the dances, music, the feast, candles, the sacrament, sacrifices-human and animal-magic words, rain-making and fertility rites; (5) the organization-the officer, the covens (i.e., the ritually organized assembly), duties, and discipline; (6) familiars and transformation-the divining familiar, the domestic familiar, methods of obtaining familiars; transformation into animals.

In addition to matters discussed under the headings mentioned, there are several interesting appendixes; one in which the evidence is presented suggesting a connection between fairies and witches; another citing the evidence from the trials of Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rais, which seems to indicate what the author is inclined to believe-that they were actually members of the witchcraft cult.

A third index gives an interesting list of something like a thousand names of witches in England and Scotland, in regard to whom some sort of record has been preserved.

This volume will be interesting to sociologists mainly as an introduction to a considerable body of materials which throw light upon one of the most obscure and interesting manifestations of human naturenamely, the phenomena of diabolism and the cult of the devil.

The interesting thing about this cult is that its god is the Christians' devil, and that its ritual-much of which is not merely sacrilegious but obscene seems to be conceived in a spirit of sacrilegious perversity, as if one aim of the cult were not merely to renounce Christianity, but to do it in the most outrageous manner possible.

It was, we are told, "a joyous religion, and as such quite incomprehensible to the gloomy inquisitors and reformers who suppressed it." But the expression "joyous" does not exactly describe the furious sexual orgies of the witches' Sabbath. It is, at any rate, not the natural joyousness of a naïve paganism, but rather the frantic and often insane outbursts of suppressed human impulses, in passionate rebellion against the austerities of an ascetic discipline to which the natural man had not been able wholly to accommodate himself.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

ROBERT E. PARK

The Farmer and His Community. By DWIGHT SANDERSON. The Farmer's Bookshelf. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company. Pp. 254. $1.25.

What Signora Olivia Rossetti Agresti, in her panegyric of David Lubin, calls the "semi-rhetorical and dilettanti . . . . rural life move

ment" can only be established above the level of words and pretensions by earnest scholars utilizing the scientific method. Professor Sanderson is such a scholar, and he has written a book which contributes to this desired end. The only valid basis of differentiation of rural sociology from general sociology is a body of investigation directed specifically at agricultural peoples living in an agricultural environment. Happily, Professor Sanderson recognizes this principle; his volume makes the best use of what reliable rural social studies are available.

The initial chapter, although based upon the studies of Galpin, must be considered as an attempt at social theorizing. The rural community is, by the method of composition, defined as "the people in a local area tributary to the center of their common interests." If the search is for an objective "thing," this is perhaps an adequate definition; but the recognition of the community as a "thing" does nothing to illumine the concept. If, for example, the definition should read: "the interplay of interests represented by the activities of people living within a defined local area," pertinent problems would be immediately suggested. The community would be no longer an objective "thing" but rather an objective process. It is probably essential that some method be devised for locating the rural community but the real task of sociology is to discover the meaning of the activities which give significance to the concept of community. In a later chapter Professor Sanderson gives partial assent to this point of view, but it is not central to his theme.

The Farmer and His Community (introduces) three important and neglected topics which are essential to an adequate understanding of the processes of rural life, namely, (a) the "alien" or foreigner in agriculture, (b) the social implications of the co-operative movement, and (c) the rôle of social maladjustment as an inhibiting factor. A certain sociological importance attaches itself to the fact that agriculture tends to pass into the hands of successive immigrant groups. The extractive industries of mining and fishing reveal the same fact, and observation leads to the conclusion that this shift of control is accompanied by a disturbing form of social instability. The co-operative movement can no longer be considered as a purely economic or commercial enterprise. It leads inevitably to forms of social organization whose activities create new values. It is a foregone conclusion of most observers that the technique for dealing with the dependent, defective, and delinquent I P. 10. 2 Chap. xiv, p. 169.

3 The Burley Tobacco Growers' Co-operative Marketing Association of Kentucky e.g., has employed a trained social worker.

members of rural communities will not be a mere imitation of urban methods. What the technique of rural social work is to be, however, is left to future experimentation.

Professor Sanderson's volume is intended for "rural leaders and progressive farmers," but it appears to the reviewer that it is excellently adapted to the classroom. It constitutes a comprehensive survey of the rural social problem and it begins where sociology should begin, namely, with local groups and the local community. Moreover, its references include more than three-score authors and books as well as numerous pamphlets and periodicals. It is a volume of solid content. In his Foreword, Professor Sanderson promises a larger study of the rural community-a study obviously projected in the interests of advancing social science. It is to be hoped that the intimacy of style which characterizes his first contribution will not be sacrificed in the more technical work. At any rate sociologists may look forward with hopeful confidence to the future contributions which Professor Sanderson promises.

