The Gentleman's Magazine Volume 234 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1873 edition. Excerpt: ... They propose to make a considerable reduction in their second-class fares. This policy will probably almost restore the old equilibrium. It is worthy of note that last year's change did not appreciably affect the amount of first-class traffic. The fact that the company in second-class carriages was somewhat more select than.heretofore did not tempt wayfarers to leave their old cloth-covered and cushioned seats. I do not wonder at this; for, looking at the comparative means of comfort provided, second-class travelling at existing rates is less worth the money charged than either first or third. The evolution hypothesis has begun to apply itself to the explanation of the philosophy of instinct. Everybody who has ever speculated upon the hard problems of metaphysics and psychology knows how unsatisfactory has been the result of all inquiry and all theorising on the subject of instinct. Nobody has ever determined with any precision what it is, how it arises, where it begins or where it ends. Mr. Douglas A. Spalding seeks to account for instinct on Mr. Herbert Spencer's doctrine of " Inherited Acquisition." Just as peculiarities of moral and intellectual character are handed down from generation to generation, so it is thought may come by birth the tendency to certain habits under given circumstances, and this tendency is instinct. Of course the most difficult point to determine is how the instinct originated; but that is a problem for Mr. Darwin. The question which will most interest the metaphysician is whether this doctrine of instinct is in real antagonism with Locke's philosophy of ideas, and if not, how the two systems can be reconciled. The extraordinary conduct of the cat on seeing its first mouse does not necessarily prove the...