furnishing tables and other forms of presenting school facts as used in typical reports. These tables are well selected from a goodly number of cities and cover a wide range of data. Closely related to the preceding and also of much interest is a chapter on "Suggested Economics and Improvements for School Reports."

Professor Snedden and Dr. Allen have done well in showing deficiencies in school reports and ways for their improvement. The New York committee on the physical welfare of school children under whose auspices the volume was prepared is to be commended. It is to be hoped that at an early date the United States Commissioner of Education, who is quoted as favoring a general conference of educational authorities on improvements in statistical method, will take the initiative to accomplish further the ends which this book seeks to serve.

Central High School, Philadelphia.

CHEESMAN A. HERRICK.

Socialism, The Case Against. Pp. 537. Price, $1.50. New York: Macmillan Co., 1908.

In "The Case Against Socialism," we have an interesting collection of misstatements, mangled quotations and detailed arguments, published for the purpose of being used as "a handbook for speakers and candidates." The author by the seriousness of his tone as well as by his frantic efforts at meeting all arguments, good, bad, or indifferent, ever advanced by any person calling himself a Socialist, would lead one to believe that socialism was rapidly becoming a menace to the political and industrial institutions of England. There is little in the book that is new. Nevertheless it is a very comprehensive collection of the ordinary arguments advanced against socialism, and will undoubtedly appeal to a large number of voters, whether or not they are Socialists, for as a rule the latter are as densely ignorant of the more fundamental principles of Marxian Socialism as is the author of the present volume.

Stanford University.

IRA CROSS.

Stimson, F. J. The Law of the Federal and State Constitutions of the United States. Pp. ix, 386. Boston: Boston Book Co., 1908.

This book is unlike the usual treatise on constitutional law, both in arrangement and manner of treatment. It is divided into three books. The first is composed of prefatory essays laying down the general principles upon which the constitutions rest. Books II and III present a unique comparative study of the English and the American constitutions. In Book II the statutes of the realm and the federal constitution are digested to bring out clearly the historical development of the bases of English liberty. Book III, which comprises the greater portion of the volume, makes also the most important of its contributions to constitutional discussion. It is a

concise analysis of all the present-day state constitutions. The arrange. ment is topical so that at a glance the similar or contrasting provisions in the various states may be seen.

The book is to be highly commended for the emphasis given to the state constitutions. The formal study of constitutional law is often confined entirely to a consideration of the national constitution to the neglect of the local instruments with which the citizens are in much more intimate and frequent contact. Ordinary texts on constitutional law this book will not supersede, but it will prove a great aid to those who seek to obtain a clear idea of the truly dual character of government in the United States. CHESTER LLOYD JONES.

University of Pennsylvania.

Swift, E. J. Mind in the Making: A Study in Mental Development. Pp. viii, 329. Price, $1.25. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908. Professor Swift has produced a very interesting book on mental development in the child. The book is wholly inductive and has no particular theory of mental development to offer, although it accepts in the main, the cultureepoch theory. It presents a series of experimental facts which throw much light upon both normal and abnormal mental development in the child. While written mainly as a basis for constructive pedagogy, and therefore largely from the standpoint of the individual, yet the book contains many things of value to the student of society and to the practical social worker. Of especial value is a chapter on the "Criminal Tendencies of Boys, Their Cause and Function." This is a careful psychological study of the whole matter of juvenile crime. Professor Swift shows conclusively, by inductive evidence, that every normal boy at a certain age has marked criminal tendencies. When the environment is favorable to crime, then those primitive impulses which "carry him on, with almost resistless fury, toward a life of crime" are developed. When, on the other hand, the environment is unfavorable to crime, these impulses are checked and their temporary manifestation becomes but an epoch in normal moral development. "The so-called criminal instincts of children are racial survivals of acts that in past ages fitted their possessors to survive."

The book's chief defect is an evident lack of wide acquaintance on the part of the author with sociological and anthropological literature. This gives rise to many omissions and several slips. For example, Professor Swift apparently endorses the theory that the primitive social state was "a war of all against all." This is not now the view which has the best support in anthropology. Research seems to have established conclusively that the lowest savages, and therefore probably primitive men, are comparatively peaceful. War and cannibalism seem rather to be characteristic of the stage of barbarism than of lower savagery. This more exact statement of the theory, however, accords even better with Professor Swift's "cultureepoch" theory of juvenile criminality; for the more egoistic and criminal

tendencies of children are not found in early childhood, but from twelve to sixteen years of age.

Concerning the many somewhat radical educational theories in the book the writer of this notice does not feel competent to judge; but in general they seem to be in line with modern educational progress.

CHARLES A. ELLWOOD.

University of Missouri.

Webb, Sidney and Beatrice. English Local Government. 2 Vols., Pp. 858. Price, each $3.50. New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1908.

The authors of these excellent volumes are well known to the world of scholarship as being two of the most prolific and scholarly of living writers. Some of their literary productions are recognized the world over as the most authoritative treatises of their kind. Heretofore the Webbs have confined their activity mainly to the study of labor and industrial problems, but now they have invaded the field of political science and have brought out three large volumes dealing with the subject of local government in England. For thoroughness of treatment and lucidity of presentation they are surpassed by few English treatises. The first volume of the three which have already appeared was published last year and embodied the results, we are told, of eight years' research into the manuscript records of the parish and the county from 1688 to 1835, all over England and Wales. The two volumes under review deal with the government of the manor and the borough or, roughly speaking, that part of English local government not included in the county and parish administration. It may be called the exceptional part of English local government and is in some respects the most picturesque part. Of the two volumes under review the first deals with the Lord's Court in its various forms-the Court Baron and the Court Leet-which during the period from 1689 to 1835 was in process of gradual decay; the manorial borough; the borough of Westminster; the boroughs of Wales; and the municipal corporation. Of the last volume approximately one-half is given up to a somewhat detailed account of the working constitution and administrative achievements of ten select municipal corporations in different parts of England, among which are included types like the little port of Penzance in Cornwall, the little market of Morpeth in Northumberland, the great ports of Bristol and Liverpool, the lesser ports and fishing havens of Ipswich and Berwick-on-Tweed, ancient industrial centers like Norwich and Coventry and inland towns destined to become great manufacturing centers, such as Leeds and Leicester. More than one-third of the volume is devoted to a study of the City of London which was, of course, the most important of all the English municipalities. The work concludes with a masterful analysis of the conditions which led to the municipal "revolution" of 1835, and the passage of the Municipal Corporations Act. There is a valuable subject index of 81 pages, an index of authors and persons and an index of places. Most of the chapters are accompanied by select bibliographies and every page is supplied

with copious footnotes principally of a bibliographical and critical character. These three volumes together constitute a valuable and permanent addition to the literature of English local government. They contain a vast mass of facts, concisely and logically arranged. They are written in a style both clear and interesting and they contain abundant evidence of immense research and intimate knowledge of the subjects treated.

University of Illinois,

J. W. GARNER.

INDEX OF NAMES

ABBREVIATIONS.-In the index the following abbreviations have been used:
pap., principal paper by the person named; b., review of book of which the person
named is the author; r., reviewed by the person named.