The Review of Reviews

THE PERIODICALS REVIEWED.

THE FORUM.

N the preceding department will be found reviews of the articles on the tariff by Mr. A. Augustus Healey and Hon. W. J. Coombs; "The Beginning of Man and the Age of the Race," by Dr. D. G. Brinton; "How to Deal with the Filibustering Minority," by Mr. John B. McMaster; "The Most Popular Novels in America," by Mr. Hamilton W. Mabie, and Mr. Woodrow Wilson's criticism of Mr. Goldwin Smith's "History of the United States."

THE CORRUPT USE OF PATRONAGE.

"Are Presidential Appointments for Sale?" is the subject of the first article, the general tone and scope of which is suggested by the writer, Mr. William D. Foulke, in the following paragraph: "We have had to witness a great many instances of the corrupt use of patronage. Offices, high and low, have been divided among party bosses, and services, often discreditable, rendered to political organizations, have been rewarded by public place and paid out of the treasury of the State. We have seen a code of morality which even in the army has become extinct revived in times of peace under republican government. Our political sensibilities have become so blunted that we have almost come to believe it right that the victor should carry off the spoils. In our municipalities, bargains are made and money buys the place and we pay little heed to it. Our State legislatures have been corrupted and men have won their way through the power of the dollar even to the Senate of the United States. But until very recent years we have had no reason to believe that the sanctuary of our Federal Executive had been invaded by the defiling influece of gold. It is this last step which indicates only too clearly the direction in which our political morality is moving. The appointments of Mr. Wanamaker and Mr. Van Alen are two long steps downward and backward toward the abyss from which free government can never rise. The descent must be stopped before it is too late."

FRANCIS PARKMAN.

Reviewing the life of Francis Parkman and his work, Mr. Julius H. Ward thus sets forth the historian's wonderful gift of historical imagination: "He dwelt so entirely with his subject that he could feel it to his fingers' ends. It inspired and mastered him, and when he attempted to tell the story he made it as real to the reader as it was to himself. It caught hold of the roots of his mind, and it held him as he holds his readers. He wrote these narratives as the painter fills out his canvas. He put feeling and color into the story, and gave it the lights and shades of actual life, lifting it, as all great literature is lifted, so that it reflects the changes of human conflict as they are seen to-day. The result is that the story is like Shakespeare's plays. It reproduces the past and has the touches of life in it. The history is enjoyed by the young as much as by the scholar, and it enters by right of inheritance into the permanent literature of the country. It is work done in simplicity, with power, with an adequate sense of its value, and with a thoroughness that produces the best results. This historical imagination is the rarests of gifts, and it lifts the work of its possessor to the highest plane. Parkman had the power to throw

into his story the elements which made it real and graphic, and he felt its meaning so intensely that it throbs and thrills in his narrative and makes it a transcript of actual life. What is remarkable in him as an historian is that this power to infuse his narratives with the passion and excitement of life without apparent effort is almost as prominent in his first volume as in the latest; and yet nearly half a century lies between them."

CHILD STUDY.

Mr. G. Stanley Hall contributes a paper, the purpose of which is suggested by its title, "Child-Study, the Basis of Exact Education " Mr. Hall glances hastily at a few of the methods which have been employed in the study of children, and points out some of the most salient results that have been accomplished. He concludes his paper with the practical suggestion "that one or two of the largest colleges should cause a well trained and tactful man to devote his time to the study and improvement of college life, calling freely upon others to co-operate. Abundant material for the study of the natural history of students is afforded by the more than two hundred publications in the country, the court, code of honor, fraternities, etc., the tabulations of choice of study with reasons therefor, essays, and now the daily themes at Harvard, religious life and needs of students and above all habitual acquaintance with students and personal friends on the ball grounds-this suggests a new field and method which might be called the higher anthropology."

HOW BETTER TO UTILIZE RICH MEN.

