JZ2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



men of science, will now turn their at- 

 tention to the butchers, the hunters, 

 and the fashionable people who torture 

 their horses in the broad day in the 

 open streets, and at all hours, in the 

 sight of everybody, by the use of bear- 

 ing-reins and gag-bits. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Descriptive Sociology. By Herbert Spen- 

 cer. Numbers Three and Four. Folio. 

 Price, $4.00 per No. D. Appleton & Co. 



To those who care only for politics on 

 account of its gossip, personalities, and pass- 

 ing excitements, or who study it merely as 

 an art for the attainment of their own selfish 

 ends, these works need not be commended ; 

 but those who are interested in working out 

 the principles of a science that underlies all 

 politics will be glad to learn that the " De- 

 scriptive Sociology " of Herbert Spencer is 

 making fair progress, the fourth number 

 being now published. This work is not at 

 all known even by the most inteUigent por- 

 tion of the American people. They talk 

 much about society, speculating upon its 

 origin, declaiming against its evils, and pro- 

 posing endless nostrums for its relief and 

 regeneration, but give no attention to the 

 most serious, thorough, and successful effort 

 yet made to elucidate the natural laws of so- 

 cial phenomena. If the value and impor- 

 tance of Spencer's " Descriptive Sociology " 

 were at all understood, it would be found in 

 every public library, in many private ones, 

 and in all higher educational institutions. It 

 is nothing less than a series of representa- 

 tions, almost pictorial in their clearness, of 

 the constitution of human societies, of all 

 forms, types, and grades, the world over. It 

 cives the whole range of social facts that 

 characterize each community in such an in- 

 genious scheme of repi'csentation that they 

 can be compared with extreme facility, and 

 their elements considered either separately 

 or as existing together; and either as ad- 

 vancing by themselves, or as moving on con- 

 nectedly and under mutual influence. The 

 industrial, economic, domestic, civil, mili- 

 tary, aesthetic, moral, religious, and intel- 

 lectual condition of each community, is given 

 in a systematic way, which brings out the re- 



lations of these social factors ; and the whole 

 is carefully authenticated by copious and 

 classified extracts from the best authorities 

 by which the social facts in the several 

 cases have been described. Without criti- 

 cal examination no one can form an idea of 

 the enormous labor that has been expended 

 upon these works, nor of their value to the 

 students of social affairs. Nothing worthy 

 the name of social science, that is, embrac- 

 ing wide inductions and comprehensive prin- 

 ciples, can ever come from the examination 

 of one example or form of society only ; and, 

 in the wide sweep of his inquiries, Mr. 

 Spencer is the first to have given to the 

 problem of social philosophy its full breadth 

 of scientific basis. 



In the first number of this general work 

 Mr. Spencer gave us the social history of 

 England. In the second number he gath- 

 ered up and organized what is known of the 

 social life of the extinct or decayed Ameri- 

 can civilizations. Number Three, now be- 

 fore us, is devoted to the lowest types of the 

 social state the Negritto races and the Ma- 

 layo-Polynesian races. This was compiled 

 and abstracted by Prof. David Duncan, a col- 

 laborator with Mr. Spencer in the execution 

 of bis enterprise. It represents the social 

 life of the Fuegians, Andamans, Veddahs, 

 Australians, Tasmanians, New Caledonians, 

 New Guinea people, Fijians, Sandwich- 

 Islanders, Tahitians, Tongans, Samoans, 

 New-Zealanders, Dyaks, Javans, Sumatrans, 

 and Malagasy. The environments, inor- 

 ganic, organic, and sociological of these 

 communities, and the physical, emotional, 

 and intellectual characters of each people 

 are given, and whatever is known or acces- 

 sible regarding their social habits, peculi- 

 arities, and modes of life. 



Number Four, which is just published, 

 also elaborated by Prof Duncan, is devoted 

 to the African races. He delineates the 

 social aspects of the Bushmen, the Hotten- 

 tots, the Damaras, the Bechuanas, the Caf- 

 firs, the East Africans, the Congo people, the 

 Coast Negroes, the Inland Negroes, the Da- 

 homans, the Ashantis, the Fulahs, and the 

 Abyssinians. 



We cannot republish these works in the 

 Monthly, although in the number lor April, 

 1874, we gave a sample of the tables that 

 are used, and which necessitated the large 

 folio form of publication. But those who 



