MR. BAIN'S MENTAL SCIENCE.

MR. BAIN'S treatment of the mind and its faculties is peculiar. Instead of following the beaten path of theoretical philosophy of the past, which is occupied with the mind as a mere abstraction, he attempts to study it in the only way in which a knowledge of it can be of practical use to us, - through its manifestations in connection with body. By basing his philosophy on accurate analyses of the mind and body, he has done much toward the establishment of truth for the sake of the benefit which may be derived from it, inasmuch as the study of man as a thinking, acting being must be more definite and satisfactory than the study of that which thinks. Availing himself of the present advanced state of all branches of science, he has brought to his aid facts of mental physiology of which former philosophers were ignorant, and which map out to the student the mind and its laws more satisfactorily than volumes of mere speculations could do.

But though his promises are so favorable to a correct philosophical theory, his conclusions are by no means as satisfactory as the facts from which he obtains them. The inferences which he draws connect the mind so intimately with body, and make it so dependent upon the body for its action, that we cannot see how it could exist after or without it. The study of actions, as far as it tends to a better knowledge of the mind, is advantageous; but in some cases Mr. Bain seems to reduce the mind to those actions, or, rather, to consider mental phenomena the same as those of the body, except in degree.

Again, when he concludes that "the final classification of the motives is the classification of pleasurable and painful feeling," he misrepresents men in many of their actions. Not to value human nature too highly, we can at least lay claim to some better motives than these. We should be unwilling to believe that all actions are induced by the wish to obtain pleasure or to get rid of pain, and that a feeling of right or duty was never considered in men's actions. There is in every man's nature something which calls for higher springs of action and exerts a more powerful influence than mere pleasure or pain; and to account for these as Mr. Bain does is to annihilate all sense of obligation, and to appeal to the sensualistic feelings which we have in common with the brute. All the world unite in praising one who sacrifices his self-interest in support of what he believes to be the truth; but our author charges him with acting to gain pleasure simply, either for himself or others.

This and other like opinions which the author holds in the latter part of his book, together with a somewhat obscure manner of expressing his ideas, make it but an indifferent text-book, though as an expression of the present position of philosophy it is of great value.