Why do we not make better use of our rich men is the subject discussed by Mr. Frederic Harrison. "We waste them," he says, "and let them run to seed, a burden to themselves and a nuisance to the public." He urges that we ought "to utilize and make citizens of them, lifting them from inaptitude and degradation to be respectable citizens of the commonwealth." He points out that the rich men of the United States have taken the lead of the rest of the civilized world in the matter of giving to the public splendid gifts of libraries and colleges. After urging the rich men of the Republic to continue the good work of endowing institutions for the public, Mr. Harrison has a word to say for the artistic rather than the scientific or educational form of endowments. There are, he says, certain forms of art that no State or locality can ever provide for itself out of its public revenue, and he appeals to the rich men to supply these.

cruisers, commerce destroyers, gunboats, torpedo cruisers, torpedo boats, etc., each of which has its characteristics in which speed, the number and size of guns, coal endurance and manoeuvring powers are made much of, but none of them, or all of them together, could be expected to meet the battle ship in fair fight. "She mounts heavy guns to pierce the armor of her enemies; she mounts numerous guns of lighter calibre to enable her to meet similar fire from all sorts of craft and to destroy the quick-moving torpedo boats which would escape the slowworking, heavy guns; she carries armor to protect herself against any but the heaviest projectiles, and, so far as possible, against even these; she carries torpedoes to destroy an enemy who may, in the manoeuvres of battle, come within her reach; she carries such a supply of coal and ammunition as will enable her to perform her duty between the times when she can renew her supply. Being esse ally a fighting machine, she does not require high spee enable her to escape from an enemy. When war shall come between any of the great nations which depend in whole or in part upon their naval strength, it will be the battle ship which will settle the issue. And such, in brief, is the battle ship of to-day."

OUR PATENT LAWS.

Mr. W. E. Simonds, discussing our patent laws, suggests that they should be amended in two particulars: 1, That no innocent user of a "manufacture" or "composition of matter" shall be sued for infringement so long as the maker or seller can be reached; and, 2, that a patent shall begin to run not later than three years after the first application thereof.

WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF.

Dr. Lewis Robinson sums up his article, "What Dreams are Made of," as follows: "1, It would be seen that, owing to the unceasing unconscious cerebration' which is a necessary concomitant of our powers of intellect, the brain is always in part awake, and is especially active in shifting memorized matter; 2, the cerebral centers connected with the sense organs are (for some reason which we cannot at present explain) continually and independently employed in stimulating impressions from without; 3, certain of the senses (especially that of hearing) remain open to external influences during sleep and convey actual vibrations to the brain; 4, there exists an ever active and purely involuntary predisposition on the part of the mental apparatus to compare and collate all the messages which come, or seem to come, from without, through the sense channels; and to collate these again with what is brought to the consciousness by involuntary recollection; 5, associated with this there is a tendency (also automatic) to combine the evidence (real or bogus) so collected into a coherent whole, and to make the result either explain the more emphatic thoughts or impressions, or else answer some questions which occupied the attention before sleep began ; 6, no voluntary power exists during sleep to pick out from the jumble handed in that which is relevant to the problem to be solved, or even to discern whether any piece of pseudo information is appropriate or the reverse for such a purpose; 7, just as there is no power to discriminate real from false impressions at the outset, so, throughout a dream, we are completely oblivious to the most glaring fallacies and inconsistencies."

RAILWAY ACCIDENTS.

Mr. H. G. Prout, editor of the Railway Gazette, compares the number of railway accidents in this country with that in England, concluding that it is anywhere from

five to sixteen times as dangerous to travel by rail in the United States as in England, and attributes this to the facts that England has per unit of railways lines more than ten time as much double tracking, eighteen times as much block-signaling and ever so much more interlocking of switches and much better single-tracking.

THE ARENA.

