is written not by an ethnologist but by a student of African languages, it is perhaps not remarkable that the author is not much concerned with distribution or origins. She has simply brought the tales together and grouped them according to their subject matter: "Nature Myths," "Tales of Demons and Ogres," "Totemism and Animal Stories," and so forth. There is no attempt at regional treatment. In this respect, if in no other, the volume is of less use than Dixon's treatment of Oceanic mythology. One tale is connected with the preceding simply by the fact that the author sees a resemblance or a contrast. A tale from one part of Africa is followed by a tale from quite another part. The author does no more than occasionally venture a suggestion as to possible transmission of an element from one group to another. There is no reference, for example, to the work done by Boas and by Espinosa on the problem of the origin and distribution of the "Tar Baby" and other Negro stories.

Professor Werner's contribution is an anthology, a portfolio, a source book. Work on the problem as to how the tales came to be as they are remains to be done.

ROBERT REDFIELD

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

Elementary Statistical Methods. By WILLIAM G. SUTCLIFFE. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1925. Pp. xvii+338. $3.00. Statistical Method. By HARRY JEROME. New York: Harper & Bros., 1924. Pp. xxiv+395.

Principles and Methods of Statistics. By ROBERT EMMET CHADDOCK. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1925. Pp. xvi+471. $3.75.

The traditional way of beginning a textbook in statistics is to define the subject in a formal way and then proceed to describe the routine for collecting statistical data. Sutcliffe conforms to tradition; Chaddock does not. On the contrary, his introductory chapter deals with the misuses of statistical data, and, incidentally, is one of the best chapters in the volume. Jerome makes use of his introductory chapter to discuss the sampling process, a topic with which it seems that any text in statistics might begin.

The chief defect found in textbooks on statistics, in the opinion of the reviewer, lies in the overemphasis placed upon the technique of statistical analysis, with the resulting failure to give the appropriate atten

tion to the logical implications of statistical practices. The word "should" is overworked, and the question "why?" is too often left unanswered. Of the three books, Chaddock's is, in this respect, the best, although on the whole Sutcliffe's volume is the most readable of the three.

Jerome's book first appeared in mimeographed form, and has not been carefully edited. Much the same thing may be said of Chaddock's text. Because of its wealth of illustrative data, its theoretical approach, its completeness in detail, and its skepticism, it is the most satisfactory textbook now available for use in introductory courses in statistics where the aim is not to train statistical technicians, but to teach the student to understand and appreciate statistical methods wherever he finds them used in the social sciences.

CHICAGO

ERNEST R. MOWRER

The Child, the Clinic and the Court. A group of papers by JANE ADDAMS, and others. New York: New Republic, Inc., 1925. Pp. 344. $1.00.

This little book is a collection of twenty-seven papers delivered at a meeting in Chicago in January, 1925, celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the first juvenile court and the fifteenth anniversary of the first psychopathic institute. It is divided into three parts. The first is "The Personality of the Child"; the second is "The Clinic," and includes a symposium on fundamental behavior; and the third is "The Court."

The contributions are all by experts in their fields, including Healy, Child, Herrick, Boas, Lindsey, Mack, and others. The presentation, however, is simple and popular in style. The necessity for sympathy and for an understanding of the psychology of delinquency is stressed as essential for adequate treatment. On the theoretical side the environment is emphasized even by the biologists, or rather especially by them, as an important factor in delinquency. "Perverted sense of values," "lack of incentives," "poorly handled superior intellectual endowment," "misdirected or unsatisfied fundamental instinctive desires" (including Thomas' four wishes), slum conditions, poor physical and social sanitation are among the factors given by social workers as causing delinquency. There is an "acceptance of the minimized rôle which mental defect plays in the genesis of misconduct." Science is appealed to to furnish a method of

handling delinquency, a point of view, data, detailed analyses of environment, and incentives, goals, and a philosophy for children.

The book is a valuable, though popular, history and theoretical description of two very vital and important modern social inventions, the juvenile court and the mental hygiene clinic.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

JESSIE S. RAVITCH

An Introduction to the Study of Southwestern Archaeology, with a Preliminary Account of the Excavations at Pecos. By ALFRED VINCENT KIDDER. New Haven: Published for the Department of Archaeology, Phillips Academy, by the Yale University Press, 1924. Pp. 151. $4.00.

Nowhere in America has the stratigraphic method been used so effectively as in the Southwest to determine the history of preliterate cultures. The results of the archaeologist are there supplemented by the work of the ethnologist among the modern Pueblo Indians. Dr. Kidder's book is a thorough and reliable summary of archaeological contributions to the problems. The tentative formulation of culture sequences growing out of a stratigraphic and comparative study of the many sites in the region is here carried from the "Basket Makers" to the modern Pueblos, to whose culture a chapter is devoted.

