ive are brief; and they need not be long. Once we have understood the use of "analyse" we can apply the method on special problems rather easily ourselves. For instance, we can all see that while a real "contrainte" for many, "prohibition" really means increase in "liberté”—and often to those to whom it appears most as "contrainte."

The second essay, on Egalité, is striking by some suggestions which the author is making as he goes on with his "analyse"; speaking for instance of woman suffrage, he is not sure that the world will benefit much by it on the domain of legislation. But he has this to say:

La psychologie et la sociologie engagent à croire que le pouvoir où le rôle des femmes serait le plus utile c'est l'exécutif, plutôt que le législatif ou le judiciaire. La rapidité et la clairvoyance de leur coup d'oeil les rend propres à gouverner, plus qu'à élaborer des lois de portée lointaine ou à les interpréter (60).

About social hierarchy Professor Naville has several pages which are summarized in these words:

Leur disparition [of social classes]...porterait un coup fatal au bien de l'ensemble et à la civilisation. La civilisation repose sur la division du travail, qui, elle-même, demande la formation d'aptitudes et de capacités spéciales. Ces capacités pourraient-elles trouver, pour leur développement, un autre milieu aussi favorable que ceux de la famille et de la classe?...Les théoriciens de ce qu'on appelait le droit naturel oubliaient trop la valeur de la tradition et l'utilité des différences de famille et de classe pour la formation des virtuosités spéciales nécessaires au développement de la civilisation (64-65).

The third essay, Solidarité, leaves with us, even more than the two first, the impression that they are not so much new ideas which are offered as helpful distinctions between ideas, or within ideas. After all, it is a deeper psychology of social and political notions that we gain; and this psychology teaches us that, in itself, a political or social institution has no particular influence in life, but that in each case one has to take into consideration also the contingencies and the spirit in which they are applied. (As an illustration, preliminary to the application to social problems, Professor Naville says: "Suppose the applause of the public goes to a whole orchestra, all the members are satisfied and solidarity gains by it; but if the applause goes to one member, distinguishing him from the others, will the others be satisfied? Will it make for solidarity?")

The few illustrations we gave may convince our readers that the book could render real service in clarifying our discussions on social and eth

ical problems. A translation would be worth while and the little volume would find a very appropriate place on the reserve shelves of our libraries. ALBERT SCHINZ

SMITH COLLEGE

Christian Literature in Moslem Lands. A study of the Activities of the Moslem and Christian Press in all Mohammedan Countries. By a joint committee appointed by the Committee of Reference and Counsel of the Foreign Missions Conference of North America and the Committee on Social and Religious Surveys. New York: George H. Doran Co., 1923. Pp. xii+ 306. $3.50.

This volume is more than a survey of the literature of Christian propaganda. It is a survey of the world-wide conflict that is now going on over more than half the world between Christianity and Mohammedanism. In December, 1921, a committee representing the twelve different regions into which the Moslem world was divided met at Cairo, Egypt, and during the next two months local committees appointed for the different regions were busy gathering materials. Eventually all were gathered together and thrown into the form which they have in the present volume, which is a sketch, or a series of bird's-eye views.

Considering the wide field covered and the obscure corners into which the investigation necessarily extended, the report is an exceedingly interesting document.

One of the first and most interesting facts brought out is the rising self-consciousness, in spite of the wide separation of its component parts, and the growing sense of unity in the Moslem world. Everywhere the stirrings of new life were manifest, and everywhere schools were multiplying in numbers, and the "ability to read increasingly coveted." The Moslem world is learning to read. In Egypt there is agitation for compulsory education. In India the enrolment of Moslems in the schools is five times as great as it was thirty years ago. In the great centers of Islamic life "the shrill call of the newsboy is now as much a part of daily life as the sonorous cry from the minaret." In Bagdad Arabs are reading the Pickwick Papers, and on the gulf ports of Iran the most popular literature is a translation of cheap detective stories.

In view of all these changes, there is a wide demand among missions for a literature which will appeal not merely to scholars, but to the com

mon man. Because of the influence which the newspaper has attained, it has been proposed to use it for evangelistic purposes.

What it actually intended to do is to set up in different regions in the Moslem world publication houses where the work of printing and publishing propagandic literature could be carried on for all the missions in a given region. The culture conflict between Christianity and Mohammedanism is to be fought out in the future through the medium of the printing press.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

ROBERT E. PARK

Rural Michigan ("Rural State and Province Series"). By LEW A. CHASE. The Macmillan Co., 1922. Pp. 490. $2.50.

Rural California ("Rural State and Province Series"). By E. J. WICKSON. The Macmillan Co., 1923. Pp. 399. $2.50.