OHN DAVIS, M.C., writ s an interesting account of "The Bank of Venice," that famous institution, "the most perfect of its kind that was ever devised by the mind of man," on which the "Queen of the Adriatic" laid the foundations of her greatness and wealth during the middle ages. Deposits of specie were made in the institution and used by the government in carrying on its wars and foreign relations, and credit was given the depositor on the books of the bank. The specie was never returned and no promise was ever made to do so, but the credits, being exempt from taxation, were eagerly sought and finally rose to a value actually above that of the coin of the republic,-ten ducats in bank credits equaling twelve in gold. No notes were issued, but the credits were every where accepted and negotiable. With this system, there could be no hoarding, no contraction or inflation of the currency. The government held all the metal in the country. The author thinks the system applicable to the United States with the modification that notes in place of credits be allowed the depositor.

CAN THE BIMETALLIC STANDARD BE RESTORED ? "Can the United States restore the bimetallic standard of money?" Dr. George C. Douglas thinks it can do so by means of a discriminating tariff, practically closing our markets to countries like England and Germany, which are monometallic, while filling the place of their products by the goods of America, France, Italy and Holland, and by the enactment of a law providing for free bimetallic coinage. He contends that our markets are too valuable to England and Gemany to be sacrificed in the interests of their money-holding classes.

THE WONDERS OF HINDOO MAGIC.

Craving for the marvelous and supernatural is part of a human being's inheritance, and there is much food to satisfy it in "The Wonders of Hindoo Magic," by Heinrich Hensoldt, Ph.D. Commenting on the later tendency of scientists to accept with more credence the tales of Eastern travelers, he proceeds to offer some explanation of the wonder-working powers of the Hindoos. As the Greeks were given to plastic art and the passion of Egypt was for stupendous buildings, so the ruling fancy of the Hindoos from remote ages has been for a speculative philosophy" based on intuition, and Mr. Hensholdt does not doubt that they have discovered some forces of which we are ignorant, and among the first of which was hypnotism. The conjurers may be divided into several classes; the lower orders, Fakurs and Pundits, mere street jugglers, plying their trade for a livelihood; the higher classes, Yoghis and Rislies, who, living in the wilderness, are seen but seldom and whose miracles are never used for gain, but as the Disciples used theirs, to attract attention before telling the story of their faith, generally one of the "Birth-Tales" of Buddha.

"The Practical Application of Hypnotism in Modern Medicine" is illustrated by Dr. J. R. Cocke, by cases from his private and hospital practice.

THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW.

HE December number of the Contemporary contains

striking kind.

LORD COLERIDGE AND THE POET BROWNING.

Lord Coleridge discusses the time-honored distinction between education and instruction, describing education as the drawing out of the powers of the mind. He urges that technical instruction, however valuable, requires, in order to heighten its value, more general culture. The authors which he would recommend for special study stand in this order-Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Gray and Wolfe. He omits Tennyson; Browning he also omits, because, though admiring him, he has not always understood him. He tells how the poet used to send his volumes. "Soon after one had thus been given me, he asked me how I liked it. I replied that what I could understand I heartily admired, and that parts of it, I thought. ought to be immortal; but that as to much of it I really Icould not tell whether I admired it or no, as I could not understand it. Ah, well,' he said, 'if a reader of your calibre understands ten per cent. of what I write I think he ought to be content.'"

THE DEGRADATION OF THE LITTLE TOE.

The controversy which has been proceeding in the Contemporary as to the possibility of the transmission of acquired character, in which Mr. Herbert Spencer has taken the affirmative and Professor Weismann the negative side, is continued this month in a rejoinder by the synthetic philosopher. Much of th article is fully intelligible only to biologists, but it opens with a reference to the curious and much debated degradation of the human little toe. It was in the first instance supposed that the progressive disappearance of his digit was due to the inherited and accumulated effects of boot pressure. Professor Weismann had pointed out that the same fusion of the phalanges was found among people who go bare-foot, and in Egyptian mummies. Mr. Spencer rejoins by carrying the explanation further back. He points out how the change from arboreal habits to terrestrial habits has led to the development of the great toe as being nearer the line of direction. The inner digits have increased by use, while the outer digits have decreased by disuse.

BLACKCOATS ON THE WARPATH.

