SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 



275 



vantages, and probable future, and a com- 

 parison of it with other forms of government, 

 more especially parliamentary government 

 with restricted suffrage. It is quite impos- 

 sible in the space allowed a single review to 

 give any adequate notion of the very wide 

 field which is covered by these two volumes. 

 The work opens with a consideration of Eng- 

 lish representative government in the eight- 

 eenth century, which, with a few modifica- 

 tions, seems to be Mr. Lecky's idea of the 

 best form of polity. The growth of Rous- 

 seau's doctrines in France and England and a 

 brief study of the French democracy are fol- 

 lowed by about seventy pages on " American 

 Democracy," which, while somewhat tinc- 

 tured by the pi-overbial English ingenuous- 

 ness regarding tales about the wild doings 

 over here, point out the most pronounced 

 of our political faults and weaknesses. Mr. 

 Lecky sums up as follows: "American de- 

 mocracy appears to me to carry with it at 

 least as much of warning as of encourage- 

 ment, especially when we remember the 

 singularly favorable circumstances under 

 which the experiment has been tried and the 

 impossibility of reproducing those conditions 

 at home." Legislative changes in England, 

 the Irish land question, and the various at- 

 tempts to legahze attacks on property, suc- 

 cessful and otherwise, are discussed in the 

 second chapter. The influence of democracy 

 on individual liberty is shown to be not uni- 

 formly favorable, and attention is especially 

 called to the great danger of systems of class 

 legislation, such as the income tax. Aristoc- 

 racies and upper chambers are given con- 

 siderable space, including an extended sur- 

 vey of the history of the English House of 

 Lords. The changes which the growth of 

 democracy has brought about in interna- 

 tional politics are noted at some length, as is 

 also its effect on religious liberty, Sunday 

 legislation, and marriage laws. In comment- 

 ing on socialism and labor questions, Mr. 

 Lecky says : " But the proposed changes 

 which conflict with the fundamental laws 

 and elements of human nature can never in 

 the long run succeed. . . . The essential 

 difference of men in aptitudes, capacities, 

 and character are things that never can be 

 changed, and all schemes and policies that 

 ignore them are doomed to ultimate failure." 

 The changes which have taken place in the 



position and education of women are consid- 

 ered in the last chapter. Mr. Lecky thinks 

 that, owing to their special interests, it is 

 impossible to deny their claim to represen- 

 tation, and that if their demand for the suf- 

 frage prove growing and persistent, they will 

 eventually obtain it. As is natural, most of 

 the questions are considered mainly with ref- 

 erence to their bearing on the English polity ; 

 but they are questions common to all modem 

 civilized societies, and Mr. Lecky's views, 

 while not perhaps always tenable, are always 

 deserving of attention. 



Most of those who have tried it will re- 

 member that the study of psychology, aided 

 by the ordinary text-books and carried on 

 after the usual methods of the class room, 

 was about the driest and in many ways the 

 least agreeable of their school-day experiences. 

 Indeed, the study was such uphill work, and 

 had so little that was enticing about it, that 

 the subject was usually put off until the lat- 

 ter part of the school or college course, when 

 it was expected that the more mature minds, 

 especially if backed by a fondness for the 

 science, would be able to struggle through 

 its puzzling abstractions. The book before 

 us * is an attempt to place this study on a 

 better footing. After teaching the subject 

 for a number of years, the author became 

 convinced that there are no such serious 

 difficulties in its pursuit as has been sup- 

 posed. He found that it can be made at- 

 tractive, and that, when suitably presented, 

 pupils of average intelligence have little 

 trouble in grasping the essentials of the sci- 

 ence. His book is the outcome of this teach- 

 ing experience, and embodies the plan which 

 the author foimd most successful in arousing 

 the interest and reaching the understanding 

 of the learner. This plan consists simply in 

 an abundant use of familiar illustrations, 

 with so much of anecdote and of the appli- 

 cation of principles as will serve to hold the 

 attention and give the mind of the pupil 

 something tangible to work upon. The illus- 

 trative matter is drawn from a great variety 

 of sources, and, as a rule, is very apt. 



Mr. Halleck presents his subject from 

 both the introspective and the physiological 



* Psychology and Pgychic Culture. By Reu- 

 ben Poet Halleck. New York : American Book 

 Company. Pp. 368. 12mo. Price, $1.25. 



