270 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



telegrams, and the supply of water and light- 

 ing in towns. 



The scope of the author's inquiry in this 

 branch of his subject may perhaps be best 

 indicated by the following extract : 



" The legislation of modern civilized com- 

 munities, then, is, in the main, framed on 

 an individualistic basis; and an important 

 school of political thinkers are of opinion 

 that the coercive interference of government 

 should be strictly limited to the application 

 of this principle. I propose, accordingly, in 

 subsequent chapters, to trace in outline the 

 chief characteristics of the system of law 

 that would result from the consistent appli- 

 cation of the individualistic principle to the 

 actual conditions of human life in society. 

 I shall then examine certain difficulties and 

 doubts that arise when we attempt to work 

 out such a consistent and exclusive individu- 

 alistic system. I shall analyze the cases in 

 which, in my judgment, it tends to be inade- 

 quate to produce the attainable maximum of 

 social happiness ; and I shall consider to what 

 extent, and under what carefully defined 

 limitations, it is expedient to allow the intro- 

 duction of paternal and socialistic legisla- 

 tion, with a view to remedy these inadequa- 

 cies." 



In the branch of this subject relating to 

 the structure of a government, Prof. Sidg- 

 wick is occupied with a discussion of what 

 he esteems the most desirable relation be- 

 tween the three prime departments of a gov- 

 ernmental structure the executive, legisla- 

 tive, and judicial. His discussion is well 

 worth study, and abounds in suggestions of 

 improvements in details as well as in prin- 

 ciples of the more prominent features of 

 modern governments. 



The Horse. By William Henry Flower, 

 Sc. D., Pres. Z. S., etc. Modern Science 

 Series, No. II. New York : D. Appleton 

 & Co. Pp. xiv + 204. Price, $1. 



Prof. Ball's instructive book on The 

 Cause of an Ice Age, which opened the new 

 popular scientific series, edited by Sir John 

 Lubbock, is followed by the present volume, 

 in which the structure of the most interesting 

 of the domestic animals is described. The 

 author begins by defining the horse's place 

 in nature, as indicated by its ancestors, 

 whose fossil remains have been found in 



considerable abundance, and by its relatives. 

 In the second chapter the horse and its 

 nearest existing relatives are described. 

 These are the Perissodactyle ungulates com- 

 prising the three families, tapirs, rhinoce- 

 roses, and horses. Of these the tapirs retain 

 more of the primitive characteristics of the 

 common ancestors of the three families than 

 either of the others. Of the tapirs there is 

 but one genus. The rhinoceroses are grouped 

 in three sections or genera the rhinoceros 

 with one horn, the ceratorhinus and the 

 atelodus, each with two. The horses (fam- 

 ily Equidce) comprise the horse proper, the 

 asses, and the zebras. Although wild horses 

 have been abundant in both America and 

 Europe, the nearest approach to a wild horse 

 existing anywhere at present is the tarpan 

 of the steppes in southeastern Russia. The 

 latter half of the volume is devoted to the 

 structure of the horse, chiefly as bearing 

 upon its mode of life, its evolution, and its 

 relation to other animal forms. The bones 

 of the head and neck and the dentition are 

 fully described, and the chief characteristics 

 of the lips, nostrils, and neck are pointed 

 out. In describing the cervical ligament, 

 which is attached like a stay-rope to the 

 neck and to the fore part of the backbone, 

 the author takes occasion to condemn the 

 useless cruelty of the bearing-rein. The 

 fourth and last chapter is devoted to the 

 limbs, and contains an interesting compari- 

 son between the arrangement of the bones 

 in the limbs of the horse and in those 

 of man. Twenty-six figures illustrate the 

 text. 



Principles of Economics. By Alfred Mar- 

 shall. Vol. I. Second edition. London 

 and New York: Macmillan & Co., 1891. 

 Pp. 770. Price, $3. 



This well-known treatise of Prof. Mar- 

 shall has undergone but slight changes in the 

 present edition, the more important of which 

 are pointed out by the author in his preface. 

 The work is a general presentation of the 

 science on the general lines laid down by the 

 English economists, but there is to be traced 

 in it the influence of more recent economic 

 thought in modifying the treatment of many 

 problems and altering the weight given to 

 conditions and considerations not strictly 

 economic. As Prof. Marshall points out, the 



