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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



ure discusses the beginnings and subdivis- 

 ions of races, locating the birthplace of the 

 species in a region comprising southern Eu- 

 rope, the bed of the Mediterranean, and 

 northern Africa, which in early Quaternary 

 times was one connected body of land. In 

 succeeding chapters the probable course of 

 the early migrations of the various races, 

 and the formation of subdivisions, are 

 traced. The author places the first home of 

 the white race which he calls Euraf rican 

 in the region just mentioned, and regards its 

 migrations as having taken place toward the 

 east in two divisions. The early history of 

 the black and yellow races, and of certain in- 

 sular and littoral peoples, is then taken up. In 

 his review of the American race, Dr. Brinton 

 does not take up the question where the In- 

 dians came from, having stated fully else- 

 where his reasons for believing that America 

 was peopled from Europe, by way of a for- 

 mer land connection across the north At- 

 lantic. A concluding lecture is devoted to 

 discussing the destiny of races, and certain 

 ethnographic problems, as acclimation, amal- 

 gamation, and civilization. An index of au- 

 thors quoted and one of subjects are ap- 

 pended. 



Our Government : How it grew, what it 



DOES, AND HOW IT DOES IT. By JeSSE 



Macy, A. M., Professor of Constitutional 

 History and Political Economy in Iowa 

 College. Revised edition. Boston: Ginn 

 & Co. Pp. xii + 296. 



Prof. Macy is to be congratulated on hav- 

 ing produced in the work above mentioned 

 an extremely valuable treatise upon the sys- 

 tem of government under which we live. 

 One of the encouraging signs of the times 

 is the attention which is beginning to be 

 bestowed in our schools and colleges upon 

 the laws and institutions of the land upon 

 American politics in the wider and better 

 sense. Foreigners are under a general im- 

 pression that all American citizens able to 

 read and write have the Constitution of 

 their country at their fingers' ends, and that 

 no one here needs much special preparation 

 to enter on a political career. We could 

 wish the impression had more foundation in 

 truth than it has. The fact is, that igno- 

 rance in regard to the whole field of political 

 knowledge is wide-spread among the elect- 

 orate, and is in danger of becoming more 



so from year to year. The efforts, there- 

 fore, that are now being put forth to foster 

 such knowledge are most timely; and we 

 welcome the appearance of a manual like 

 the present, which brings home to the mind 

 of the student or general reader what kind 

 of a country this is in a political sense; 

 what the rights and duties of each citizen 

 are, and what powers and responsibilities 

 are invested in the different grades or spe- 

 cies of government by law established. 

 There are great advantages in a healthy 

 and vigorous development of local institu- 

 tions as with us ; but, as everything good 

 has some drawback, so this, on the whole, 

 fortunate circumstance has the drawback 

 of somewhat enfeebling the individual citi- 

 zen's consciousness of participation in the 

 life of the nation. We need to awaken and 

 stimulate this consciousness, and the way to 

 do it is undoubtedly to bring the facts of 

 national life home to each mind by careful 

 instruction. We do not hesitate to say that 

 a knowledge of the facts contained in the 

 work before us could scarcely fail to create 

 in any ordinary mind a respectful interest 

 in national and State politics, and would 

 thus tend to rescue the individual citizen 

 and voter from the hands of mere intriguing 

 party managers. The amount of informa- 

 tion in regard to local, municipal, State, and 

 Federal Government that Prof. Macy has 

 managed to pack into the present manual is 

 surprising. There is not a single page which 

 any student who desires to be thoroughly 

 well informed in United States politics can 

 afford to skip. Comparing the present work 

 with Mr. Fiske's recent book, we may say 

 that Prof. Macy's is the more complete 

 hand-book of the two, while Mr. Fiske's is 

 perhaps better adapted to bring home pow- 

 erfully to the mind of the reader a limited 

 number of carefully chosen facts and ideas. 

 A valuable division of Prof. Macy's book is 

 Part III, on The Administration of Justice, 

 in which a large amount of information is 

 given in regard to State and Federal courts 

 and their respective jurisdictions and modes 

 of procedure. The different departments of 

 the Federal Government are well described 

 in Part IV, as well as the methods followed 

 by the two Houses of Congress in the dis- 

 patch of business. Part V deals particu- 

 larly with Constitutions chiefly, of course, 



