Man's origin and destiny, sketched from the platform of the physical sciences (2nd ed., enlarged) / J. P. Lesley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lesley, J. P., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Physical sciences.

Civilization--History.

Civilization.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (iv, 381 pages)

Edition:

Second edition.

Other Title:

Man's origin and destiny, sketched from the platform of the physical sciences

Place of Publication:

London : Trübner & Co, 1881.

Summary:

The lectures contained in this volume were written in the summer of 1865, at a distance from the author's notes and library. This will account for the paucity of special references, observable throughout the greater part of the book. When delivered in the lecture-room of the Lowell Institute, the following winter, they were illustrated by numerous wall pictures, tables of statistics, maps and diagrams of various kinds, only a few of which are given as woodcuts in the text. Twelve years have elapsed since the appearance of the little book which contains the first ten of the following lectures, and the author still finds people now and then reading it and asking for its republication at a price less unreasonable than that at which the London edition was sold. In the present edition I have expunged the eleventh lecture, on "Arkite Symbolism," as unnecessary; and have carried out the original intention of the course by adding six new lectures on "The Destiny of Man." The notes appended to the former edition are here omitted, because they were merely indicative of the progress made in various branches of science, touching the history of man, during the two years intervening between the delivery of my lectures and their publication. To continue and complete such an appendix would greatly swell the size of the volume; and yet it would contain nothing but fresh illustrations of the general view presented, without materially modifying the integrity of the text, which is therefore reprinted from the stereotype plates, with only such corrections as were called for by typographical errors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Contents:

1. Lecture I. On the classification of the sciences.

2. Lecture II. On the genius of the physical sciences, ancient and modern.

3. Lecture III. The geological antiquity of man.

4. Lecture IV. On the dignity of mankind.

5. Lecture V. On the unity of mankind.

6. Lecture VI. On the early social life of man.

7. Lecture VII. On language as a test of race.

8. Lecture VIII. The origin of architecture.

9. Lecture IX. The growth of the alphabet.

10. Lecture X. The four types of religious worship.

11. Lecture XI. The possible in destiny.

12. Lecture XII. The destiny of man.

13. Lecture XIII. The physical destiny of the race. pp. 321-354

14. Lecture XIV. The social destiny of the race.

15. Lecture XV. The future economies of mankind.

16. Lecture XVI. The intellectual and moral destiny of the race.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.