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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



purposes, and the construction of permanent 

 homes. Ideas of transportation, other than 

 upon his own back or in frail canoes, or the 

 use of coal, which was so abundant about 

 him, and which he frequently made into 

 pendants and ornaments, and a thousand 

 other things which civilized beings enjoy, 

 were utterly beyond his comprehension." 



The Evolution of Christianity. By Ly- 

 man Abbott, D. D. Boston : Houghton, 

 Mifflin & Co. Pp. 258. Price, $1.25. 



Dr. Abbott's recent book, is more like 

 a collection of sermons than a treatise. It 

 has the fullness of illustration and the free 

 indulgence in repetitions characteristic of 

 discourses delivered to an audience that 

 has nothing to do for the time being but 

 listen. The gist of the book is an ac- 

 ceptance of the idea that the Christian re- 

 ligion, like all other institutions and organiza- 

 tions, is a growth. This idea is elaborated in 

 successive chapters with respect to the Bible, 

 theology, the church, Christian society, and 

 the soul. Dr. Abbott accounts for the con- 

 tradictions and imperfections which he admits 

 exist in the Bible on the ground that the 

 writers of the later books perceived the will 

 of God more clearly than the men who wrote 

 the earlier ones. He says : " The later books 

 present higher ideals of character and con- 

 duct, clearer and nobler conceptions of God, 

 more catholic and more positive interpreta- 

 tions of his redeeming work in the world, 

 than the earlier books. The revelation is a 

 progressive revelation. The forms, whether 

 of religious thought, of public worship, or of 

 church order and organization, in the Bible, 

 are not the same ; those of the later ages 

 have grown out of those of the former ages, 

 and are superior to them. In brief, the 

 Bible is the history of the development of 

 the life of God in the life of a peculiar peo- 

 ple; and it traces the development of that 

 life from lower to higher, and from simpler 

 to more complex forms." The logical out- 

 come of this doctrine is that the theologians 

 of the present day are better able to set 

 forth the true religion than even the writers 

 of the Gospels and Epistles. Dr. Abbott 

 and those who agree with him apparently 

 retain but few things, such as the anthro- 

 pomorphous nature of the First Cause, the 

 belief in miracles, etc., that divide them 



from scientific moralists, and the above doc- 

 trine seems to release their successors from 

 any obligation to retain these if they should 

 see fit to abandon them. 



The Free-trade Struggle in England. By 

 M. M. Trumbull. Second edition, re- 

 vised and enlarged. Chicago : The Open 

 Court Publishing Company, 1892. Pp. 

 288. Price, cloth, 75 cents ; paper, 25 

 cents. 



This is indeed in every respect a book for 

 the hour. It treats at length on what is at the 

 present the liveliest issue in the United States, 

 from whatever point of view it may be re- 

 garded. As a historical summary of a memo- 

 rable and pivotal period in English politics it 

 is of deep political interest. Most appropri- 

 ately it is dedicated to the distinguished 

 champion of free trade, the Hon. John Bright, 

 M. P., " the eloquent friend and defender of 

 the American Republic, the enlightened ad- 

 vocate of peace and free trade among na- 

 tions," and it contains a facsimile autograph 

 letter from Mr. Bright, written in 1882, in 

 which he says, " The American tariff is so 

 incapable of defense that discussion of the 

 strange burden that lays upon your people can 

 only end in some great change and great re- 

 form." 



In a second letter, addressed to the author 

 later in that year, Mr. Bright says : " I do not 

 expect your people will copy from us ; they 

 will learn from what is passing around them 

 how much they suffer from your present bar- 

 barous tariff. There are persons among us 

 who are not anxious for a reform of your 

 tariff. They say you can not have an export 

 trade, and can not compete with us in for- 

 eign markets." Iu the preface to this second 

 edition, Mr. Trumbull shows the necessary 

 character of this particular study as a guide in 

 our present political conditions. Citing from 

 Mr. Whitelaw Reid's letter of acceptance, 

 " The fact that our form of government is en- 

 tirely unique among nations of the world 

 makes it utterly absurd to institute compari- 

 sons between our own economic systems and 

 those of other governments," our author states 

 quite emphatically that this is " a very seri- 

 ous error." He does not believe any govern- 

 ment is "' unique " enough to violate the laws 

 of moral science with impunity ; that no gov- 

 ernment will ever be so "unique" as to just- 

 ly tax one man for the benefit of another, or 



