rely have had pets, and
_therefore_ if we kill all the pets, and thus deprive ourselves of the
refining influences of kitty and the ennobling example of doggy, we
shall the more readily turn to criminal ways. Another powerful
argument is that "the countries where vivisection has prevailed seem
to have secured no lasting blessing, but to have been the subjects of
peculiarly calamitous afflictions, direful disasters, unnatural
_internal tribulations_, and other multiplied evils." This is
theocracy with a vengeance.

* * * * *

FOR some years past the "North American Review" has been enriched by
papers from the late Mr. Chauncey Wright on various subjects in the
wide field of modern philosophy, but especially in the much disputed
theories of biology. They exhibited such proofs of independent judgment
and critical acumen as to give their author immediate standing among
European as well as home savants. These critiques have been collected
and published under the name "Philosophical Discussions."[14] Much as
we admired these articles when they first appeared, we do not see that
a republication of them is needed unless as a graceful monument to an
enthusiastic student. In their permanent form they lose the immediate
fitness to questions under universal discussion, which is the true
_raison d'etre_ of such papers. The extreme wordiness which was Mr.
Wright's principal literary fault is disagreeably manifest when his
book is laid by those of other masters in positive philosophy. This is
especially noticeable in the only strictly original discussion in the
book, the one on the arrangement of leaves in plants. In this paper the
editor has left out the "strictly inductive investigation" which
contains the kernel of the essay! He has omitted the soul and given the
"limbs and outward flourishes" of the author's discussion, and much to
the latter's discredit. Aside from this tendency to sentences and words
of philosophical length, Mr. Wright's style is extremely agreeable,
clear, and strong. It frequently shines with unexpected felicities of
expression, just as the author's argument frequently awakens the
perception with its unusual keenness and depth of thought.

[14] "_Philosophical Discussions._" By CHAUNCEY WRIGHT. With a
Biographical Sketch of the Author by Charles Eliot Norton. New
York: Henry Holt & Co.

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"THE CON