not presuppose any great knowledge of zoology or other science. He starts with the familiar facts of daily life, and thus an untrained reader will not be stultified with scientific terms and limited thereto. The author depicts a world that is familiar to every one, and leads gradually from well-known facts and forms of life to the theories which they suggest. It is a new but decidedly attractive way of formulating and solving the problems which have become uppermost in the minds of the people.

The author is not so much an adherent of Darwinism as of Weismannism, but all details of the evolution theory are left out, and the general outlines alone are sketched. The book is intended to be a simple and untechnical interpretation of the facts that suggest the doctrine of evolution.

The German original has gone through three editions, and Mr. McCabe has untertaken to translate it for the benefit of the English reading public. After an introduction describing animal life in forest, field and pond, pointing out the over-production in nature, the struggle for life, artificial and natural selection, transformation of species, variation and heredity, etc., the author treats the different branches of zoology in successive chapters,-mammals, birds, amphibia, fish, tracheates, molluscs, worms, and protozoa. These descriptions are followed by an exposition of the theory of natural selection, the principle of selection, mechanical conception of life and its limits, and nature, history and morality.

The book is well printed in large and clear type, but we regret to say that illustrations which are almost indispensable in a popular book have been omitted, and we would suggest that in the German edition as well as other translations the author would richly supply the book with appropriate pictures and diagrams. Upon the whole the book reads very well, but now and then we find un-English expressions which can be understood only if translated back into the original German. So for instance when the author wants to say that he who wishes to comprehend the whole of the world must rise above it, we read in the English translation: "He who would see over the whole world must pass beyond it.” We also doubt whether the English term "sense of life" conveys the same idea as the original Lebenssinn. These little drawbacks, however, do not detract much from the value of the whole and the translation of Mr. McCabe remains in any case a praiseworthy undertaking.

L'IDÉALISME CONTEMPORAIN.

Pp. 185.

Par Leon Brunschvigg.

Paris: Alcan, 1905.

The spiritual movements of the present day show varieties which may be characterized as spiritualism, intellectualism, and idealism, and our author insists that the opposition to a right kind of idealism originated from a wrong conception of man's intelligence. Man's intelligence in intellectuality is not a positive factor, but it is the profoundest function of his activity directed by a law, and capable of assuring a continued progress in scientific and moral culture. Professor Brunschvigg after an Avant-propos in which he treats of the general problems of idealistic movements, discusses in several chapters: Spiritualism and Common Sense, The Prejudice Against Philosophy, Method in Mental Philosophy, The New Philosophy and Intellectualism, and finally the subject which bears the title of the entire monograph "The Contemporary

Idealism," pointing out how our social institutions are gradually transformed by ideals.

The present book is a sequel to a prior work which appeared under the title Introduction to the Life of the Spirit, and which the publishers announce is now ready for a second edition.

JUDAH MESSER LEON'S COMMENTARY ON THE "VETUS LOGICA." By Isaac Husik, A.M., Ph.D. Leyden: Brill, 1906. Pp. 118.

This book represents a doctor's dissertation presented to the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in June, 1903, partly rewritten and slightly enlarged during part of the author's tenure of a university fellowship in the same institution. Dr. Husik's object is to bring into prominence one of the many works of mediaval Hebrew scholarship along philosophical lines. His study of Messer Leon's Commentary of Aristotle is based upon the comparative consideration of three manuscripts, and contains a very complete glossary of Hebrew logical and philosophical terms. Dr. Husik quotes many Hebrew passages from Messer Leon in parallel columns with the Latin text of other mediæval commentators of Aristotle.

TEXT-BOOK OF SOCIOLOGY. By James Quayle Dealey. Ph. D., and Lester Frank Ward, LL.D. New York: Macmillan. 1905. Pp. xxv, 326. Price, $1.30.