Mr. John Darfield does not understand why so much noise has been made about the parish charities which are claimed for the disposal of the new parish councils of England. He shows that "in the country at large £400,000 a year spread over fifty-two counties is all that is touchable by the bill." "This gives an average of about £77,000 per county." He laments the waste of energy that has taken place in the whole army of blackcoats going on the warpath for such a twopenny-halfpenny matter as this clause turns out to be. It is the more striking, because, while the thirteenth clause gave to the Parish Council so very little, the definition of ecclesiastical charity stamped as Church property what had never been the Church's before."

OTHER ARTICLES.

M. Yves Guyot, late French Minister, laments as an Individualist over "Socialism in France," that whereas it was once a movement for liberty, it now might be defined "The intervention of the State in contracts of labor, always directed against the employer and to the exclusive profit of the laborer," to result in "the seizure by the State of the whole economic activity of the country and the forcing of every man fit to work into the ranks of State functionaries."

Mr. W. B. Stevens recounts the singular diplomatic relations between "Queen Elizabeth and Ivan the Terrible " and their successors. Russia seems to have been spe

cially eager to form an English alliance. The execution of Charles I so incensed the Czar that he straightway expelled all English merchants from Russia.

Mr. Theodore Bent traces "the origin of the Mashonaland ruins" to builders well versed in geometry and studiously observant of the heavens, probably of Semitic race and Arabian stock. Rev. Edward Miller, under the ironic heading "Confessions of a Village Tyrant," retails his social service as village parson. Mr. H. D. Traill discusses "the anonymous critic," and decides in favor of keeping him anonymous. Mr. W. Laird Clowes describes the fortifications and accommodation of Toulon and tabulates the strength of the French fleet, to show that in the Mediterranean France is both stronger and readier than England.

THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW.

IN common with most of the English December magazines the Fortnightly falls rather below the average. It contains much interesting matter, but hardly any article of the first rank. Mr. Lilly's curious invective against popular notions of "Self-government," "Nauticus'" instructive essay on 66 'History and Sea Power," Canon Barnett's methods with the Unemployed," and "X.'s" satire on "the Rhetoricians" of "the Ireland of to day," have received notice elsewhere.

LETTERS OF KEATS.

Mr. A. Forbes Sieveking contributes "some unedited letters of Keats," addressed to two sisters named Jeffreys, the son of one of whom made them over to Mr. Richard Archer Mr. Sieveking thinks that now for the first time the family at Teignmouth, with whom Keats corresponded, and about whose names he was very reticent, can be identified with these Jeffreys. In one letter Keats coins a convenient word, where he says, "Many interesting speeches have been demosthenized." A passage in another letter recalls Browning's "What porridge had John Keats?" "One of the great reasons that the English have produced the finest writers in the world is that the Englis world has ill-treated them during their lives and fostered them after their deaths. They have in general been trampled aside into the bye-paths of life and seen the festerings of Society."

may possibly come, but cannot starve one without starving all. Children bring with them no care, being provided for as soon as born. Work is made a pleasure, and the poorest breathes as pure an air and is nearly as well fed and clothed as the ariki whom he reverently obeys. . . There is not a lunatic, a jail, nor a consciously degraded person. The sovereign and the chiefs are in touch with the people, and the people are in touch with one another. The Maori, in short, is a good deal of a Socialist." Moss suggests the formation of a society to inquire into the unseen biological causes of Maori decay

Mr.

Mr. A. R. Wallace continues his discussion of the Ice Age and its work, and maintains, against the notion of "earth movements of various kinds," Sir A. Ramsay's theory of the ice-erosion of the valley lakes of highly glaciated regions. A dialogue by the late Francis Adams canvasses the idea of "a hunt for happiness" as the law of life.

Mr. Leslie Stephen's study on Matthew Arnold is a feast of fat things. He attributes to Arnold's po tr, "the quality, if not of inevitableness, of adhesiveness." The "Scholar Gypsy" is selected as his masterpiece. "The function which he took for himself was to be a thorn in the side of the Philistine; to pierce the animal's thick hide with taunts, delicate but barbed; to invent nicknames which might reveal to the creature his own absurdity; to fasten upon expressions characteristic of the blatant arrogance and complacent ineffable self-conceit of the vulgar John Bull, and repeat them till even Bull might be induced to blush."

