2 FEBRUARY 1929, Page 32

" The greatest happiness of the greatest number " is

now so much a hackneyed phrase, so completely the basis of all our political thought, that its philosophical origin and basis are almost forgotten. Like its physical counterpart, the law of gravity, we take it for granted. M. Elie Halevy's La Formation du Radicalisme Philosophique 'is one of the standard works on that great revolution in thought, and an English edition is welcome. The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism (Faber and Gwyer, 80s.) has been adequately, if rather heavily, translated by Miss Mary Morris, and contains an illuminating preface by the Master of Balliol. The book

is divided into three parts : " The Youth of Bentham," with full discussion of the preceding and accompanying Movements in thought ;- The Evolution of the Utilitarian Doctrine " from 1789 to 1815 ; and " Philosophic Radicalism." The whole is solid and Amazingly cruditd.