The Romance of Forgotten Towns. By JOHN T. FARIS. New York: Harper & Bros., 1924. Pp. xiv+334. $6.00.

This book gives an excellent account of the manner in which towns are founded, flourish, decline, and sink into oblivion. It is somewhat encumbered with detail, but, nevertheless, it portrays the economic, geographic, social, and historical factors which determine as well as terminate the existence of towns.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

H. O. DEGRAFF

The Evolution of the Conscious Faculties. By J. VARENDONCK, D.LITT., D.Sc. New York: The Macmillan Co. Pp. 259.

Recent teachings of psychology have led us to conceive of consciousness and thought as arising in what may be described as the efforts of the organism to integrate its impulses so that they may issue in something that has the integrity of an act. According to this teaching perception, conception, and ideas arise in the process of attention, and attention is nothing but the preparation of the organism to act.

The psychoanalysts have reversed this description. They have assumed that perceptions and ideas exist somewhere outside the consciousness in the so-called "unconscious." The unconscious perceptions and ideas are conceived as the original sources of action in the organism instead of its incidental products.

The present volume, which is a sequel to the author's Psychology of Day Dreams, attempts to apply the same conception to the explanation of behavior in man and in animals and to the phylogenetic evolution of mind. For the writer of this volume, consciousness is not a mere fact to be explained; it is an organ endowed with faculties, and faculties are self-explanatory.

The Human Side of Hawaii. By REV. ALBERT W. PALMER, Pastor of Central Union Congregational Church, Honolulu. Boston: The Pilgrim Press, 1924. Pp. xviii+148. $2.00.

This volume consists of lectures delivered first at Union Theological Seminary in New York and at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California. It is an account of the inter-racial experiment going on in these islands to which the volume is devoted. From the point of the student of race relations, Hawaii is the most interesting and the most problematic place in the world. In no other spot have races so different in physical appearance and in culture come together under such favorable conditions; nowhere have the members of the different races looked forward more hopefully to a solution of the problems that have grown out of their mutual contacts.

The purpose of the book, as the author states it, is to point out the underlying forces which are defining race relations in the Hawaiian Islands; to indicate the general direction in which race relations there are drifting, and to indicate the bearing of the local situation upon the larger problems of the Pacific.

Jewish Ceremonial Institutions and Customs. By WILLIAM ROSENAU, PH.D., L.H.D. 3d and rev. ed. New York: Bloch Publishing Co., Inc., 1925. Pp. 190. $2.50.

The substance of this volume was first presented in the winter of 1901, in the form of a series of lectures which have since been printed and are now issued in the third edition, illustrated with photographic plates based on objects in the Sonneborn collection of Jewish ceremonial objects at Johns Hopkins University, where the lectures were first delivered. Many of these ceremonies are of comparatively recent origin; many of them have gone out of use among Jewish congregations, owing, as the author says, to the disposition in recent times "to derabinize Judaism by laying less emphasis upon forms and more on the spirit of the faith." Of all the racial groups in the United States there is none whose history is less known, more interesting, and more worth knowing than that of the orthodox Jews. This is true for one reason, if for no other, namely, it is this religion, with its ritual and its tradition, that has preserved the existence of the Jewish race.

The Basis of Racial Adjustment. By THOMAS JACKSON WOOFTER, JR., PH.D., Commission of Inter-racial Co-operation. New York: Ginn & Co., 1925. Pp. viii+258. $1.40.

This book seeks to compress within the limits of a single volume the authentic information now available in regard to the relations of the black man and the white in the United States. The volume covers such matters as Negro health, the work of Negroes on the farms in the South and in the cities of the North, Negro crime and lynch law, Negro education, and the Negro church. It is actually a textbook for the education of public opinion in America on the subject of race relations. Each chapter is provided with a bibliography and with questions which, if answered by the reader, would tend to crystallize opinion upon the issues under discussion.

The author has his own doctrine as to race relations. He believes it is possible for black and white people to live together in peace, without either amalgamation or extermination of the black racial minority. Doctrines, however, are merely the receptacles in which we enshrine our hopes.

The Conduct of Life. By BENEDETTO CROCE. Authorized translation by ARTHUR LIVINGSTON. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1924. Pp. xiv+326. $2.50.