THE IRISH PROBLEM.

The O'Conor Don reminds his Unionist readers of "The Unsolved Irish Problem." The Home Rule bill, "whatever may have been it shortcomings, has been read a third time. It has been passed by the democratic branch of the legislature of the United Kingdom. It is idle even for the most extreme Unionist to shut his eyes to these facts. The step taken can scarcely be retracted, and some form of what is called self-government for Ireland will haunt whatever Ministry may be in power." What, then, must be done? Independence is out of the question; Federation must certainly not begin with Ireland. The thing to do is to hold the Imperial Parliament every three years in Dublin, in Edinburgh, and in London. Let there be also a royal residence in Ireland. This rotation of location would meet the needs of the case.

PRESBYTERIAN UNION.

Rev. Dr. Story approaches the subject of "The Kirk and Presbyterian Union" from the standpoint of one who loves the auld kirk very much, but whose zeal for Union is rather tepid. "In order to unite with the Established Church the Dissenters would have to surrender nothing. The U. P.'s would still retain, in unimpaired vitality, both the theory and the practice of Voluntaryism." The Free Church woull simply revert to her vaunted "disruption principles," which include Establishment. The Church, on the other hand, in accepting Disestablishment would make an enormous surrender. "Even were the sentiment of Union predominantly strong in the Established Church, we could hardly expect it to gratify itself at such a sacrifice. But, in point of fact, that sentiment is one which evokes little enthusiasm among Churchmen."

SCHOOL CRISIS IN ENGLAND.

Rev. Canon Hayman, D.D., discusses "The Voluntary School Crisis" in language more vigorous than convincing. He begins by describing Mr. Acland as the "modern successor" of Julian the Apostate, "the demagoguetyrant of a department, [who] is profiting by the august precedent, and destroying religion by destroying religious schools. That universal Board Schools mean the extinction of vital religion from education is as certain as symptoms of tendency can make any statement concerning human society."

He is deeply moved by the "official silence" of Anglican dignitaries at this crisis, and concludes by asking, “Will not the verdict of posterity be that the English Church in the crisis of her destiny counted many excellent bishops, but lacked an episcopate?"

THE NEW REVIEW. HE New Review contains several timely and attract

Unemployed" is noticed elsewhere.

Lady Knightley, of Fawsley, enumerates, in a most businesslike catalogue, the following "New Employments for Educated Women:" Giving lectures and teaching to County Council Classes; carving; as sanitary inspectors— a class which ought to increase and include in their purview workhouses also; horticulture, as learned at Swanley, Kent; as librarians-a calling likely to be overcrowded; as University Extension Lady Lecturers; house decoration; plan tracing; wood engraving; painting on glass dispensing; as trained nurses in workhouse infirmaries; as lady nurses for children of the upper classes; secretarial work; care of insane patients; and rent collectors or managers under Miss Octavia Hill's scheme.

Mr. Frederick Boyle bewails "The Decay of Beauty," and traces it to the artificially secured survival of the unfit, the "swaddling" of almost the entire body in woolens, the disuse of the bath, and other causes. Mdlle. Blaze de Bury gives a most interesting account of Charcot, as physician, professor, in his relations to hypnotism, and as head of the modern neuropathic school. Apparently a skeptic, he believes strongly in the personal faith of the patient in his doctor, adviser, and ultimate cure.

Prof. Max Müller contributes a beautifully picturesque sketch of "Constantinople in 1893." He wonders why so many people go to Switzerland and Rome, when a few days more would bring them into an entirely new world, and into a climate in some seasons almost perfect. He has been much impressed with the Turks: "Whatever may have been said of the 'Sick Man,' there is many a sign that the Turk has recovered, and that he will prove a tough morsel to whomever wishes to swallow him. The pure Turk is strong and steady, and determined to fight to the bitter end before he surrenders what for over four hundred years he has called his own."

