction on both sides of the Atlantic. The same may be said of _John Lothrop Motley_ (1814-1877), in his _Rise and Progress of the Dutch Republic_. The history of French colonization and of the contests of France in America has been detailed with thoroughness and skill by _Francis Parkman_. Other prominent writers have been _John Fiske, Justin Winsor, Henry. Adams, James F. Rhodes_, and _A. T. Mahan_.

AMERICAN WRITERS ON LAW ANS POLITICS.--American writers on law embrace names of world-wide celebrity. Among them are _Henry Wheaton_, in international law, a science to which _Woolsey_ and _Lawrence_ have made valuable contributions; _James Kent_, whose _Commentaries on American Law_ is a work held in high honor by the legal profession; and _Joseph Story_, a jurist and legal writer of distinguished merit. The speeches and other productions of _Webster, Calhoun, Clay, John Quincy Adams, Edward Everett, Seward, Sumner_, form a valuable body of political writings. The works of _Francis Lieber_, a German by birth, and the treatise on _Political Science_ by _Theodore D. Woolsey_, are important contributions to the branch of knowledge to which they relate.

PHILOLOGY IN AMERICA.--On the catalogue of students of language, the name of _Noah Webster_ (1758-1843) is prominent, through his English Dictionary, the fruit of many years of arduous labor; a work that since his death has appeared in successive and improved editions. Another successful laborer in the same field was _Joseph E. Worcester_ (1784-1865), likewise the author of a copious and valuable lexicon of the English language. _George P. Marsh_, an erudite Scandinavian scholar, wrote also on the _Origin and History of the English Language_. In the departments of classical learning, of Oriental study, and of general philology, there have appeared other American authors of acknowledged merit, e.g. _William D. Whitney_.

THEOLOGY IN AMERICA.--Theology has been cultivated with much fruit by a large number of preachers and authors, of different religious bodies. _Moses Stuart_, by his commentaries on Biblical books, and _Edward Robinson_, especially through his published Travels in the Holy Land, were widely known. _Charles Hodge_, long a professor at Princeton; _Nathaniel W. Taylor_, who broached modifications of the Calvinistic system; _Henry B. Smith_, an acute and learned theologian; and _Horace Bushnell_,--are among the influential authors on the Protestant side. To these should be added the name of _William Ellery Channing_, the most prominent leader of the Unitarians, equally distinguished as a preacher and as a philanthropist.

The Unitarian movement in New England, which began in the early part
of the nineteenth century, included other theological writers, one of
the most learned and scholarly of whom was _Andrews Norton_
(1786-1853). _Theodore Parker_ (1810-1860) subsequently went so
far in his divergence from received views as to reject miracle and
supernatural revelation altogether. He was one of the most vigorous
combatants in the warfare carried on through the press and in the
pulpit against slavery. Out of the Unitarian school there came a
class of cultured writers in literature and criticism, of whom
_George Ripley_ (1802-1880) was a representative. The
"transcendentalists," as they were popularly styled, with whom these
were often at the outset affiliated, were much influenced by
contemporary French and German authors and speculations. Emerson, was
the most prominent writer in this vaguely defined class. A periodical
called "The Dial" was issued by them.

One of the most ingenious and active-minded thinkers in the Roman Catholic Church was _Orestes A. Brownson_, a prolific author on topics of religion and philosophy.

LITERATURE IN GERMANY.--The German mind has been so productive in almost all branches of literary effort, that the annual issues of the German press have numbered many thousands. The political condition of Germany until a recent date was such as to attract large numbers to the pursuits of literature and science. It is possible to allude to but few of the principal authors. In imaginative literature, _Heinrich Heine_ (1799-1856), of Jewish extraction, was a most witty yet irreverent satirist, and one of the principal song-writers of modern times. _Gustav Freytag_ has written some of the best of the later German novels. _Auerbach_, _Keller_, and _Spielhagen_ stand very high on the roll of novelists. Of numerous recent poets, _Lenau_ and _Freiligrath_ are among the few best esteemed. In the long catalogue of German historical writers, to whom the world owes a debt, are found the names of _Schlosser_ (1776-1861), _Heeren_ (1760-1842), _Raumer_ (1781-1873); _Ranke_, whose numerous works are based on original researches, and are written with masterly skill; _Gervinus_, a critic as well as historian; _Von Sybel_, _Droysen_, _Duncker_, _Weber_, _Giesebrecht_, _Mommsen_, _Curtius_, _Treitschke_. A powerful impulse was given to the study of history by _Niebuhr_ (1776-1831). German researches have been carried into every region of the past. In Egyptology, _Lipsius_, _Bunsen_, _Brugsch_, and _Ebers_ are leading authorities. _Neander_, _Gieseler_, _Baur_, _Döllinger_, _Hefele_, _Alzog_, _Harnack_, _Janssen_, and _Pastor_ are writers on ecclesiastical history. German travelers have explored many of the countries of the globe. _Schliemann_ has uncovered the ruins of Troy. In mathematics and the natural sciences, in philology and criticism, in philosophy, in law and the political sciences, and in the different branches of theology, the world acknowledges its debt to the patient, methodical investigations and the exhaustive discussions of German students during the nineteenth century.