The papers here assembled under the title The Conduct of Life were first printed in the Italian magazine, Critica, under the title "Fragments of Ethics."

The great Italian philosopher and student of human nature has here applied his practical wisdom of life to the solution of some of the specific problems of everyday life. There are forty-three essays in this little volume, each the length of a leading editorial in an English newspaper. The topics seem to cover everything that an intelligent person would want to talk about, and none that he would desire to leave untouched.

It is to such shrewd comments upon the lives and manners of men like Croce that students of human behavior may look first and most hopefully for that knowledge of human nature which science has failed to give them elsewhere.

Essentials of Scientific Method. By A. WOLF. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1925. Pp. 16o. $2.oo.

This little book is an elementary survey of the standard procedures involved in what is known as "scientific method," in the more formal and conventional sense of the term. There are chapters on inductive method, statistical methods, probability, and on a few other, somewhat less commonplace, aspects of the method of science, e.g., a chapter on "Scientific Explanation," containing a section on "The validity of science." This book makes no new contribution to the field in which it is written, but may prove itself serviceable as an introduction to study of methodology in the abstract.

Mainsprings of Men. By WHITING WILLIAMS. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1925. Pp. ix. +313.

This is a textbook designed for the use of college classes in labor problems and personnel administration. It is based largely on the author's experiences while mingling with wage-workers in the United States and Europe as one of them. These experiences were described at length in his three earlier volumes. The first half of the book, in which the author follows his concrete materials closely, is more convincing than the second half, in which he attempts a more abstract analysis.

Cosmic Evolution: Outlines of Cosmic Idealism. By JOHN ELOF BOODIN. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1925. Pp. 484. $3.50..

This book deals primarily with metaphysical problems. Those who have been attracted by Simmel's use of the interaction concept, however, will be interested in this author's philosophical elaboration of the same idea. The sections dealing with the nature of mind and its control function are well written. Evolution and Optimism. By LUDWIG STEIN. New York: Thomas Seltzer, 1926. Pp. xi+241. $3.00.

This volume consists of philosophical lectures delivered at several American universities by Professor Stein during his visit to the United States three years ago. Sociologists will find his chapters on "Optimism of the White Race" and "Sociological Optimism" interesting.

RECENT LITERATURE

NOTES AND ABSTRACTS

The abstracts and the bibliography in this issue were prepared under the general direction of D. E. Proctor, by Mrs. E. R. Rich, P. T. Diefenderfer, P. E. Martin, and P. P. Boyer, of the Department of Sociology of the University of Chicago.

Each abstract is numbered at the end according to the classification printed in the January number of this Journal.

I. PERSONALITY: THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE PERSON Mental Traits and Heredity.-The extent to which mental traits are independent of heredity was tested in a case of identical twins reared apart. "Intelligence tests" applied to these twins yielded scores very significantly alike, despite great differences in the amount of the formal schooling they had had and other environmental differences dating from two weeks of age onward. The non-intellectual tests of motor-reaction time, association time, "will-temperament," emotions, and social attitudes-gave results in striking contrast with those of the intelligence tests, in that the twins made markedly different scores in all these tests.-H. J. Muller, Journal of Heredity, XVI (December, 1925), 433-48. (I, 2, 4.) P. E. M.

Women in Rebellion: A Psychological Study.-Hypostatizing that the low "birth-rate. . . . in cultivated society is a part of the revolt of woman against materialism and intellectualism . . . ." it is urged that most women desire children of their own-"to live out the wonderful capacity for personal devotion with which they have especially been_endowed."-Myerick Booth, Hibbert Journal, XXIV (October, 1925), 112-22. (I, 4.) P. B. B.

II. THE FAMILY

The Family and the Law.-Within a fairly recent past a radical change has been brought about in the legal relationships existing within the family group; that is, between husband and wife on the one hand, and parent and child on the other, and in the relationship between the group as a whole and the community of which it is a part. The social worker is attempting, through the new formulation of the law, to point out that the husband and father was never more than trustee holding title for the equitable owner, the true beneficiary-the community, which is now in a position to demand an accounting.-Sophonisba P. Breckinridge, Journal of Social Hygiene, XI (October, 1925), 385-95. (II, 2.) E. R. R.