"The Indictment of Dives" is Mr. W. S. Lilly's epitome of Socialism. Of the thousand volumes written by Socialists, "all bring the same charge, substantially, against Dives-that he is a thief; that is the head and front of his offending; their first count in the indictment against him. 'Property is theft.' Is this true?"

Not of private property in the abstract, he replies: "The philosophical justification of private property is that it is necessary for the explication of personality in this work-a-day world." But as to property in the concrete, Mr. Lilly fears the charge is too true."

THE CANADIAN MAGAZINE.

EV. HERBERT H. GOWEN contributes a good article on salmon fiishing, in which he tells of the methods employed in netting and canning on the Fraser river. Into the small city of New Westminster alone this industry brings about a million and a half dollars each season. Every fourth year there is a tremendous glut of salmon, and in an average season of six or seven weeks a boat manned by two men, who have to wield a great net 300 feet long, will take from 6,000 to 11,000 fish, while an average cannery packs about 200,000 fish in a season.

In a paper on Lord and Lady Aberdeen, Mr. J. Castell Hopkins is outspoken in his efforts to correct any too fervid belief on the part of Americans that the new GovernorGeneral has any specific aims toward closer connection between Canada and the United States.

"Such utterances overlook the vital fact that Canada

does not exist for the sole purpose of unifying British and American sentiment, and that the Governor-General of Canada is not here as an ambassador from Great Britain to the United States, but as a representative upon Canadian soil of the sovereign of our own Empire. The great interest so generously taken by Lord and Lady Aberdeen in the Chicago fair has led, in certain quarters, to this strange misconception of their duties."

THE CENTURY.

HE December Century has a special cover in which the holly leaves suggest Christmas in a cheery way, and the art papers and poems, as is the custom of the Century at this season, suggest the new year even more strongly in their portraits of those who made the first Christmas. Indeed, this is distinctly a holiday number and matters of more serious discussion are discarded for the time to give place to papers on the "Old Dutch Masters" by Mrs. Van Rensselaer, to an especial article for artist folk on Rembrandt by Timothy Cole, to "Chats with Famous Painters," with very charming bits and studies reproduced by Wallace Wood, and to Mr. Hopkinson Smith's first article in the artist's adventure series.

The feature of the number so far as fiction is concerned is the beginning of Mark Twain's serial novel, "Pudd'n Head Wilson," the scene of which is laid in Southwest Missouri thirty-five years ago. The first chapters give but small indication of that humor which made Mr. Clemens' fame. Curiously enough, the plot, if one may presume to prophesy from the first chapters, is going to center around the mixing up of two babies, one of whom is a white child and the other a mulatto with a slight strain of negro blood, the two being under the charge of the fond mulatto mother; so that we may expect to find Mark Twain drawing some healthy moral concerning the race problem before we are through with "Pudd'n Head Wilson."

Apropos of the current discussion for and against football in the colleges, William Conant Church contributes an Open Letter" to this number, in which he gives some striking facts to show that the football player is just as good and faithful a student as his less athletic fellow, and that the effect of the training upon the player himself is highly advantageous in its obligation to keep good hours, to preserve strict temperance in food and drink, to refrain from the use of tobacco, to eat only nourishing food and be systematic with cold baths, rubbing and healthy exercise. He thinks it even more important, perhaps, that it teaches the American youth what they find very hard to learn-that they must give prompt and direct obedience to instructions. Says Mr. Church:

"It is doubtful whether the percentage of accidents among undergraduates would lessen were football forbidden. Nature will exact her tribute in physical injuries for her bestowal of surplus energy upon the young, and I have known one young man to break an arm three times in jumping over horse-posts. The physical dangers, such as they are, could be greatly lessened by a proper regulation of the game. It should be recognized as a part of the college curriculum, to the extent at least of encouraging every student to participate in it, grading the players according to their several abilities. It is found that systematic training reduces the risk from injuries. If football is beneficial, as would appear to be the case, the benefit should be extended to all students alike. As it is now, those who most need the exercise are debarred from it by the natural disposition to exclude all

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