gladly welcomed to the rapidly accumulating mass of literature treating from different standpoints the social question.'

“NATIONAL LIFE FROM THE STANDPOINT OF SCIENCE" is a published address delivered at New Castle, England, before the Literary and Philosophical Society, by Professor Karl Pearson, of the University College, London. Its importance consists largely in the sociological view of inferior races entertained by the speaker. He argues that the influence of heredity is such as to prevent any successful attempt being made to elevate the lower races without materially affecting the development of the higher. In those new territories, such as South America, where the higher race has attempted to assimilate or elevate the lower, the net result has been a mixture which is little better than the lower race and much worse than the higher. In those territories, however, where the lower type has been crowded out or annihilated, the result has been most favorable to civilization as a whole, since the superior type of man is left free to develop his powers and resources. Examples of this are seen in North America and Australia. Professor Pearson admits that the process of elimination of inferior races leads to untold suffering, cruelty and even scandal, but he believes that the net result to civilization is much more satisfactory. His conclusions are obviously drawn from biological evolution.

IT IS A GLOOMY PICTURE of the condition of the French laboring classes which MM. Pelloutier give us in the pages of their recent book-so gloomy, indeed, that even the most unsuspicious reader is led to believe that we have here not the impartial, dispassionate statement of a case, but the eloquent argument of the advocate for one of the parties. The volume, nevertheless, is full of facts, valuable facts concerning the hours of work, wages, female labor, child labor, the death rate in certain dangerous trades, the standard of life among laborers, drunkenness, and compulsory idleness. Far too frequently, however, for a book ostensibly describing the life of French laborers, the authors have dragged in all sorts of statistics and information (not always from first-class sources) concerning the state of affairs in other countries. The most interesting section of the book is the chapter on alcoholism, in which the authors maintain that drunkenness, which is 1 Contributed by Walter A. Payne, University of Chicago.

2 Pp. 62. Price, 80 cents. New York, Macmillan Company. London: Adam and Charles Black.

3 La Vie Ouvrière en France. By F. and M. PELLOUTIER. Pp. 344. Price, 5 fr. (Bibliothéque internationale des Sciences Sociologiques, Schleicher frères, éditeurs.) Paris: 1900.

spreading among French laborers, is a consequence and not a cause of their misery.'

93 66

"THE PRIVAte Life of KING EDWARD VII" has evidently been written in response to a widespread demand for information about the new sovereign. Its three hundred odd pages discuss the "Prince" in town, in the country, "as a student," "in society," as a churchman," "on the course," and so on, in the tone of the society column. The book will probably interest any one who cares to know that His Majesty plays cards and "enjoys the pastime," but never pursues this amusement to excess," or that shooting is his passion, or that when in India he wore a "khaki jacket and knickerbockers and a solar topee with a very wide brim, and a pugaree." As a purveyor of harmless court gossip, written, perhaps, to counteract gossip of the other sort, the book will probably be of great service.

"POLITICAL GROWTH IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY " is an attempt to summarize within the limits of a single volume the more important political changes throughout the world during the last hundred years. The author has tried not so much to trace general tendencies or international movements as to give a connected sketch of the political changes in each country. The work is divided into five books based in general upon racial conditions, as follows:

1. Continental Europe, including

(a) Latin Nations.

(b) Southeastern Europe and Russia.

(c) Teutonic Nations.

2. Great Britain and Her Colonies.

3. United States.

4. Spanish and Portuguese America.

5. Unclassified Countries.

An excellent and critical bibliography is appended.

In his introduction the author sketches the general progress of democracy throughout the world, while in the concluding chapter he attempts to give an answer to two questions: First, Have the weapons of democracy been wisely used? Second, Has democracy caused a cessation in the conflict of classes? In answer to the first question, the author concludes that, aside from certain necessary mistakes due to experimentation, the net result of democracy has been a decided 1 Contributed by C. W. A. Veditz, Ph. D.

The Private Life of King Edward VII. By a member of the Royal Household. Pp. x, 306. Price, $1.50. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1901.

3By EDMUND H. SEARS, A. M. Pp. 616. Price, $3.00. New York: Macmillan, 1900.

gain. The second question is, however, answered negatively. The conflict of classes is unceasing because of the existence of wealth, but the author believes that democracy places this conflict upon a higher plane and gives fairer chances to all concerned.

It would be unfair to judge the work by usual standards of criticism, because the task which Professor Sears has undertaken is an unusual one. There is an amazing amount of material gathered together within a comparatively short compass. The important has been carefully sifted from the unimportant; the temporary from the permanent. The book is interesting throughout, is written in an easy style and with a model arrangement of matter. The defects of the work are incident to its general scope. Political history without an economic and social background becomes mere narrative, and while the author has tried, with some success, to afford this background, notably in the cases of the United States, Australia and the British colonies, yet in the main he has been compelled, probably for lack of space, to omit the treatment of such facts. As a simple register of political phenomena, conveniently summarized and arranged, the work deserves the highest praise.