Integrating the Carol Kennicotts.-The Institute for Co-ordinating Women's Interests looks toward a reorientation of the family, necessitating modifications in the college, the community, and the total economic structure. Adjustments should be considered from the point of view of working mothers as well as of college women.-New Republic, XLV (December 23, 1925), 130–32. (II, 3.) P. E. M.

III. PEOPLES AND CULTURAL GROUPS

The Study of Primitive Races with Special Reference to Forms of Marriage. -We should be slow to force primitive groups to change practices which may be at variance with our own views but are essential to the well-being of the individual, the stability of the community, and the perpetuation of the race. Variation from moral convention should be studied in a scientific spirit in all its bearing upon progress.-E. N. Fallaize, Eugenics Review, XVII (July, 1925), 77–87. (III, 1, 5; II, 1.) P. E. M.

A New Interpretation of the Japanese Mythology and Its Bearing on the Ancestral Theory of Shinto.-This article undertakes an investigation of Shinto in the light of survivals of early practices and ideas connected with certain shrines and embodied in ancient literary records. From these it appears that the great deities at the head of the Shinto genealogies are an original sky-father and earth-mother, and that they and their offspring are animistic interpretations of elemental natural phenomena. The precise origin and function of these deities are carefully defined on the evidence available.-Daniel C. Holtom, Journal of Religion, VI (January, 1926), 58-77. (III, 2, 1.) P.T.D.

The Scientific Regulation of Immigration. Of the possible policies of immigration, those of total or absolute exclusion, unrestricted admission, and intermittent admission and exclusion are impossible and impractical. The remaining forms are our present form, which is one of per centum limitation, and that of scientific restriction. This latter consists of a comprehensive and far-sighted view of economic development of the country, is determined by a board with authoritative knowledge of the situation, has a policy of selection on the basis of individual worth rather than racio-cultural selection, effective distribution by making known economic opportunities to those who seek them, a policy of incorporation that conceives of the process of the release of hitherto unused and cramped powers of body and mind, and a generous overflowing of human capacity in an atmosphere of liberty.-Julius Drachsler, Academy of Political Science (Annual Proceedings), X (1924), 116-34. (III, 4.) P. T. D.

Racial Migrations in the Balkans during the Years 1912-24.-The many migrations in Macedonia, Thrace, and Anatolia have produced relative homogeneity in the racial distribution in those areas, thus simplifying political problems which arose from race antipathies. It seems that during the past twenty years the birthrate has scarcely balanced the death-rate, even in districts not directly affected by wars or mass-migrations. Spanish influenza, mortality among the young men in military service, troubled conditions preceding the Balkan wars, malaria, and the low standard of living contributed to this condition.-N. A. Pallis, Geographical Journal, LXVI (October, 1925), 315-31. (III, 4.)

P. B. B.

Mixing the Issue in Immigration.-Purely qualitative changes in the affected populations are the most important result of immigration and emigration. If an amelioration in living conditions warrants, the population will increase and take up the slack; if not, it stands still. Immigration and emigration move according to supply and demand, and it is usually the wealth-producing individuals that do the moving. We have been looking at immigration and emigration as presenting a problem of quantitative bearing; however, this is wrong, for the problem they present is one of quality.-Ezra Bowen, Scientific Monthly, XXII (January, 1926), 30-32. (III, 4.) P.T. D.

Have We Food to Feed Our Immigrants?—The two chief intentions of our immigration policy are: the idea that some selected races, peoples, or nationalities are better material for our citizenship than are people of other populations; and the idea that we need no more people in the United States. For future reference let us admit no immigrant who is not actually and demonstrably better than the average American, and also try for new citizens who will raise the food-producing average of the United States.-E. E. Free, Scientific Monthly (February 26, 1926), 77-79. (III, 4; VIII, 2.) P.T.D.

Contrasts between Chinese and American Social Codes.-Chinese and American etiquette differs in many respects. The Chinese code is more elaborate and strict while the American is more direct and expressive. The age of the nation, with the fixity of customs and the degree to which emotions are inhibited, are factors which explain such differences.-Chiang Liu, Journal of Applied Sociology, X (September-October, 1925), 41-45. (III, 6.)

P.E. M.