THEOLOGY IN GERMANY.--The history of religious thought in Germany
includes the successive phases of _rationalism_, or that general
theory which makes the human understanding, apart from supernatural
revelation, the chief or the exclusive source of religious knowledge,
and the umpire in controversies. In the age of _Frederick II._,
the Anglo-French deism was widely diffused (p. 493). _Lessing_;
the genial poet and critic (1729-1781), allied himself to no
party. In his work on _The Education of the Human Race_, he set
forth the view that the Scriptures have a high providential purpose
as an instrument for the religious training of mankind, but that
their _essential_ contents are ultimately verified by reason on
grounds of its own; so that the prop of authority eventually becomes
needless, and falls away. Not radically different was the position of
_Kant_ (p. 545), who gave rise to a school of theologians that
for a time flourished. This school made the essential thing in
Christianity to be its morality. With _Semler_ (1721-1791), the
rationalistic _Biblical criticism_ took its rise. From that day,
a host of scholars have engaged in the investigation of the origin
and interpretation of the Bible, and of the early history of
Christianity. A middle position between the established orthodoxy and
the Kantian rationalism was taken by _Frederick Schleiermacher_
(1768-1834), a man of genius, alike eminent as a critic, philosopher,
and theologian. He placed the foundation of religion in the feeling
of absolute dependence. In laying stress on _feeling_ as at the
root of piety, he had been preceded by the philosopher
_Jacobi_. From the impulse given by _Schleiermacher_, there
sprung up an intermediate school of theologians, many of whom
departed less than he from the traditional Protestant creed. This
they professed to undertake to revise in accordance with the results
of the scientific study of the Bible and of history. In their number
belong _Neander_, _Nitzsch_, _Twesten_,
_Tholuck_, _J. Müller_, _Dorner_, _Rothe_,
_Bleek_, _Ullman_, and many other influential authors and
teachers. In the department of Biblical criticism, _Ewald_,
_Tischendorf_, _Meyer_, _Weiss_, are among the names
of German theological scholars which are familiar to Biblical
students in all countries. The critical works of _De Wette_
(1780-1849) were extensively studied. The philosophy of
_Hegel_connected itself with a new form of rationalism, which
found expression in the _Life of Jesus_, by _Strauss_,
published in 1835, in which the Gospel miracles were treated as
myths; and in the writings of _Ferdinand Christian Baur_, in
connection with his followers of the "Tubingen School," who attempted
to resolve primitive Christianity into a natural growth out of
preëxisting conditions, and held that the historical books of the New
Testament were the product of different theological "tendencies" and
parties in the apostolic and the subsequent age. The Roman Catholic
system has not lacked in Germany able defenders, one of the most
noted of whom was _Möhler_, the author of _Symbolism_
(_Symbolik_), an ingenious polemical work in opposition to
Protestantism.

