The Life and Literary Remains of Dr Appleton
By John H. Appleton, M.A., ana U-. II. JSayce, M.A. Triibner & Co. 1880.
The steady persistence with which the late Dr Appleton devoted himself to promoting the cause of scientific progress entitles him to rank foremost among the benefactors of our time. His labours were of the kind to bear a rich harvest of fruit, only the signs of which, however, he was permitted to witness during his own life. As the years roll on, and the example he set is followed by successors in the path he trod, we shall see more and more clearly the inestimable value of the measures he was almost the first to insist on. In an important sense he was the pilot of advance, for to him we owe it that research is now fully recognised in this country, as that to which we must chiefly trust for extending the limits of our knowledge in every direction. The ” Endowment of Eesearch ” is something to which a definite and practical meaning is attached in the present; it is a means whereby we are enabled to secure and strengthen our position in the field of discovery ; and, above all, the phrase has become established as the appropriate designation of a duty to be discharged by the state in its role of guardian of the national interests. It is not too much to assert that this good result is entirely due to the indomitable perseverance of a single individual. To Dr Appleton must ever be ascribed the honour and the glory of vindicating the dignity of scientific inquiry, and pressing its recognition on all sides as the essential element in every intellectual advance. The record of such a man’s life and works cannot fail to be absorbingly interesting; and the volume in which this is presented is a noteworthy addition to Messrs. Triibner & Co.’s English and Foreign Philosophical Library.
Dr Appleton’s special studies led him into criticism of philosophical systems, and to the discussion of those problems intimately associated with the speculations of philosophical thinkers. Hence we do not inherit from him so much in the way of original ideas, as might have been the case had he been spared to develop the schemes suggested by his examination of schools of thought. He has bequeathed to posterity only a few suggestive works, but the rich promise of their excellence will engender poignant regret that the fulfilment of the intentions they indicate is rendered impossible by the lamented death of their author. ” What is the Ego ? ” A series of two essays on ” Strauss as a Theologian,” and ” A Plea for Metaphysic,” are the most important remnants contained in the work before us.
This had been intended to form part of a comprehensive study of the bases of metaphysics, and, had it been completed by its author, would have assumed a prominent place among the philosophical treatises of the period. As it is, enough is presented to show the precision with which the subject would have been pursued; and even in its present incomplete forms it will be accepted as a painstaking examination of the essential differences which separate modern philosophers. The method of the undertaking is explained by Mr. Sayce in his ” Introduction,” who describes Dr Appleton as believing “that the knowledge and experience of each age is summed up in one dominant idea, which it is the business of the metaphysician to discover, analyse, and define. The dominant ideas form a series, connected together, not like the links of a chain, but by a slow process of growth and evolution. The metaphysician may pause at any one point in the ? series, and regard all that has gone before as a single whole or organism, the development of which may be traced and determined. The dominant idea of any one age accordingly contains within itself the dominant ideas of the ages that have preceded it, and can best be studied in the works of a literary genius who represents and embodies the ideas and aspirations of his own time. The zeit-geist or spirit of the nineteenth century breathes through the writings of men like Matthew Arnold or Kenan; it has been clothed by them with literary form, and given, as it were, material shape.” This conception of philosophies has an attraction, where once adequately grasped, that is singularly powerful in holding the mind of the student; it imparts a living interest to each separate stage of progress, and surrounds the details of development in the past with almost as great a meaning as is contained in the difficulties of more recent conquest. We cannot too keenly regret the loss of that spirit that would have presented us with the consecutive history of all philosophies as leading to the ultimate evolution of a one grand embracing system, nor with the fragments of demonstration that remain can we doubt the comprehensive fulfilment of the project, had not death intervened to prevent it. ” The one key to all these metaphysical ideas is development;” this is the note that is sounded in every page of Appleton’s remains. This is the guide that he persistently followed; and that it will lead, whoever accepts it in spirit and in truth, to the apprehension of all that is vital and essential in the conception of the past, and its application to unravel the mysteries of the present, is surely beyond all doubt. The conflicting claims of metaphysicians bid fair to erect formidable obstacles against future advance along the path of knowledge?unless there can be a more or less universal adjustment of differences?serious enough to cause a fear lest they should result in irreparable injury to the c;iuse of progress. To harmonise and associate the views of differing schools is the work that might have been accomplished had Appleton’s labours progressed to completion. In a series of notes left by him, on ” The Development of Ideas,” the fifth defines “development by absorption, where each stage is absorbed into the folLowing, as in the progress of metaphysics, the several stages being preserved as such in literature, but becoming sterile, and so possessing only a historical importance.”
This may be taken as an accurate description of the process illustrated throughout Dr Appleton’s writings on metaphysical subjects ; and where not openly expressed, it at least serves to suggest the manner of his demonstrations. All that is good in theories of the past we preserve, as far as possible, in schemes of the present; but as the opinion of each man varies on points of cardinal importance, so do we necessarily find that no age will present two thinkers who will be in agreement concerning the indispensable data of a bygone time. The colouring given to thought by change in the manner of appreciating details from other sources than their own immediate understanding, must of necessity exert an important influence over the character and extent of particular decisions. It was Dr Appleton’s aim and endeavour to emancipate himself from every narrowing restriction of this kind. Earnest study of all types and all fulfilments of philosophic ideal he unstintingly gave, but strove always to become the critic rather than the adherent of that which engaged his attention. The difficulty of such a proceeding is by 110 means inconsiderable, and it is saying that which is the highest praise that can be bestowed, to assert that the task he set himself he accomplished.
Perhaps one of the most important acts of Dr Appleton’s life was the foundation of the ” Academy”, in 1869. First a monthly, then a fortnightly, it subsequently became a weekly literary review ; and it says no little for the energy and indomitable perseverance of its originator, that since the time of its first appearance it has never, for a single number, lost the character he impressed on it of being a high-class, reliable, and thoroughly honest publication ; struggles it undoubtedly had to go through, but it has never ceased to be what Appleton intended, and made it, and we trust it may long preserve its place in the world of literature.
As the life of an earnest thinker, of strong convictions, unswerving purpose, and unflagging industry, Mr. Appleton’s memoir of his brother is inestimably valuable by the example it affords. The remaining portion of the book reflects the best thoughts of an accomplished scholar, and an eager truth-seeker. The lament of every reader of this volume will be that so little remains of him who, had he but lived, would surely have done so much.
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