75© 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the author commences the treatment of the 

 subject by devoting the first three chapters 

 to certain preliminary matters relating to 

 the recent history and present condition of 

 the subject, the province and limits of the 

 science of law, and an analysis of the rela- 

 tions of law and morality. In the following 

 chapters we have an account of the growth 

 of law, and this statement is exceedingly 

 interesting. The steps in the evolution are 

 distinctly marked, the manner in which the 

 changes were effected are clearly traced, and 

 the sources whence materials were drawn 

 for the constant process of improvement 

 are pointed out. The latest and best-cred- 

 ited speculations on the origin of law, cus- 

 toms, equity, and methods of legislation, are 

 also carefully presented. The sixth chapter 

 is an analysis of primary legal terms, such as 

 "person," "thing," "right," "duty," " act," 

 " event," " intention," etc., all of which have 

 complex meanings in jurisprudence. Sepa- 

 rate chapters are given to such subjects as 

 contracts, ownership, crimes, procedure, in- 

 ternational law, and codification ; and these 

 are all treated with admirable clearness. 



This little book deserves to be widely 

 welcomed by the reading public. The names 

 are few, in the list of great writers belong- 

 ing either to this country or England, who 

 have made contributions of any weight to 

 legal sicence; Prof. Amos comes forward 

 to do what he may toward supplying this 

 deficiency, and he has proved himself equal 

 to the task. He has produced a work on 

 the science of law which will not only have 

 its interest for the legal profession, but will 

 have a greater interest beyond that pro- 

 fession. It has not been written for the 

 specialist, but for general readers, and con- 

 veys in a popular form a kind of knowledge 

 •which has never before been reduced to con- 

 venient shape for general acquisition. And 

 in this country especially, where everybody 

 is or ought to be more or less concerned in 

 the work of law-making, and where princi- 

 ples are required for guidance in the dis- 

 charge of this duty, a work which strips the 

 subject of its arbitrary and local features, 

 and develops its universal and scientific as- 

 pect, should be widely welcomed and care- 

 fully studied. 



It is proper to remark in this place that 

 Prof. Amos has undertaken a formidable 



task in first attempting so great a novelty 

 as to educe the general principles of the 

 science of law, and then to present them in 

 a compendious form adapted to all classes 

 of intelligent readers. It was impossible 

 that a pioneer work of this sort, dealing 

 with subjects which have been habitually 

 regarded from other points of view, should 

 not be very tempting to critics who are ever 

 on the lookout for something to slash ; and 

 we note that some of the English periodi- 

 cals are very free in their strictures upon 

 the professor's book. But, although finding 

 fault with some of its minor points, its main 

 characteristics have not been assailed, and 

 the practical value of the treatise is con- 

 ceded in all quarters. It supplies an urgent 

 and an undoubted want, and will be a valu- 

 able addition to the "International Series" 

 for which it was prepared. J. G. M. 



The Relations of Christian Educators 

 TO THE Modern Phases of Science. 

 By Daniel S. Martin, A. M., Professor 

 of Geology and Natural History in Rut- 

 gers Female College. From the Pro- 

 ceedings of the University Convocation, 

 held at Albany, 18'73. 



We have read this address with much 

 interest, as it comes from a thinker who 

 views the subject from both its sides — that 

 of a thorough mastery of the modern prob- 

 lems of science, and that of the most strin- 

 gent orthodoxy. He therefore not only 

 recognizes " the fact of a long and lamenta- 

 ble controversy between Christian and sci- 

 entific modes of thought," but he sees that 

 both parties are at fault in provoking and 

 maintaining it. On the scientific side, the 

 causes of alienation are assumed to be — 1. 

 A " disposition to exclude the idea of God, 

 Avhich has appeared so strangely in the 

 writings of scientific and philosophical stu- 

 dents," and which he is unable to explain 

 except on the hypothesis " that the whole 

 race is in some way morally perverted and 

 ahenated from God and all true excellence ;" 

 2. "Apart from an absolute and intentional 

 advocacy of atheistical ideas, there is, on 

 the part of many scientific men, a careless- 

 ness, or even a hostility of expression tow- 

 ard religious truth which awakens deep 

 distrust ; " 3. The perversions and misrep- 

 resentations of pretenders to science who 

 assume its name to assail religion. 