PHILOLOGY AND LAW IN GERMANY.--Classical philology was founded as a
science by _Heyne_ (1729-1812) and _Wolf_
(1759-1824). Their work was carried forward by _G. Hermann_
(1772-1848), _Buttmann_ (1764-1829), _Jacobs_ (1764-1847),
_K. O. Muller_ (1797-1840), and by numerous contemporaries and
successors of these. By this succession of scholars, not only have
the tongues of Greece and Rome been accurately learned and taught,
but classical antiquity has been thoroughly explored. Comparative
philology, under the hands of _Bopp_ (1791-1867), of
_Lassen_ (1800-1876), a Norwegian by birth, of _W. von
Humboldt_ (1767-1835), of _Pott_ (born in 1802), of
_Schleicher_ (1821-1868), and their coadjutors, has grown to be
a fruitful science. In the study of the German language and early
literature, _J. Grimm_ (1785-1863), _W. Grimm_ (1786-1859),
_Lachmann_ (1793-1851), _Simrock_ (1802-1878), have been
among the pioneers. The study of law, especially of Roman law, was
placed on a new foundation by the labors of _Savigny_
(1779-1861), while a like thoroughness was brought to the exposition
of German law by _Mittermaier_ and others. In political science,
_Mohl_ (1779-1875), _Bluntschli_ (1808-1881), _Stahl_
(1802-1861), and _Gneist_ (1816-1895) gained a worldwide
celebrity.

LITERATURE IN FRANCE.--A class of vigorous young writers in France broke loose from the restraints of the "classical" school and its patterns, and composed dramas in the more free method of the "romantic" school. They drew their ideas of the drama from _Shakspeare_, rather than from _Corneille_. Among these writers were _Alexandre Dumas_, a most prolific novelist as well as writer of plays; and the celebrated poet and dramatist, _Victor Hugo_. The romances of _Dumas_ comprise more than a hundred volumes. In his historical novels, incidents and characters without number crowd upon the scene, but without confusion, while the narrative maintains an unfailing vivacity. Of the authors of light and witty comedies, _Scribe_ is one of the most fertile. _George Sand_ (Mme. _Dudevant_) is one of the principal novel-writers of the age. _Eugene Sue_ and _Balzac_ are both popular authors in this department. The leading poets are the song-writer _Béranger_, _Lamartine_, _Victor Hugo_, and _Alfred de Musset_. With the close of the first half-century romanticism began to give way before realism, from which, however, there was a reaction before the century closed. Among the greater poets are _Sully-Prudhomme_ and _Coppée_; among the novelists, _Daudet_, _Zola_, _Maupassant_, and _Bourget_. In history some writers, as _Villemain_, are remarkable for their power of descriptive narrative; others, like _Guizot_, for their breadth of philosophical reflection, superadded to deep researches. Some, like _Augustin Thierry_, in his work on the Middle Ages, combined both elements. His brother, _Amédée Thierry_, depicted the state of society in Gaul and other countries in the period of the fall of the Roman Empire. _Barante_ composed an interesting history of the Dukes of Burgundy. Among those, besides Guizot, who treated of the history of France, _Sismondi_, the spirited _Michelet_, and the thorough and dispassionate _Henri Martin_ are specially eminent. _Thiers_, _Mignet_, _Louis Blanc_, _Taine_, and _Lanfrey_ wrote on the Revolution or Napoleon. The most eminent of the newer school of scientific historians are _Boissier_, _Sorel_, _Lavisse_, _Luchaire_, and _Aulard_. In political economy and the science of politics, _Chevalier_, _De Tocqueville_ (the author of _Democracy in America_), and _Bastiat_ are among the writers widely read beyond the limits of France. _Sainte-Beuve_ is only one of the foremost in the class of literary critics, in which are included _Renan_, _Sarcey_, _Brunetière_, _Lemaître_, _Faguet_, and others, themselves authors. The clearness of exposition which goes far to justify the claim of the French to be the interpreters of European science to the world, appears in numerous treatises in mathematics and physics. The qualities of lucid arrangement, transparency of style, and terseness of language have extended, however, to other branches of authorship; so that the French have presented a fair claim to precedence in the literary art.

SWEDEN AND RUSSIA.--There are Swedish authors who are well known in
other countries. Such are the historian _Geijer_ (1783-1847);
and the novelist _Fredrika Bremer_, who wrote "The Neighbors,"
and other tales. The most famous of the Russian novelists is _Ivan
Turgenejff_, some of whose stories contain admirable pictures of
Russian life.

ARCHITECTURE.--The nineteenth century witnessed in Germany, France, and England a revival of the ancient or classic styles of architecture. This appears, for example, in edifices at _Munich_, and in such buildings as _St. George's Hall_ at Liverpool. But a reaction arose against this tendency, and in behalf of the Gothic style, which is exemplified in the new _Houses of Parliament_ in London. Many Gothic churches have been erected in Great Britain. Many-storied office buildings are characteristic of America.