Rural Texas ("Rural State and Province Series"). By WILLIAM B. BIZZELL. The Macmillan Co., 1924. Pp. 477. $2.50.

These books represent an effort to compile for each state such information as seems pertinent to rural life. Each can be expected to have little vogue without the political limits of the state it describes. The objective of the editor and publishers is doubtless to get these books into the high schools. Each book for its state serves as a sort of compromise between a text on rural statistics and a digest of state and federal reports.

In so far as these publications describe the rural areas in terms of physical and climatic settings, or so long as they describe soils, mines, and other resources, they may have some meaning and interest for the prospective readers. But as statistical presentations they are bound to miss the mark because most of the figures are out of date before the books go to print, and before they have been in use long they are cluttered up with considerable useless material.

Some of the subjects taken up in this series are marketing, rural communication, and transportation. Probably more could be said on these subjects. Certainly more could have been said on the co-operative marketing corporations in California. All three books treat the subject "rural life," but in no instance is the problem of rural life discussed. Among these rural problems we would mention the recent increased migrations to the city, the decline of rural newspapers, the passing of the

village, and what is being popularly termed "the suburbanization of the small town."

Mr. Bizzell, in his Rural Texas, has gone a little further than his colleagues in the use of maps and charts. He has a chapter on state fairs, but he is so absorbed in the mechanics of organization that he misses an excellent opportunity to describe rural life.

NELS ANDERSON

CHICAGO

What I Believe. By BERTRAND RUSSELL. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1925. Pp. 87. $1.00.

Quo Vadimus? Some Glimpses of the Future. By E. E. FOURNIER D'ALBE. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1925. Pp. 92. $1.00. Narcissus: An Anatomy of Clothes. By GERALD HEARD. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1925. Pp. 150. $1.00.

These three volumes are among the latest additions to the "Today and Tomorrow Series" with which E. P. Dutton and Company have been attracting attention. Although none of these little books are of such a character as to justify classification as contributions to science, they merit the attention of social scientists as well as of natural scientists on account of their value as readable, challenging statements in popular terms of what their authors believe to be some of the implications of the findings of modern science for the human life of the future. They are the sort of reading one would like for students specializing in sociology for the sake of the sort of background and stimulus they provide.

One of the three merits more particular mention here. Narcissus: An Anatomy of Clothes is, as the title suggests, a brief survey of the evolution of styles of clothing from earliest times to the present. The author presents the thesis that clothes, taken together with other elements of material culture, constitute a projection of the force making for evolution, and that as such their changes have partially replaced the changes of organic evolution. The author develops also an interesting but not convincing theory that changes in styles of clothing have been the consequence of changes in the styles of architecture. This book contains suggestions which might be worked out in a more thorough piece of sociological research.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

FLOYD N. HOUSE

Two Portuguese Communities in New England. By DONALD R. TAFT, PH.D. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1923. Pp. 357. $4.00.

This is a careful and cautious statistical study of the Portuguese in New Bedford, Fall River, and Portsmouth. It is introduced with a review of the accessible literature in regard to the racial composition of the Portuguese, particularly with reference to the extent of admixture of the native Iberian stocks with the Negro.

The study shows that the Portuguese are, by all the accepted standards, a low-grade people, and one that responds very slowly to supposedly better economic and living conditions of the American environment. It shows pretty conclusively that this inferiority cannot, so far as present knowledge goes, be explained in racial terms. Inferiority in physical stamina, in culture, and in living conditions seems to be due less to fundamental racial than to local and historical factors.

Particularly interesting is the detailed analysis and comparison with other immigrant groups, of the high infant mortality rate among the Portuguese. For them, as for other immigrant groups, infant mortality seems to be correlated with eight specific conditions, namely: (1) Length of residence in the United States; (2) literacy and illiteracy; (3) knowledge of English; (4) methods of feeding; (5) family income; (6) employment of mothers outside the home; (7) frequency of pregnancies; (8) general intelligence, which may or may not be racial.

ROBERT E. PARK

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Social Problems and Social Policy. By JAMES FORD. Boston: Ginn & Co., 1923. Pp. xii+1027. $4.00.

Of the making of anthologies there is no end; perhaps because the stream of books is so swollen that nobody can compass more than a drop here and there. Most of these books, like lettuce heads, have so many outside leaves that we thank the anthologist and the cook alike for giving us only the hearts of them. There are cooks who serve our salads ready to the last trick; there are others who offer us the ingredients, which we may put together as we like, with or without dressing. Professor Ford belongs to the second group. His compilation of materials on social pathology covers five general topics: social purpose, social method, the problem of defectiveness, problem of poverty, problem of criminality. These 132 selections are arranged under 39 headings, but without any connect