The author has for six years been engaged in the scientific excavation of the large Pecos ruins. The report upon this work affords a concrete illustration of modern archaeological methods. Most of the book is devoted to a description and suggested correlation of known southwestern sites. These are grouped according to the river drainage within which each cluster of ruins lies; each such cluster turns out to form an "area of specialization," i.e., a culture area.

With regard to controversial questions it may be stated that the author believes that while pottery, stone masonry, and agriculture were introduced into the region from Mexico, the characteristic uses and styles of these and other traits are indigenous to the region; and that the concentration of the population in the large communities can be explained without recourse to the theory of marked climatic changes. The book is well illustrated and has a complete bibliography. ROBERT REDFIELD

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

Gypsy Fires in America. By IRVING BROWN. New York: Harper & Bros., 1924. Pp. viii+244. $3.00.

This is a book about Gypsies, by one who has known them in many countries, speaks their language, and writes his experiences with them in a brisk, newsy, journalistic style. From this volume we learn many interesting things about Gypsies which are surprising to the layman, and interesting to the student of populations and peoples. There are more kinds of Gypsies in the United States than in any other part of the world. They have given up horse-trading and travel by automobile. There are, as nearly as can be estimated, about 100,000 Gypsies in the United States, of whom 50,000 are nomads, and 50,000 of the "other varieties." It is not considered good form to take tribal and family matters into court, but it is done sometimes in America. In their own tribal courts Gypsies tell the truth to one another, but in the courts before a judge and jury "the old habits of mendacity reassert themselves." The prosperity of Gypsies in America has increased the price of brides. Whereas they sell for a few dollars in Syria, they bring as much as $3,000 in America. One of the principal sources of contention and trouble within the clan is over the sale of wives; one of the most striking incidents of the present volume is concerned with a feud which began at the celebration of a betrothal at the dunes in Indiana, and, after running through the courts in Chicago, ended with a family settlement in a garret on Halsted Street. It is another chapter in the story of undiscovered America.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

ROBERT E. PARK

Roving through Southern China. By HARRY A. FRANCK. New York: The Century Co., 1925. Pp. xxi+649. $5.00.

The author of Vagabonding down the Andes, and Wandering in Northern China, and several other well-known books of travel, has now written a large volume on his year or more of leisurely roving on and off the beaten track in Southern China. The observations and comments of a traveler like Mr. Franck may be very valuable to the sociologist who is looking for material on customs in isolated communities, or the conflicts and adjustments where two civilizations meet, or, for that matter, anything concerned with the habits of different races.

From the point of view of a student, Roving through Southern China

has some very conspicuous faults. There is no index. There is no analytical table of contents. Mr. Franck has not spent all his life in China. He does not pretend to understand the Chinese people. Undoubtedly he has failed to see many things which are important. Probably he has overemphasized characteristics that impressed him. But Mr. Franck is an experienced traveler. He has a remarkable ability for seeing and hearing interesting things at times when most people would be too absorbed in their own discomfort to notice their neighbors at all, must less take notes on their behavior. Though he traveled too fast and too far to make any careful studies of local conditions, he kept his eyes open and saw much that foreigners of long residence in China have missed.

ISABELLA C. MCLAUGHLIN

CHICAGO

Community Organization: A Study of Its Theory and Current Practice. By JESSE FREDERICK STEINER. New York: The Century Co., 1925. Pp. x+395. $2.25.

The community is receiving increasingly more attention from both social workers and sociologists. The technique of community development and community rehabilitation has already become a recognized social art. Dr. Steiner has played a considerable part in the growth of this new technique as a social worker, as a sociologist, and as a trainer of community organizers. In this volume he subjects to sociological examination a number of the more important American experiments in community organization, including such movements as the community-center movement, the country-life movement, the federation of social agencies, the Cincinnati social-unit movement, the public-welfare movement. His attitude toward each of these movements is sympathetic but cautious, impartial, critical. The chapters dealing with the theories and principles of community organization are of special interest. They provide a scientific approach to the problems of community life, though the author does not attempt their application to the problems of specific communities. The volume is well designed to meet the needs of students and community workers-in-training. The subject matter is well organized, lucidly written, the chapters are brief, and there are questions for class discussion and lists of selected readings. The training schools for social work have long needed such a text.

UNIVERSITY Of Southern CALIFORNIA

ERLE FISKE YOUNG