Dr. James Quayle Dealey, Professor of Social and Political Science in Brown University, and Lester Frank Ward, formerly of the Smithsonian Institution, at Washington, D. C., the well-known author of Social Dynamics and Pure Sociology, have published in company a Text-Book of Sociology, which the authors expect will fulfil the general demand for such a book. It treats of sociology as a science within the hierarchy of Comte's classification. Chapter III discusses the data, Chapter IV the methodology, and Chapter V the subject matter of sociology. The substance of the book is discussed in four parts, The Origin and Classification of the Social Forces; Nature of the Social Forces; Action of the Social Forces in the Spontaneous Development of Society; and Origin and Nature of the Telic Agent. By telic agent we understand that element which gives direction to the world's activity.

A HISTORY OF POLITICAL THEORIES, FROM LUTHER TO MONTESQUIEU. By William Archibald Dunning. New York: Macmillan. 1905. Pages. 459. Price, $2.50.

The author continues in the present volume his former work Political Theories, Ancient and Medieval, and we may look forward to a completion of the whole in a third volume on Modern Political Theories and a prospect of their future development. The present volume testifies not only to the author's learning but also to his good judgment. He discusses the significance of the Reformation, Luther, Calvin and others, and of their successors in both England and France, among whom Francis Hotman and the pseudonymous author Stephanus Junius Brutus play an important part by reason of keenness of judgment and tolerance of liberal opinion, while Jean Bodin lays the foundation of the English conception of political rights. Hugo Grotius, the founder of international law, is splendidly characterized, and the development of political philosophy in England before and after the Puritan revo

lution is sketched in detail and well explained. The author presents us with a fine characterization of Milton's popular idea of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, interrupting his exposition by a chapter on the continental theories marked by the names of Spinoza, Puffendorf and Bossuet and winding up this remarkable period of the history of politics with Montesquieu.

Charles H. Kerr & Co. have published a translation of Wilhelm Bölsche's Evolution of Man, by Ernest Untermann. The book has been a success in Germany because it met a long felt want, being a brief and popular exposition of the theories as to the descent of man. The translation is well made and the publishers have done their best to give it in its English dress a neat

appearance.

JESUS OF NAZARETH. By Edward Clodd. London: Watts & Co. 1905. Pp.

119.

The present booklet contains a collection of articles written some time ago by Edward Clodd, an author of no mean repute, but we regret to say that these essays should not have been published without a thorough revision, for our knowledge as to Old Testament history and also the origin of Christianity has made rapid progress within the last ten years. Though the author is one of the rationalists he still attributes the psalms to David, and quotes them as historical material in characterizing David's personality. He mentions Nazareth as the birthplace of Jesus and yet it is well known that the village of Nazareth is nowhere mentioned as having existed at the beginning of the Christian era. The author firmly believes in its existence in spite of lack of evidence, but his articles have obviously been written before critical investigation lead one to form a definite opinion.

The articles are well written, but it seems to me unfair to republish them without having given the author a chance of further revising them.

SEVENTY CENTURIES OF THE LIFE OF MANKIND. By J. N. Larned. 2 volumes. Springfield, Mass.: C. A. Nichols Co., 1905. Pp. 442-503

Under this title the editor of the History for Ready Reference has published a history of the world from the earliest times to the present day. Mr. Larned has utilized the latest material concerning the excavations in Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, etc., and condenses the general descriptions into a most popular form. It will be most welcome to people who do not care to have all the little details but who want to gain an insight into the general development of mankind. The work is profusely illustrated, not only with illustrations in the text, but also with plates, among which there are a great number of colored plates, most of them being reproductions of famous paintings.

SOCIALISTES ET SOCIOLCGUES. Par J. Bourdeau. Paris: Alcan, 1905. Pp. 196. This little treatise is most interesting and instructive and belongs to the best that has been written on sociological problems. The author shows good judgment and an extraordinary knowledge of facts, while his presentation is entertaining from the elegant style in which he writes. The subject matter is divided into three parts. In the first M. Bourdeau treats single systems. which serve to explain the development of several ideas and institutions

among mankind. Here he treats the evolution of war, of slavery, of the State in its relation to the individual, the changes of power, the ideal of patriotism, and finally the evolution of morality.