HIGH BRIDGE, NEW JERSEY

E. C. LINDEMAN

Agricultural Organization in the United States. By EDWARD WIEST, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. Pp. 618. $3.90.

Whether this work can be considered a textbook is difficult to say. There are few courses being given in American colleges which undertake to present this phase of our economic and social life in just this way or from this viewpoint. Certainly it can be considered a reference book, almost an encyclopedia in the field of agricultural or rural organization. Probably in the absence of any competition except Buck's two books, The Granger Movement, and The Agrarian Crusade, it is an indispensable book to anyone attempting to touch any phase of the larger organizations of agricultural interests and rural people.

The presentation of the public organization of agriculture is elaborate and detailed, probably so elaborate and detailed as to lose practically all interpretative content. The presentation of the private organization of agriculture is the most complete of anything yet available in a single document. It covers the field from the earliest agricultural societies to the American Farm Bureau Federation. It does not include a discussion of the Non-Partisan League, the great commodity co-operative societies, the Farmer-Labor Party, or any phase of the rural community organiza

tion movement. It does not present a description of any of the attempts of agriculturists to obtain political organization. It probably fails to do this intentionally, because it seeks to deal only with those organizations which are purely economic in nature.

The author weaves all through his discussion the economic interpretations which only a student of the larger field of economics could give. Sometimes these interpretations become almost digressions into the field of economic theory, the connections of which the average reader is likely to miss and some others to disagree with. At certain points he too readily reaches conclusions concerning the viewpoint of the farmer. Such an instance is when he states, "Recently, however, it has become perfectly plain to them that their class interests are opposed to those of labor" (p. 584). The recent growth of the Farm-Labor Party in the West and Southwest does not warrant so sure a generalization.

There is no attempt, except by implication, to interpret the growing tendency of farmers to organize and the spread of agrarian organizations as a movement or phenomenon of social psychology. This book does, however, make a most distinct contribution by assembling the materials from which a study of this interesting phenomenon can take its lead. It is practically the first book of its kind in the field and is sure to be welcomed by all students of rural life.

NORTH CAROLINA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

CARL C. TAYLOR

The Making of Rural Europe. By HELEN DOUGLAS IRVINE. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1923. Pp. 224. $2.50.

This book forms a very good introduction to the history of land control in medieval and modern Europe, and gives a good picture of the evolution of European land systems and the forces which have affected their change. Chapter iv on "The Latifundia" is particularly good, and the treatment of agriculture and the farm laborer in England is concise and stimulating. The chapter on co-operation and the author's views on the possible effects of co-operation seem inadequate. The last chapter on "Agrarian Revolutions of Today" hardly gives as much detail as might be desired for an understanding of the present situation, and which the revolutionary changes now in progress would seem to warrant. Miss Irvine stresses the social significance of the peasant's love for the land and the social effects of large-scale, commercialized farming. The

chapter on "Rural Syndicalism" and the agrarian experiments in Italy gives a good insight into the possibilities and difficulties of collective farming. DWIGHT SANDERSON

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Tested Methods in Town and Country Churches. By EDMUND DES BRUNNER. Foreword by GIFFORD PINCHOT. New York: Geo. H. Doran Co., 1923. Pp. xix+173. $1.50.

Churches of Distinction in Town and Country. By EDMUND DES BRUNNER. Preface by E. A. Ross. New York: Geo. H. Doran Co., 1923. Pp. viii+198. $1.50.

These two books were prepared by Dr. Brunner at the suggestion of representatives of departments of rural work of a number of the missionary boards of leading denominations. In their preparation the records of nearly seven hundred churches were examined. Forty of these were finally selected as typical of the kind of work now being done by successful town and country churches. Fourteen of the forty were then made the basis of illustration of the complete, comprehensive activities of single parishes.

The first-mentioned text illustrates by concrete examples the methods used in achieving success in the evangelistic work of the Church, worship and services, religious education, church finance, organizing the program, publicity, and community welfare. Additional chapters discuss church plant and equipment and standards for measuring success. In the introductory statement Governor Pinchot calls attention to the progress in rural work during the past fourteen years. The preparation of such a book would not have been possible at the beginning of this period. The type of church program that succeeds is no longer theoretical but is abundantly demonstrated by the illustrations given. The permanency of the program is indicated by the fact that the average period over which it has been carried on in the churches studied has been seven years. The average length of present pastorates on these charges has been four and one-half years as compared with three and eight-tenths years for charges in twenty-five counties surveyed by the Interchurch World Missionary Movement. Age and sex groups are well distributed in the membership. Attendance at religious services is exceptional. Six of the churches average more than two hundred at the morning service. Three of them