IT IS OF INTEREST to note that President Sharpless, of Haverford, in his "Two Centuries of Pennsylvania History," recently published by the Lippincott Company, has taken a decided step in advance in the writing of state histories. Too commonly they are confined to pioneer tales, the doings of public men, or events of a military nature. From the work in hand one may get a broad view of the life of the people, of movements in material progress, of economic and financial activity, as well as of political and social. The history of a people is more than an account of the dramatic poses of a few heroes or political leaders. Public men are only the by-product of social progress.

In marked contrast with this is Lowrie and McCardle's "History of Mississippi," recently brought out by the New York and New Orleans University Publishing Company. The announced purpose of the authors is to give to the young a knowledge of the past history of the state, brilliant with the illustrious names and heroic deeds of her gallant sons, which will make their hearts thrill with pride and patriotism." This is well enough for poetry and platitude from a political platform, for editorials and entertainment, but for a general history it is misleading. It blinds the vision and fixes the attention of the people on their leaders rather than on those interests

1 BY ISAAC SHARPLESS. Pp. 385. Price, $1.25.

2 By R. LOWRIE and W. H. MCCARDLE. Pp. 442. Price, $1.00.

which must be understood by the common man as prerequisite to government based on general welfare.

A WELL-TOLD STORY of the Nicaragua Canal enterprise, and an excellent description of the country through which it must pass, comes from the pen of Mr. William E. Simmons. The book is illustrated, and, without being too technical, is intended to give to the reader a bird's-eye view of the actual situation.

"THE STORY OF MONEY," by Edward C. Towne, gives us little or nothing that is new. It is a rehash of trite theory and argument. Its inspiration was in the fear that the currency issue might again be raised in the recent campaign. The author's contribution, in so far as he may be said to have contributed anything, is a labored argument to show that "bimetalism" does not mean equality of the two metals, but the use of both for monetary purposes; in other words, that it does not mean anything.

VOLUME I OF Dr. Thomas Alfred Walker's "History of the Law of Nations" is confined entirely to the pre-Grotian period. Such subjects as "The International System of the Israelites;" "The International Law of the Greeks; "International Law in the Days of the Roman Empire;" "International Law in the Middle Ages" are not commonly regarded by authors as coming properly within the scope of a treatise on international law. As pointed out by the author in his preface, there have been but three attempts at writing, in the English language, a history of international law, and none of these has gone at length into the early period of development. Dr. Walker's first volume is thoroughly scientific. It traces the evolution of the leading principles through the formative period to the time of the treaty of Westphalia (1648), laying a solid foundation for the work which is to follow. It is scholarly throughout; it presents in convenient form the results of research which it would be impossible for the student less fortunately situated to obtain.

BUSINESS LAW," by Mr. Thomas Raeburn White, of the Law Department, University of Pennsylvania, is an elementary text-book for schools and colleges. In this Mr. White has taken up the prin1 Nicaragua Canal." Pp. 330. Price, $1.25. New York: Harper, 1900.

2 Pp. 248. Price, $1.25. New York: G. W. Dillingham Company, 1900.

Vol. I, pp. 361, 30. Price $3.00. New York: Macmillan Company. Cambridge, England: University Press, 1900.

4

1 Pp. 353, xiv. Price, $1.50. New York: Silver, Burdett & Co.

ciple underlying the contractual relations of business and has treated them with a conciseness and precision which commends the book to the constituency for which it was written. An introduction by Professor Roland P. Falkner sets forth the utility as well as the limitations of such a study in our colleges. If the author is to be criticised, the criticism will apply equally well to nearly all law writers, namely, that they are apt to be too slavish in following the remote past: for example, the use of the term "municipal law" to mean the law of a state, coming down from a time when the municipal law of Rome gave to the subject that character; whereas to-day our nomenclature has a distinctly local significance.

REVIEWS.

American History Told by Contemporaries. Volume iii. National Expansion, 1783-1845. Edited by ALBERT BUSHNELL HART. Pp. xx, 668. Price $2.00. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1901. The earlier volumes have become so well known as to make unnecessary any explanation of the plan and purpose of this indispensable series of "Sources." The preliminary matter has been condensed; the introductory notes and references are clear and pointed, but in some instances too great sacrifices have been made for the sake of brevity. In critical years like 1783 and 1790 the dates are sometimes not given with desirable explicitness. For example, the vast majority of those who use this book will not have access to the 1810 edition of Hamilton's Works, and will thus be quite unable to fit the reprint "Report on a National Bank " (No. 82) into its proper place in the bank controversy.

"National Expansion Perhaps may serve as well as any other title to characterize the period to which this volume is devoted, although there may be some question as to the significance of the year chosen to mark its closing. These years throng with statesmen and issues of the first importance in American history, and it must indeed have been "a painful task to throw out much instructive and interesting material which had been selected." The one hundred and eighty-nine "pieces" vary in length from one to six pages; they are of the most diverse character and quality, and illustrate widely varying phases of American life and development. They are distributed among the following principal topics: The United States in 1783; The Confederation; The Federal Constitution; Federal Supremacy; Jeffersonian Supremacy; National Consciousness; Social and Political Readjustment; Slavery and Abolition.