The second part is devoted to socialistic theories. He discusses the propositions of Proudhon, and socialistic sects in general, the heresy of Edouard Bernstein, the idealist of socialism, socialism and freedom, the socialism of the bourgeois and of the laborer, and finally socialism and its place in history.

The third part is devoted to actual problems of the day such as every thoughtful person may observe for himself, the phenomena of anarchy and philanthropy, revolutionary silhouettes, etc.

The last chapter is devoted to Heinrich Heine, the German poet who is still the favorite of the French public, partly on account of his antagonism toward the German government of his time, partly through his appreciation of French literature, and the French materialistic spirit. Heinrich Heine has said some remarkable things about the development of the future, a part of which have been fulfilled. In the conclusion Bourdeau sums up his views in in a chapter in which he specializes "theories of progress" and expresses his view that social happiness is nothing but the mere chimera. But while he considers that the extreme optimism of the socialist is utopian, he at the same time discards extreme pessimism, insisting that the details of history dominate in the development of mankind. The little book is brimfull of thoughtful remarks, and fine psychological sketches. We do not hesitate to say that it belongs to the best that has been written on the subject.

LA SOCIOLOGIE GÉNÉTIQUE. Par François Cosentini. Paris: Alcan, 1905. Pp.

205.

The author, who is professor of sociology at the University of Brussels, presents us with a treatise on the origin of primitive society which is prefaced with an appreciative introduction by Maxime Kovalewsky, professor of law at the University of Moscow. Professor Cosentini has collected the facts of the genesis of primitive society from all the sources at our disposal,-the social condition of the animal world, of savages, of barbaric remnants in our present age and presents us with a pretty clear picture of a reconstruction of the conditions of primitive mankind. He adds the conclusion that the successive stages of mankind show a great resemblance in different places which would indicate a common law, and though he does not claim that single instances should be generalized and made to hold good for similar cases, he finds the agreement too strong to be overlooked.

In his introduction, Professor Kovalewsky especially commends Cosentini's idea that all conditions of society with its ideas and sympathy have developed from sexual and parental love, which produce that reciprocity that finally broadens out in a social regulation of the communal and social life.

Our attention has been called to an obvious typographical error in Mr. Eshleman's poem, "To the Forces of Evil" in the May Open Court. The second line of the third stanza on page 314 should read "Oh, fair allurements oft pursued," instead of "Of fair allurements oft pursued.”

FOUNDATION OF A LAY CHURCH

WHAT is the reason that so many people, and sometimes the very best ones, those who think, stay at home on Sunday and do not attend church? Is it because our clergymen preach antiquated dogmas and the people are tired of listening to them; or is it because the Churches themselves are antiquated and their methods have become obsolete? To many these reasons may seem a sufficient explanation, but I believe there are other reasons, and even if in many places and for various reasons religious life is flagging, we ought to revive, and modernize, and sustain church life; we ought to favor the ideals of religious organizations; we ought to create opportunities for the busy world to ponder from time to time on the ultimate questions of life, the problems of death, of eternity, of the interrelation of all mankind, of the brotherhood of man, of international justice, of universal righteousness, and other matters of conscience, etc.

The Churches have, at least to a great extent, ceased to be the guides of the people, and among many other reasons there is one quite obvious which has nothing to do with religion and dogma. In former times the clergyman was sometimes the only educated and scholarly person in his congregation, and he was naturally the leader of his flock. But education has spread. Thinking is no longer a clerical prerogative, and there are more men than our ministers worthy of hearing in matters of a religious import. In other words, formerly the pulpit was naturally the ruler in matters ecclesiastic, but now the pews begin to have rights too.

Wherever the Churches prosper, let them continue their work; but for the sake of the people over whom the Churches have lost their influence the following proposition would be in order, which will best and most concisely be expressed in the shape of a ready-made

PROGRAM FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A LAY CHURCH.

GENERAL PRINCIPLE.

It is proposed to form a congregation whose bond of union, instead of a fixed. creed, shall be the common purpose of ascertaining religious truth, which shall be accomplished, not under the guidance of one and the same man in the pulpit, but by the communal effort of its members in the pews.