554 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Interesting indications of the direction 

 in which Mr. Spencer's thought was tending 

 forty years ago may be found scattered 

 through this volume. Thus, on page 32 

 he declares that civilization is a part of 

 Nature, hence its progress is all of a piece 

 with the development of an embryo or the 

 unfolding of a flower; and, provided that 

 the constitution of things remains the same, 

 this progress must result in the perfection 

 of mankind. Again, on pages 121, 122 is a 

 paragraph illustrating the specialization of 

 functions and the adaptation of parts to 

 their duties which goes on in the develop- 

 ment of various kinds of organisms. This 

 paragraph shows that in 1849, when it must 

 have been written, Mr. Spencer had already 

 entered upon the line of thought which led 

 him up to the general law of evolution. Sev- 

 eral passages give evidence that he had then 

 discovered the operation in Nature of the 

 process that has since become known under 

 the name " natural selection." Thus on 

 pages 203, 204 he says, " Partly by weeding 

 out those of lowest development, and partly 

 by subjecting those who remain to the never- 

 ceasing discipline of experience, Nature se- 

 cures the growth of a race who shall both 

 understand the conditions of existence and 

 be able to act up to them." 



The Man versus The State consists of four 

 essays combating paternalism, which were 

 originally published as magazine articles, and 

 are among the most able and vigorous of Mr. 

 Spencer's miscellaneous writings. A post- 

 script and a note have since been added. 



Outlines of Lessons in Botany. Part II. 

 Flower and Fruit. By Jane H. Newell. 

 Boston : Giim & Co. Pp. 399. Price, 90 

 cents. 



The leading aim in this work is to direct 

 pupils to the study of plants themselves. 

 With the very practical purpose of securing 

 sufficient material for study, the successive 

 lessons deal with the flowers in season in 

 New England and vicinity, to which region 

 the book is specially adapted, from March to 

 early summer. A few house-plants are in- 

 troduced to help out the scanty blossoms of 

 March. Later, wild flowers, the blossoms of 

 forest trees and fruit trees, and the flowers 

 of garden vegetables all receive attention. 

 While the analysis of flowers occupies the 



greater part of this volume, attention is given 

 also to the leaves, stem, and roots of the 

 specimens studied. An appendix contains a 

 schedule for plant description, with some 

 fifty or sixty descriptions following this 

 form. There are also a glossary, an index 

 of plants, and a chart comprising sixty fami- 

 lies designed to introduce pupils to the use 

 of Gray's Manual. There are thirty-seven 

 illustrations. 



A History of Epidemics in Britain (664- 

 1666). By Charles Creighton, M. A., 

 M. D. New York : Macmillan & Co. Pp. 

 706. Price, $4.50. 



The pestilence of 664 in England, known 

 to tradition as the great plague " of Cadwal- 

 lader's time," furnishes the starting-point for 

 this history. But little can be told about 

 this pestilence, for, besides an entry in the 

 Irish annals, Beda's Ecclesiastical History is 

 the only source of authentic information con- 

 cerning it. Previous to the " black death " 

 of 1348-49, English epidemics were almost 

 all famine-sicknesses. The author gives a 

 chronological list of such pestilences, embrac- 

 ing more than forty, with full accounts of 

 three of them, and notes concerning others. 

 An early chapter is devoted to Leprosy in 

 Mediaeval Britain, from which it appears that 

 much consideration was given to lepers in 

 the middle ages, these unfortunates being 

 deemed the special wards of Jesus Christ. 

 The author believes, however, that the hun- 

 dred or more hospitals mentioned under the 

 name of lazar-houses in Dugdale's Monasti- 

 con were not exclusively for the care of 

 lepers. Furthermore, contemporary descrip- 

 tions of lepers indicate that several diseases 

 were then known by the common name of 

 leprosy. 



The black death, or bubo-plague, of 1348- 

 '49, produced a frightful mortality. Certain 

 parish records show ten times the ordinary 

 number of burials. During the fourteen 

 months of its prevalence two thirds of the 

 clergy of Britain were carried off, and one 

 half of the whole population of London. Dr. 

 Creighton's account of this pestilence in- 

 cludes an examination of the traditions which 

 locate its origin in China and in Tartary, and 

 a discussion of the theory of the bubo-plague. 

 The social and economic consequences of the 

 black death make up an interesting chapter, 



